Introduction to automation and robotics
Professor Gurvinder S Virk
Technical Director
InnotecUK Limited
Email: [email protected]
Why robots (automation)?
Manual systems can work well in a wide range of
applications as humans are very versatile
Sensor:
Thermometer
Actuator: Heater
Manual heating control system
… but humans
Can get tired and complacent
Can get confused when multiple decisions are
needed and rapidly
Can suffer from mental overload
Can yield variable performances, etc
Need for automation and
machinery (+Robots) to help!
Use system theory Ref Input
Output
U System
via closed loop control ideas Y
Y(s)=G(s)/(1+G(s))
- Comparison G(s)
Good behaviour but complex and
leads to instability. Measurement
Introduction to robotics
Industrial
robots
Service
robots
4
Robots comprise many aspects
Obvious things are:
• Mechanical body to give it a “presence”
• Sensors for awareness (internal and external)
• Intelligence for “decision making”
• Actuators for moving itself or objects in its environment
• Energy supply to power things
• Some kind of “mission”
Not so obvious:
• Use-ability: Tele-operated versus autonomy
• Robot kinematics (Forward-Inverse)
• Fixed and mobile robots
• Motion planning – navigation
• Constraints: (non-holonomic, joint types and link
workspaces, payloads)
• One robot or many?: how to co-operate? (H-R, R-R)
Why robots?
What is our fascination with robots?
• Robots are like biological creatures but they are ONLY
artificial systems which can sense, plan, act (motion)
How do we design them?
• Needs of the future?
SENSE
Mechanical eng
Electronics
Computing
Mathematics
PLAN
Artificial Intelligence
Physics
Psychology Other
Ergonomics
ACT entities
Basic structure of a general system
A system is a combination of components
connected to each other:
• Input signal, u(t)
• Output response, y(t)
• System itself, represented by operator G
Components related by
• y(t)=Gu(t)
Gain
Input, U System Output
Y
Phase
G(s)
Learning from biology
Amputee stick insect walking
Normal stick insect walking
8
Medical robots: Da Vinci
Why da Vinci surgery?
Effectiveness
Patient Value =
Invasiveness
Minimally Invasive Surgery offers potential
benefits over Open:
• Reduced blood loss
• Reduced complications
• Reduced length of hospitalization / time to return
to work
Operation of the Da Vinci
10
Autonomous cars
11
Brief history of automation
Jacques de Vaucanson builds a mechanical duck made
of more than 4,000 parts. The duck could quack, flap
1738 its wings, bathe, drink water, eat grain, digest it and
void it. Whereabouts of the duck are unknown today;
its working is still a mystery.
1805 Doll, made by Maillardet, that wrote 3 poems
in French (2) or English (1) and 4 drawings.
The restored doll is on exhibit in the Franklin
Institute in Philadelphia, see
http://www.fi.edu/pieces/knox/automaton/
12
Maillardet doll and it’s sketches
13
Brief history of automation
Karel Capek coins the term robot in his play Rossum’s Universal
1921 Robots (R.U.R). Robot comes from the Czech word robota, which
means “servitude, forced labor.”
1940 Sparko, the Westinghouse dog, uses
both mechanical and electrical
components. It accompanied Electro a
humanoid robot.
14
Brief history of automation/robotics
1950’s Computer technology advances and control machinery is developed.
-1960’s Questions Arise: Is the computer an immobile robot?
Industrial Robots created. Robotic Industries Association states that an
“industrial robot is a re-programmable, multifunctional manipulator
designed to move materials, parts, tools, or specialized devices through
variable programmed motions to perform a variety of tasks”.
15
Brief history of robotics
1956 Researchers aim to combine “perceptual and
problem-solving capabilities,” using computers,
cameras, and touch sensors. The idea is to study
the types of intelligent actions these robots are
capable of. A new discipline is born: A.I.
1960 Shakey is made at Stanford Research Institute
International. It contained a television camera,
range finder, on-board logic, bump sensors,
camera control unit, and an antenna for a radio
link. Shakey was controlled by a computer in a
different room.
