Fundamentals of Robotics
16ME6DEROB
Unit - 1
Chapter - 1: Introduction
Prepared by
Narahari, Asst. Prof., ME
Introduction
• Robotics
• One of the most 'fascinating' fields today.
• Most fertile topic for all sorts of 'fiction'.
• Most promising field for technological developments.
• ...
• In fact, it is so claimed that,
• we are in the midst of a robotics-revolution and
• this revolution will have far reaching effects on humanity
• more than that of the famed Industrial Revolution of 17th Century.
Introduction (Cont'd)
• Robot:
• The word robot is derived from a Czech word 'robota' meaning: “Slave
Labour”.
• This word was adopted into English language in the year 1923.
• Robotics:
• Refers to the field of 'study of robots'.
Robotics - History
• The word 'robot' came into English in 1923 from the translation of a 1921
Czech play R.U.R (Rossum's Universal Robot) by Karel Capek.
• In the above mentioned play, the author depicted the robots as very efficient
beings.
• He also made them look like highly indistinguishable from humans except for
their lack of emotions.
• These robots were shown as replacement for human-workers.
• In the play, the robots rebel against their human masters and destroy the
entire human race except for one man so that, he can continue making more
robots.
• But, unfortunately, the formula for robot making gets lost in the destruction.
Robotics - History (Cont'd)
• Issac Asimov (1920-1992), an American science-fiction writer, wrote a
story titled “Runaround”, in 1942, in which he first used the word
'robotics'.
• In contrast to Capek's play, he portrays robots as totally harmless
beings which are in complete control of the humans.
• The salient feature of this story was that, it explicitly proposed the
famous “Three Laws of Robotics”.
• But, the modern industrial robot, when it first made its appearance
bore little resemblance to the science-fiction-inspired androids /
humanoids.
Robotics - History (Cont'd)
• The modern industrial robot was first patented by George C Devol in
1954.
• He named it as: “programmable articulated transfer device”.
• He along with J. Engleberger founded the world's first robot (or
robotics) company, “Unimation Inc” in 1956.
• They manufactured the first industrial robot, called Unimate.
• This robot Unimate was purchased by General Motors in 1961 and
installed at an automobile plant in New Jersey, USA.
Robotics - History (Cont'd) When the actual
industrial robots came
into existence, they bore
little resemblance to the
science-fiction-inspired
androids / humanoids.
Programmable Universal Machine Cincinatti Milacron T3 (The
for Assembly (PUMA) 560 Tomorrow Tool) Robot
Robot
• Definition:
• As per Robot Institute of America, a robot is “a re-programmable multi-functional
manipulator designed to move materials, parts, tools or specialized devices through
various programmed motions for the performance of a variety of tasks”.
• As per Webster dictionary, a robot is “an automatic device that performs functions
normally ascribed to humans or a machine in the form a human”.
• The most important of the keywords is: re-programmable.
• This word has closely linked the development of robots to the rapid
development of the digital computer and developments in the art and
science of computing.
• Thus, the most essential component of a robotic system is:
• a computer or a microprocessor that allows running of different robot programs for
various applications.
Robot (Cont'd)
• How is a robot different from a CNC machine?
• The word 're-programmable' distinguishes a robot from a CNC machine since the
level and sophistication of re-programmability is significantly higher in an industrial
robot.
• Machines, which are for the most part limited to one class of task are considered
fixed automation.
• In addition to re-programmability, another key aspect in the development
of the modern industrial robot is, the concept and implementation of the
feedback control.
• Feedback control allows the execution of the program or the desired
motion with the required accuracy in spite of 'small' changes in the robot
or the environment.
• Thus, it helps in improving the performance of the robots.
Robotics - History (Cont'd)
• In the late 1980s and early 1990s, the growth in the use of industrial
robots slowed down significantly (except in Japan).
• One of the main reasons for this drop was:
• they could not emulate humans at all (except for a little).
• The robots were unable to perform tasks that human operators could
perform quite easily like:
• avoiding obstacles in a cluttered workspace,
• recognizing and manipulating objects (screws, bolts etc.)
• adapting and reacting quickly to changes in the environment etc.
• A feeling started to seep in that: industrial robots were essentially blind,
deaf and dumb.
Robotics - History (Cont'd)
• With the advancement in sensing and computing, the modern industrial
robots are easier to program and use.
• They are also more flexible and more intelligent.
• With the help of sensor technology, very-high computational abilities and
advanced feedback control methods, the late 1990s saw a renewed
interest in the use of robots.
• For more detailed event-list in history, refer to: Page 6 of 'Robotics:
Fundamental Concepts & Analysis' by Ghosal A.
Robots - Applications
• List of applications of modern industrial robots is endless.
• To name a few main areas of applications:
• Hazardous & harsh environments (radioactive environments, satellites operations,
planet/moon-rovers etc.)
• High-sensitivity environments (ultra-clean rooms of electronic industries etc.)
• Repetitive tasks (mass-manufacturing, material-handling etc.)
• High Precision & Quality jobs
• Frequently changing designs & patterns (Consumer goods & electronics etc.)
• Apart from the above mentioned industrial usage, following domains are
also seeing increased usage of robots:
• Entertainment industry (movies, Aibo etc.)
• Medicine & surgical uses (robotic system Da Vinci used for heart-surgery etc.)
• Domestic servants (both human like & non-human like) etc.,
Robots - Classification
• Robots are generally classified according to their number of degrees of
freedom or axes.
• The degrees of freedom of a robot approximately indicates its capability.
• Based on its DOF, there are 9, 8, 6, 5 or 4 axes robots.
• Based on its configuration, a robot may be a Cartesian, spherical or
cylindrical robot.
• Based on number of ends fixed, there are serial (only one end fixed)
manipulators and parallel (both ends fixed) manipulators.
• Based on the complexity (or simplicity) of the robots capabilities, the
robots are classified as: playback robots and computer-controlled robots.
Robots - Anatomy
• The most important form of industrial robot is
termed as 'Mechanical Manipulator'.
• The anatomy of this mechanical manipulator
consists of:
• Rigid (almost) links
• Joints: usually revolute, but sometimes, even
prismatic
• End-effector: This is the device which is present at
the end of the chain of links that make up the
manipulator. This could be: a gripper / a welding
torch / an electromagnet / any other device.
• The position of the manipulator is stated by
giving a description of:
• the tool frame, which is attached to the end-effector,
relative to
• the base frame, which is attached to the non-moving
base of the manipulator.
Robots - Anatomy (Cont'd)
• Each joint is connected to two links, an input link and an
output link.
• Joint provides controlled relative movement between the
input link and output link.
• A robotic link is the rigid component of the robot
manipulator.
• Most of the robots are mounted upon a stationary base,
such as the floor.
• From this base, a joint-link numbering scheme may be
recognized as shown in the Figure.
• The robotic base and its connection to the first joint are
termed as link-0.
• The first joint in the sequence is joint-1.
• Link-0 is the input link for joint-1, while the output link from
joint-1 is link-1—which leads to joint-2.
• Thus link 1 is, simultaneously, the output link for joint-1 and
the input link for joint-2.
• This joint-link-numbering scheme is further followed for all
joints and links in the robotic systems.
