Robots are
mashines which have one or both of the following capabilities:
- The mashine can moove around at land, in air or in water in a flexible way and find its way through the surroundings. Typically one thinks about mashines with the same orientation capabilities as a man, a fish or a bird.
- The mashine can do mechanic work that requires movement of the working parts in all three dimmensions and can perform a complete task consisting of several steps with different movements. In addition it can be made to do several work processes and new processes when required. Typically one thinks about the way a human being works with his arms and hands.
-The mashine has sensory equipment used to orient itself in the surroundings and about the progres of the work. There can be tactile sensors, temperature sensors, light sensors, microphones and even video cameras working as eyes.
- There is some kind of intelligent controle behind the movements and works done by the robot and behind learning working processes. Typically a robot is controlled by an inbuilt computer, or a computer communicating with the robot wirelessly or by wire. The behaviour of a robot can be totally preprogrammed so that each work process is done in the same way each time, or the computer can be made to take decision throughout the work process.
There is however allways some degree of manual controle. As a minimum the robot must be given an initial command to tell what to do, and given commands during action to adjust the path of the action.
Some robots are also nearly wholly manually controlled by a human operator behind a controle desk or workstation. In these cases the computer only controles the elementary details of the movements.
The authomatics in
a robot can be more or less intelligent. As a minimum the authomatics is only a
fixed program. But more advanced robots can have a degree of artificial
intelligense built in. The degree of intelligence can be of 4 stages.
- In stage 1. the
robot only does a sequence of strict preprogramed movements.
- In stage 2. the
robot still do a strict sequence of preprogrammed operations, but it senses the
surroundings and plan each movement in each operation so that it is done
optimally.
- In stage 3 there
is a purpose or higher command built in. The robot senses the surroundings
and compose the sequence of opertations to fullfill these purposes. During each
operation it again senses the surroundings and determine the best movements for
each operation.
- In stage 4 the
robot analyzes the outcome and echonomy af each operation and learns thereby how
to behave most efficiently. This learning will then make its bahaviour steadily
more efficient.
Robots have
gradually been being developed since the nineteen thirties. Only in the recent
years robots have been developed that can do any practical work. Still these
robots have a very limited use or can move around and act in a very limited
types of terrain or environment.
There have all the
time been two main types of problems that still are only partly solved. It has
been very difficult to construct robots that can move around in a complicated
terrain. Such a robot must have some forms of legs. Wheels do not work in a
difficult terrain.
It has however
been difficult to construct legs flexible enough to be useful. Secondly it has
been difficult to make programs and sensor systems to contole the movements of
robotic legs in a flexible way and appropriate way.
The way of making
such controle will probably be to have a logical controller for each limb. This
controller must get input from the controller of the paired limb, and input from
the controller of the limbs at front and behind, and even the controllers of any
limb at a greater distance. Then there must be a superior controller that gives
directions to each of the controllers of the limbs. These controllers can be
separaqte hardware units or program units in a common computer.
This is the way
that movements in simple animals are coordinated, for example movements of
insects. Anatomically these have a brain that works as the common controller. In
each section of their body they have a doubled nerve ganglion that controls the
two limbs in that section. They have a nerve string that issues commands and
information between the brain and all the ganglions. Probably the brain maily
issues commands about direction and speed to the other ganglions, and these then
controle and coordinate the movements of the limbs.
The other great
problem is to construct complicated legs, arms and working equipment that have enough
power. This must be some kind of muscular system, but a powerful muscular system
is very difficult to make. An solution may be some kind of electric muscles
containing powerful electromagnets that not only can extend or shorten the
muscle, but also can hold it rigidly at a definite length when great forces
pulls or pushes at the muscle.
Another
possibility is to construct muscles based on molecular technology (nano-technology)
that mimic the principles of muscles in living organisms, or even use living
muscles that have been grown in factories.
Robots that move
in a easy terrain and are capable of doing simple, or very specialized work are
by now in use.
An example is
robots used to disarm mines or other explosive objects. Another example is
diving robots used to explore subsea areas and fetch up objects from deep sea.
A third example
are robots used during laparoscopic surgery (key-hole surgery). The surgeon sits
comfortably at a controle station and conducts the work of the robot with
handles.
In factories where
goods are mass-produced, most of the assambling, fernisment and painting is by
now effected by robots. The movements of the robots are preprogrammed, often by
guiding the arms of the robots in a programming session. The robot memorizes the
movements and repeat them in daily production.
A drone is a robot
that can move through the air over a long distance. They are often constructed
as an ordinary airplane or helicopter. They can be operated from a bace, but can
also make their own decisions according to their probramming. Drones are by now
extensively used by the military for surveillance, for bombing and for
destroying targets by guns or missiles.
