Friday, March 19, 2010

ROBOTICS TECHNOLOGY


Robotics technology is developing at a rapid pace, opening up new possibilities for automating tasks and enriching the lives of humans. From the automobile assembly line to automatic home vacuum cleaners, Robotics are a part of our world. The Robotics community provides free resources pertinent to anyone in any industry interested in how technology can enhance quality of life. Here you’ll find Robotics technology industry news, blogs, feature articles, videos and more. Use these tools to educate yourself and stay current with what’s happening in Robotics .

ACTUATION

At present; mostly (lead-acid) batteries are used, but potential power sources could be:
pneumatic (compressed gases)
hydraulics (compressed liquids)
flywheel energy storage
organic garbages (through anaerobic digestion)
faeces (human, animal); may be interesting in a military context as feces of small combat groups may be reused for the energy requirements of the robot assistant (see DEKA's project Slingshot stirling engine on how the system would operate)
still untested energy sources (e.g. Joe Cell, ...)
radioactive source (such as with the proposed Ford car of the '50); to those proposed in movies such as
Red Planet

POWER SOURCE

At present; mostly (lead-acid) batteries are used, but potential power sources could be:
pneumatic (compressed gases)
hydraulics (compressed liquids)
flywheel energy storage
organic garbages (through anaerobic digestion)
faeces (human, animal); may be interesting in a military context as feces of small combat groups may be reused for the energy requirements of the robot assistant (see DEKA's project Slingshot stirling engine on how the system would operate)
still untested energy sources (e.g. Joe Cell, ...)
radioactive source (such as with the proposed Ford car of the '50); to those proposed in movies such as
Red Planet

STRUCTURE




The structure of a robot is usually mostly mechanical and can be called a kinematic chain (its functionality being similar to the skeleton of the human body). The chain is formed of links (its bones), actuators (its muscles), and joints which can allow one or more degrees of freedom. Most contemporary robots use open serial chains in which each link connects the one before to the one after it. These robots are called serial robots and often resemble the human arm. Some robots, such as the Stewart platform, use a closed parallel kinematical chain. Other structures, such as those that mimic the mechanical structure of humans, various animals, and insects, are comparatively rare. However, the development and use of such structures in robots is an active area of research (e.g. biomechanics). Robots used as manipulators have an end effector mounted on the last link. This end effector can be anything from a welding device to a mechanical hand used to manipulate the environment.

COMPONENTS OF ROBOTS

ENVIRNMENT INTRACTION AND NAVIGATION

Though a significant percentage of robots in commission today are either human controlled, or operate in a static environment, there is an increasing interest in robots that can operate autonomously in a dynamic environment. These robots require some combination of navigation hardware and software in order to traverse their environment.

CONTROL

The mechanical structure of a robot must be controlled to perform tasks. The control of a robot involves three distinct phases - perception, processing, and action (robotic paradigms). Sensors give information about the environment or the robot itself (e.g. the position of its joints or its end effector). This information is then processed to calculate the appropriate signals to the actuators (motors) which move the mechanical.

ROBOT RESERCH

Much of the research in robotics focuses not on specific industrial tasks, but on investigations into new types of robots, alternative ways to think about or design robots, and new ways to manufacture them but other investigations, such as MIT's cyberflora project, are almost wholly academic.