PART 14

ROBOTICS

I. HISTORICAL OVERVIEW OF ROBOT DEVELOPMENT

1801
 Joseph Jacquard invents a textile machine that is operated by punch cards

1892
 In the US, Seward Babbit designed motorized crane with gripper to remove
ingots from a furnace.

1921
 First reference to the word robot appears in a play opening in London entitled
“Rossum’s Universal Robots”. The play was written by Czechoslovakian Karel
Capek introduces the word robot from the Czeck robota meaning serf or
subservient labor

1939
 Isaac Asimov’s science fiction writing introduces robots designed for humanity
and work safely. He formulate the “Three Laws of Robotics”

1946
 George Devol patents a general purpose playback device for controlling
machines

1948
 Norbert Wiener, a professor of Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
publishes Cybernetics, a book that describes the concept of communications and
control in electronic, mechanical and biological systems

1951
 A tele-operator equipped articulated arm is designed by Raymond Goertz for
the Atomic Energy Commission

1954
 The first programmable robot is designed by George Devol who coined the
term Universal Automation. Devol is joined by Joseph Engelberger in 1956 and
shorten the name to Unimation and form the first successful robot manufacturing
company

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II. ROBOTS

 A reprogrammable, multifunctional manipulator designed to move parts,

materials, tools or special devices through variable programmed motions for the
performance of a variety of different tasks.
 These multi-purpose machines are generally designed to carry out repetitive
function and be adapted to other functions.

1. Components of a Robot
a. Actuator
 Serves as the muscle of the system, produces the motion with power supplied
electrically, pneumatically or hydraulics

b. Communicator
 A unit transmitting information and receiving instructions from a remote
operator

c. Control Computer/ Controller

 The central computer that integrates the activity of several microprocessors
 Brain of the robot

d. End effectors
 Device at the end of the manipulator arm and use to make intentional contact
with an object
 Gripper, hooks, scoops

e. Manipulator
 Mechanism consisting of several segment or arms

f. Power Supply
 Generally some energy storage device such as battery for a mobile unit
otherwise hook up to the power grid

g. Sensor
 Usually a transducer of some kind whose inputs are physical phenomena and
whose outputs consists of electronic signals

2. Axes Control
a. Non Servo Control
 Movement of the robots axes is stopped by a hard mechanical stop placed in
the travel path
 Non-self correcting and not-self regulating

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b. Servo Control
 The servo control allows the mechanics of the robot to communicate with the
electronics of the controller.
 Equipped with feedback sensors so that controller knows the exact position of
the end effector at all times
 self correcting and self regulating

3. Drive Systems / Actuations

a. Pneumatic Drive
 reserved for smaller robots which are limited to simple, fast cycle and pick
place operation
 have two to four degrees of freedom
 quick response
 lower initial and operating cost than a hydraulic system
 accurate positioning and velocity control are impossible (requires mechanical
stops
 weak force capability

b. Hydraulic Drive
 used in larger robots
 generally heavy and require large floor space and heavy floor loadings
 great force capability
 great holding strength when stopped (will not sag)
 intrinsic safe in flammable environments such as paintings
 accurate servo type positioning and velocity control can br achieved
 Messy-tends to leak oil even in the periods when the robot is not in motion
 High initial and operating cost

c. Electric Drive
 Good for robots in light duty, precision applications but does not offer the speed
and strength of a hydraulic drive
 Used in electronic assembly where precision is required
 Clean –no oil leaks
 Lower initial and operating cost compared as compared to hydraulic and
pneumatic drive
 Less force capability as compared to hydraulic system

4. Robot’s Manipulator Arm Geometry

a. Cartesian Coordinates
 Uses three perpendicular slides to construct the X, Y and the Z axes
 Rectangular work space or work envelope
 Work envelope refers to the space with which the robot can use its wrist

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b. Cylindrical Coordinates
 Cylindrical configurations uses a vertical column and a slide that moves up and
down the column
 The work space is approximately a cylinder

c. Polar Coordinates
 Uses a telescoping arm that can be lowered or raised about a horizontal pivot
which is mounted on a rotating base

d. Articulate Coordinates
 This configuration consists of two straight components mounted on a vertical
pedestal
 A rotary joint connects one of the straight components to the pedestal while
another joins the straight components
 A wrist is attached to the end of the second straight component and provides
several additional joints

5. Wrist Rotation
a. Yaw axis
 Describes the wrist angular movement from the left side to the right side

b. Pitch axis
 Describes the wrist’s rotational movement up and down

c. Roll axis
 Describes the rotation around the end of the wrist

6. Degrees of Freedom
 Refers to different axes of motion of robotic arm
 The movement about one axis is hardware independent of movement about
any other axis.

