Defining Robotics In The 21st Century
We will try to agree as general and broad a definition as we can so the discussion can be as broad as it can be. As time passes by the contrast between computer peripherals and robots will begin to blur and an increasing number of machines will be regulated by computer programs. Is a printer a robot that writes or a type writer regulated by a computer? What if all the plotter can do is output letters? Is a copying machine a robot? We have to answer these questions in order to fully comprehend what is meant by the word robot. In the future new words will have to be combined to characterize various controlled machines. New terms have already appeared because in the final analysis not all machines regulated by a software program can be characterised as a peripheral or a robot. Not that long ago a plotter was a person.
In what way or manner we define any device or mechanism has a lot to do with how we look at or perceive it. To ordinary people, an industrial robot looks like a heap of twisted iron. Following strict examination, an electronic milling motor is a bespoke robot that manipulates rotating tools along very distinct circuits in attempt to fabricate accurately machined parts. The circuit the devices are to navigate is stated in a software script composed in a distinct language proposed for describing the movement of apparatus in a 3D space. In a thesis undertaken in France in the 1980s to determine the number of robots in numerous countries, the lecturers catalogued their milling devices as robots, which they are. Although, today one would not categorize them as a robotic machine which means that the characterization of a robotic machine is changing quite hastily.
We tend to focus on two human abilities when one defines a machine as a robot. One is the ability to manipulate tools like we can with our own hands and secondly, the capability to manoeuvre around, our natural movement. Mobility is of Particular interest because to be able to manoeuvre around automatically we must interact with their environment in some sort of intelligent manner. At the moment we do not understand this in a comprehensive way – only when a software engineer details or creates a language that we can adequately specify the actual task, will we be able to absolutely comprehend it. We will not be able to describe the language until we understand the process. It may be that we require some sensors that will help us in the procedure, that have yet not been created. Also, there is some signs that more robust computers are needed to process the large amount of data that has to be computed to negotiate a difficult environment. We have to affix transmitters to the area to allow us to better negotiate it autonomously. The Geo Positioning Satellite devices created for military operations by both the US and Russian defence establishments represent such transmitters on a world wide scale. Also, transmitters (a minimum of three are required) with a commercial building or complex would facilitate a mail delivery robot to be able to know where it was within a few millimetres all the time.
We are agreed that a robot can be programmed, computer-controlled device that manipulates products and apparatus to do work. This work is generally accepted as being repetitive in operation. These devices have the ability to make complex decisions and can interface intelligently with its environment. Lastly, the machine may or may not be able to move.
I have been interested in automation and robotics for a number of years and consider myself an authority in this field. Industrial Robotics is a particularly strong point for me and it is an area I extremely enjoy.
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