Robotics

by George Devol in 1954

it was called the Unimate

Generally:

• Some kind of controller (such as a computer, microcontroller or PLC)
• Servos and actuators (as needed for the tasks of the automated device)
• Assorted gears, cables, relays, sensors
• Some kind of power supply; typically a battery
• Other electronic devices as deemed necessary, such as IC chips, diodes, UARTS or other communication chips, RF controllers
• And anything else you can dream up that might be useful in the robot you're trying to build.

Good luck; robotics can be a fun and enjoyable hobby.The most fun is when you dig into the controller and figure out how to make your robot accomplish the tasks that you want it to perform. Programming your robot can be both challenging and rewarding.

The differences between robots and humans include:

• Humans have a biological form; robots do not.
• Humans have living tissue that makes up skin, muscles, tendons, ligaments, bones, joints, blood, and all organs including the brain; robots do not.
• Humans are born after 9 months of being carried and nourished in a female human's uterus; Robots are constructed (built).
• Human infants can see, hear, smell, taste, and touch within the womb and can use these senses from birth, even though eyesight is poor at birth; robots cannot.
• Humans have instinctual knowledge from birth; robots do not.
• Humans begin learning from the moment of birth; robots must wait until the last piece of hardware and last portion of software are active, and can only "learn" if that is part of their programming.
• Humans move in a variety of ways and because of the biological make up can twist, turn, sit, lay, walk, run, jump, climb, and -- scratch; robots do not easily move and do not have the neuro-muscular control that humans have so robots cannot perform all the movements that a human can do.
• Robots do not feel sensations (heat, cold, itching, etc.) so they will not respond to surface sensory stimuli; a human will scratch an itch, rub an area of skin that is cold, etc.
• Humans have sweat glands; robots don't.
• Humans have reproductive organs; robots don't, so they can never bear their own young.
• Humans have hormones and emotions that act together to make humans want to have sex; robots don't have any sexual urges.
• Humans need and seek love; Robots can exist without both.

• Robots may be able to preform mathematical calculations faster, but robots cannot discuss, explain, or defend their answers. These are higher functioning skills within the human brain.
• Robots will never know the "gray area" of decision-making, whereas humans must make decisions between "not so bad" and "not so good" every day.
• Robots can never experience loss-- whether of self or someone else. For example, a victim of a car accident may lose a leg and grieves that loss, but a robot wouldn't react if its leg was removed. A mother will grieve for years after the death of her child, but the death would not phase a robot.
• Robots cannot know the pressure and drive behind hopes and dreams. A human, though, can hold onto a hope or dream for decades, and repeatedly seek ways to make that hope or dream a reality.
• Robots can help humans do some tasks faster, but a robot can never fall in love or fall in love as fast as a human can.

There's likely more to add, but these points are key.

Programming of most current robots is performed using basic instructions such as:

• Raise control arm to index (find out where you are)
• Open manipulator fingers to index (find out where you are)
• Turn motor shaft clockwise to index point (find out where you are)
• Turn motor shaft counter-clockwise 35 pulses of the encoder. (correlates with a specific angle)
• Lower control arm until resistance is detected on manipulator 'down' pressure switch.
• close manipulator fingers until fingertip pressure detector detects resistance.
• Raise control arm to index.
• turn motor shaft clockwise an additional 70 pulses of the encoder...

These types of basic motions will vary from one robot to another, and can be grouped together into "routines", allowing the engineer to "call" a specific task rather than program the entire set every time.

Robots do not learn by watching someone perform the task.

Another way that a robot can "learn" a task would be for the engineer to physically move a robot through a specific task, using something like a "joy stick" and instructing the robot to store the moves for later repetition; but in that case, the robot would simply be storing instructions similar to what is described above.

Actually robots r d best 4 humans in d sense they don't fall into wrong hands. Havin a robot can accomplish anything

A player piano could be considered to be a robot.

Robotic welders are used in the auto industry to make every vehicle identical and to eliminate errors.

Robotic cameras are attached to robotic vehicles to allow us to see into areas that may be too hazardous for humans. Attach a robotic arm and we can move things and see what we're doing in those hazardous conditions.

Ignorance about robots tends to make some people believe that robots are capable of a sentient existence. It is the lack of understanding along with the fantasy of Hollywood motion pictures that causes the ignorant among us to believe that robotics has developed far beyond our current technology.

We still can't make a robot that can walk with anything approaching a human gait.

Believe what you want about robots, but the reality is far less entertaining.