Total no. of locations = 2n

Where n – degrees of freedom

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III. CLASSIFICATIONS OF ROBOTS

1. According to Control
a. Fixed/Variable Sequence
 Pick and place robots
 Point to point movement

b. Playback Robot
 Robots that memorizes the path and sequence of motion

c. Numerically Controlled Robot

 Servo-controlled by digital data

d. Intelligent Robot
 Equipped with a variety of sensors

2. According to Movement
a. Rectilinear /Cartesian
 Works with Cartesian manipulator arm geometry
 Movement is three direction only: up/down, left/right and front/back

b. Cylindrical Robot
 Robot whose work envelope is cylindrical
 Robot’s arm swings around its base with up and down motion

c. Spherical Robot
 Robot whose work envelope is spherical in shape and obviously it has spherical
manipulator arm geometry
 With polar articulation for waist and shoulder and rectilinear motion for reach
 The base moves in circular motion (up to 210 degrees) while its main arm
moves up and down and in and out(extension and retraction)

d. Fully Articulated Robot

 Robot with polar articulation for all degrees of movement
 One example is the SCARA(Selective Complaint Assembly Robot Arm) which
has six axes therefore increases its degrees of freedom
 Used in welding, painting, laser cutting and water jet cutting

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3. According to Program Used

a. Positive Stop
 Produces only 2 position motion
 Bang-bang motion

b. Point to Point
 Ability to move a robot axis to any position within its range

c. Continuous Path
 Like point to point
 Destination points are very closed together

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TEST YOURSELF 14
Review Questions

1. A robot that has the approximate appearance of a human being

a. Android
b. Cyborg
c. Nemic
d. Inhumanoid

Answer a. Android

2. A short term meaning a human being with artificial limbs or organs

a. Android
b. Cyborg
c. Nemic
d. Inhumanoid

Answer b. Cyborg

3. The operational basis for a machine, computer or mechanism to perform some function normally
associated with human intelligence
a. Intelligence
b. Artificial Intelligence
c. Knowledge
d. Heuristics

Answer b. Artificial Intelligence

4. A robot that performs tasks in the home

a. Household robot
b. Robomaid
c. Domestic robot
d. Buddy Robot

Answer c. Domestic robot

5. A program written by Joseph Weizenbaun to meet Turing’s definition of artificial intelligence.

a. MACBETH
b. ELIZA
c. AMJ
d. PARALLAX

Answer b. ELIZA

6. The desirable characteristics for handling the robots are

a. Good pay load capacity
b. Large work space/robot size ratio
c. Simple point to point control
d. All of the above

Answer d. All of the above

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7. SCARA robots are specifically designed for ______operations.

a. handling
b. welding
c. assembly
d. machining

Answer c. assembly

8. Robot classification is usually based on

a. Its manipulators anatomy
b. Its controller design
c. Its suitability for production tasks
d. All of the above

Answer d. All of the above

9. Which of the following country maintains the highest ratio of robot worker to human worker?
a. USA
b. UK
c. Japan
d. Germany

Answer c. Japan

10. A modern industrial robot is _______.

a. multi-functional
b. servo-controlled
c. programmable
d. all of the above

Answer d. all of the above

11. DC motors and stepper motors are mainly used in robots instead of AC motors because they
can
a. Be electronically controlled
b. Be operated by electric pulses
c. Withstand large overloads
d. Run at varying speed

Answer c. Withstand large overloads

12. Any solid object has a maximum _______degrees of freedom.

a. 3
b. 4
c. 5
d. 6

Answer d. 6

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13. Programming of a continuous path robot is normally carried out by a method called
________through.
a. lead
b. drive
c. walk
d. run

Answer c. walk

14. The essential feature of a non-servo controlled robot is that

a. it requires programmable logic controller
b. each of its axis can move only between hardware stops
c. it is small
d. it is used for heavy loads

Answer b. each of its axis can move only between hardware stops

15. The word “robot” was coined by

a. Kondratieff
b. Karel Capek
c. Cyril Walter Kenward
d. Jaime Licuanan

Answer b. Karel Capek

16. ________robot is primaril;y used for machining processes

a. Cincinatti T3
b. DEA PRAGMA
c. ADEPT One
d. Jolly 80

Answer a. Cincinatti T3

17. Serves as the muscle of the system, produces the motion with power supplied electrically,
pneumatically or hydraulically.
a. Communicator
b. Control Computer
c. Actuator
d. Manipulator

Answer c. Actuator

18. The arm assembly of the robot.

a. End effector
b. Manipulator
c. Actuator
d. Controller

Answer b. Manipulator

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19. ________is a device connected to the wrist’s flange of the manipulator’s arm. It is used in many
different situations in the production area.
a. End effector
b. Manipulator
c. Controller
d. Actuator

Answer a. End effector

20. Refers to the movement of the base of the robot

a. Actuation
b. Walk
c. Travel
d. Precession

Answer c. Travel

21. What is the other name for the axes found on the manipulator?
a. appendage
b. cycle time
c. degrees of freedom
d. actuator

Answer c. degrees of freedom

22. Describes the wrist’s angular movement from the left side to the right side.
a. Pitch
b. Roll
c. Rotation
d. Yaw

Answer d. Yaw

23. _______is a computer language developed in the 1950s at MIT. It is designed to manipulate
lists of symbols and is well suited for working with words and phrases
a. RAIL
b. BASIC
c. LISP
d. WAVE