16
Development of technology
PROGRAMMING/
MECHANISMS
INTELLIGENCE
1882 Babbit Crane with
motorised gripper 1801 Jacquard Weaving loom controlled by
punchcards
1936 Pollard Jointed mechanical Spencer
1820s Programmable lathe
arm for paint
(interchangeable cam guides)
spraying
1940s Teleoperators for
1946 Devol Magnetic process controller –
handling radioactive
automatic playback for machine
material
control
1947 Goertz Teleoperator 1946 Eckert/ ENIAC electronic computer
powered by electric Mauchly
servomotors
1952 MIT Numerically controlled machine
tool
17
Robot developments
ROBOTS
1954 Devol Patent for manipulator with playback memory
1959 Planet Corp First commercial robot manipulator
1960 Unimation Inc First commercially successful manipulator (the Unimate
from George Devol’s design)
1962 Unimation Inc Industrial manipulator installed (GM assembly line)
1973 Cincinatti Mini-computer controlled manipulator
Milacron Corp
1976 Vicarm Inc Micro-processor controller manipulator
1976 NASA Viking 1 and 2 landers use manipulators to collect soil
samples on Mars
1978 Unimation Inc Mass produced microprocessor controlled manipulator
Latest robots
Google(Boston Dynamics) BigDog & LittleDog
Dyson 360 Eye
Raytheon XOS2
ABB
Yumi
Honda Asimo
Drones
Google Schaft
Willow Garage (Human-like
(DARPA ‘13-15)
Toyota Robotic Band Interaction)
19
robot: (noun) …
What is a
robot?
20
The origin of the word
The word robot was first used by the Czech
writer Karel Capek in a play entitled Rossum’s
Universal Robots in 1921. Capek’s robots
were hard-working humanoid machines. The
word derives from robota, the Czech word for
slave labourer
The term robotics, meaning the technical field
encompassing robot technology, was first
used by Isaac Asimov in 1942 in a short story
entitled Runaround
Azimov’s rules for robots
0. Robots must not injure humanity, or
through, inaction, allow humanity come to
harm
1. Robots must not harm humans or, through
inaction, allow harm to come to them
2. Robots must obey orders given by
humans, except where this conflicts with
First Law
3. Robots must protect their own existence
as long as protection does not conflict
with Laws 1-3
So what IS a Robot?
What is a robot?
There is no widely accepted definition of robot
ISO definition of robot (industrial robot): pre-2012
• an automatically controlled, reprogrammable, multipurpose manipulator,
programmable in three or more axes which may be either fixed in place or
mobile for use in industrial automation applications
New service robots emerging and this definition is too narrow and the
definition does not cover these emerging applications. Defining robot
is tricky, but the key features are felt to the following:
• it should be adaptable to a variety of tasks
• It should be able to operate with a degree of autonomy, i.e. without
constant supervision
Current ISO 8373 (2012) definition: actuated mechanism programmable
in two or more axes with a degree of autonomy, moving within its
environment, to perform intended tasks
New ISO TC184/SC2 definition (2015): programmed actuated
mechanism with a degree of autonomy, moving within its environment,
to perform intended tasks
Industrial robots
Fixed-base jointed robot arms plus mobile platforms used
in manufacturing applications for tasks such as:
Spot welding Handling Assembling Machining Polishing Inspecting Palletizing
¨
Have been commercialised since 1960s and international
standards have been produced for them by ISO
TC184/SC2 (Robots and robotics devices)
Are powerful (and dangerous) machines able to carry
heavy payloads and perform complex tasks in well
defined environments referred to as “the work cell”
Trends to include collaborative modes but are designed
and used by keeping humans and robots separated
Industrial robot examples
Motoman
vegetable
handling
Comau robots
Kawasaki Rubic
cube solver
26
Industrial robot examples (2)
Motoman two robots Motoman two-arm
in work cell manipulator in work cell
Two Motoman robots
working collaboratively
27
Conclusions
Introduction to automation and
robotics
• History, overview and why
Different design methods
Manufacturing robots: Forward and
inverse kinematics
Thanks are expressed to all the colleagues (too many to
mention individually) across the world who have helped with
the formulation of this lecture on Automation and Robotics
from material placed on the www