Answer c. LISP

24. A high level programming language which was developed at the robotics research center at
Stanford University. It is useful for robotics research because it can provide coordination between
two arms of the robot.
a. MCL
b. AL
c. RPL
d. Assembly language

Answer b. AL

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25. It is a high level computer language developed by Robotronic Corporation to make

commanding a personal robot easier
a. Androtext
b. ARMBASIC
c. AML
d. HELP

Answer a. Androtext

26. It is considered as the robot’s brain.

a. chain knucle
b. sensor
c. end effector
d. controller

Answer d. controller

27. This is used to program and teach positional information for the manipulator.
a. operator’s panel
b. computer control
c. manual data input panel
d. teach pendant

Answer d. teach pendant

28. It is a robot software that produces only two position motion

a. pick and stop programs
b. point to point programs
c. continuous path programs
d. positive stop programs

Answer d. positive stop programs

29. A user program that has the ability to move a robot axis to any position within its range.
a. pick and place
b. point to point
c. positive stop
d. continuous path

Answer b. point to point

30. What are the basic categories of industrial robot?

a. fast and slow
b. mechanical and electrical
c. autobots and deceptions
d. pick and place manipulator and intelligent robot

Answer d. pick and place manipulator and intelligent robot

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31. It is a robot which is capable of decision making and has memory.

a. pick and place robot
b. expert robot
c. continuous robot
d. intelligent robot

Answer d. intelligent robot

32. It is a robot structure wherein the body can pivot vertically and horizontally and the arm moves
radially.
a. polar structure
b. pivotal
c. cylindrical structure
d. roborat

Answer a. polar structure

33. It is a robot structure wherein the body can rotate horizontally and the arm can move vertically
and horizontally.
a. polar structure
b. pivotal
c. cylindrical structure
d. roborat

Answer c. cylindrical structure

34. The total weight that a robot arm can carry.

a. burden capacity
b. payload
c. gripper
d. power

Answer b. payload

35. Which is not the usual power source that steers the arm of the robot?
a. thermionic
b. hydraulic
c. pneumatic
d. electric

Answer a. thermionic

36. The ______are two of the most common mechanical configurations of industrial robots.
a. spherical and pneumatic
b. articulated arm and cylindrical
c. spherical and hydraulic
d. jointed-arm and electric

Answer b. articulated arm and cylindrical

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37. A system in which the precise movement of a large load is controlled by a relatively weak
signal.
a. hydraulic
b. electro
c. synchro
d. servo

Answer d. servo

38. A limited robot sequence is__________.

a. pick and place
b. point to point
c. continuous path
d. robota

Answer a. pick and place

39. The first patent for an industrial robot was developed in 1954 by_______.
a. Asimov
b. Maniko
c. Devol
d. Hitachi

Answer c. Devol

40. The operational space of a robot is________.

a. coordinate system
b. dead zone
c. degrees of freedom
d. work envelope

Answer c. degrees of freedom

41. The individual sections of the robot arm between the joints are_______.
a. arms
b. branches
c. links
d. axes

Answer c. links

42. The control system for sport welding is__________.

a. point to point
b. pick and place
c. continuous path
d. point to multi-point

Answer a. point to point

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43. _______is a type of actuator of industrial robots that has great force capability and great
holding strength when stopped.
a. pneumatic
b. steam
c. electric
d. hydraulic

Answer d. hydraulic

44. __________, a professor at MIT publishes cybernetics, a book which describes the concept of
communications and control in electronic, mechanical and biological systems
a. Willard Polard
b. Seward Babitt
c. John Mauchly
d. Norber Wiener

Answer d. Norber Wiener

45. Stanford Research Institute (SRI) built and tested a mobile robot with vision capability is called
________.
a. Unimate
b. Universal automation
c. Cybernetics
d. Shakey

Answer d. Shakey

46. Riochard Hohn for Cincinnati Milacron Corporation develops the first commercially available
minicomputer-controlled industrial robot. The robot is called the ______.The Tomorrow Tool.
a. T3
b. Universal Automation
c. Versatran
d. Shakey

Answer a. T3

47. Joseph Engelberger starts Transition Robotics, later named _______, to develop service
robots.
a. Helpmates
b. Playmates
c. Classmates
d. Servicemates

Answer a. Helpmates

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48. The ability of a robot to produce meaningful speech output

a. Speech synthesis
b. Speech detection
c. Speech refinement
d. Speech recognition

Answer a. Speech synthesis

49. The length of time in years required for a robot to pay for itself through the savings it provides.
a. Propagation Period
b. Delay period
c. Payload period
d. Payback Period

Answer d. Payback Period

50. Condensed human intelligence on some subject area. A human is led through the system by
answering a series of questions asked by the system.
a. Robot choreography
b. Expert system
c. Roboteer
d. Knowledge system

Answer b. Expert system

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