St.

Thomas College of Engineering & Technology

Department of Computer Science & Engineering (AI & ML)

MODULE 1 : Introduction to robotics

Introduction to robotics – Degrees of freedom, Robot types- Manipulators- Anatomy of a

robotic manipulator-links, joints, actuators, sensors, controllers. Robot configurations-
PPP, RPP, RRP, RRR. Mobile robots- wheeled, legged, aerial robots, underwater robots,
surface water robots . Dynamic characteristics- speed of motion, load carrying capacity
& speed of response. Introduction to End effectors - mechanical grippers, special tools,
Magnetic grippers, Vacuum grippers, adhesive grippers, Active and Passive grippers.
Ethics in robotics - 3 laws - applications of robots.

DEFINITION

There is no clear definition of a “robot”!

The Robot Institute of America (1969) defines robot as

“.... a re-programmable, multi-functional manipulator designed to move materials, parts,

tools or specialized devices through various programmed motions for theperformance of
a variety of tasks”.

Currently the term “robots” are used more broadly as an

“intelligent agent, physical or virtual, capable of doing a task autonomously or with

guidance”.

Webster‟s defined robot as “an automatic device that performs functions ordinarily
ascribed to human beings”.

ROBOT:

The term „robot‟ was derived from the English translation of a fantasy play written in
Czechoslovakia around 1920. „Robota‟ means either a slave or mechanical item that
would help its master. A robot carries out the task done by a human being. A robot may
do assembly work where some sort of intelligence or decision making capability is
expected.
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ROBOTICS:
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Robotics is the science of designing and building robots suitable for real- life applications
in automated manufacturing and non-manufacturing environment.

INTRODUCTION

• Initial robot usage was primarily in industrial application such as part/material

handling, welding and painting and few in handling of hazardous material.

• Most initial robots operated in teach-playback mode, and replaced

„repetitive‟ and „back-breaking‟ tasks.

• Growth and usage of robots slowed significantly in late 1980‟s and early 1990‟s
due to “lack of intelligence” and “ability to adapt” to changing environment – Robots
were essentially blind, deaf and dumb!

• Last 15 years or so, sophisticated sensors and programming allow robots to act
much more intelligently, autonomously and react to changes in environments faster.

• Present-day robots Used in:

cluttered workspaces in homes and factories,

Interact safely with humans in close proximity,

Operate autonomously in hazardous environments,

Used in entertainment and in improving quality of life.

Types of Robots

Manipulators (Robotic Arm)

Mobile Robots

Aerial Robots

Manipulators (Robotic Arm)

A robotic arm is a type of mechanical arm, usually programmable, with similar functions
to a human arm; the arm may be the sum total of the mechanism or may be part of a more
complex robot. The links of such a manipulator are connected by joints allowing either
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rotational motion (such as in an articulated robot) or translational (linear) displacement.

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The links of the manipulator can be considered to form a kinematic chain. The terminus
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of the kinematic chain of the manipulator is called the end effector and it is analogous to
the human hand.

Mobile Robots

Mobile robots have the capability to move around in their environment and are not fixed
to one physical location. Mobile robots can be "autonomous" (AMR - autonomous mobile
robot) which means they are capable of navigating an uncontrolled environment without
the need for physical or electro-mechanical guidance devices. Alternatively, mobile
robots can rely on guidance devices that allow them to travel a pre-defined navigation
route in relatively controlled space (AGV - autonomous guided vehicle).

Legged robots are a type of mobile robot, which use articulated limbs, such as leg
mechanisms, to provide locomotion. They are more versatile than wheeled robots and
can traverse many different terrains, though these advantages require increased
complexity and power consumption. Legged robots often imitate legged animals, such
as humans or insects, in an example of biomimicry
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Wheeled Robot

Wheeled robots are robots that navigate around the ground using motorized wheels to
propel themselves. This design is simpler than using treads or legs and by using wheels
they are easier to design, build, and program for movement in flat, not-so-rugged terrain.
They are also more well controlled than other types of robots. Disadvantages of wheeled
robots are that they can not navigate well over obstacles, such as rocky terrain, sharp
declines, or areas with low friction. Wheeled robots are most popular among the
consumer market, their differential steering provides low cost and simplicity. Robots can
have any number of wheels, but three wheels are sufficient for static and dynamic
balance. Additional wheels can add to balance; however, additional mechanisms will be
required to keep all the wheels in the ground, when the terrain is not flat.

Aerial Robots

It‟s also called as Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV). An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV)
(or drone) is an aircraft without a human pilot on board and a type of unmanned vehicle.
UAVs are a component of an unmanned aircraft system (UAS); which include a UAV, a
ground-based controller, and a system of communications between the two. The flight of
UAVs may operate with various degrees of autonomy: either under remote control by a
human operator, autonomously by onboard computers or piloted by an autonomous
robot.
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Robot Anatomy

A robot as a system, consists of a manipulator or rover, a wrist, an end-effector,

actuators, sensors, controllers, processors, and software.

Robot Manipulators are composed of links connected by joints into a kinematic chain.

Link

A robot arm or a robot link is a rigid member that may have relative motion with
respect to all other links.

Joint

Two links are connected by contact at a joint where their relative motion can be
expressed by a single coordinate. Joints are typically revolute (rotary) or prismatic
(translatory).

A revolute joint (R), is like a hinge and allows relative rotation between two links.

A prismatic joint (P), allows a translation of relative motion between two links.

Relative rotation of connected links by a revolute joint occurs about a line called axis of
joint. Also, translation of two connected links by a prismatic joint occurs along a line also
called axis of joint.
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manipulator executes all possible motions. The workspace is limited by the geometry
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of the manipulator as well as mechanical constraints on the joints. For example, a revolute

joint may be limited to less than a full 360 degrees of motion.

The workspace is further divided into a reachable workspace and a dextrous workspace.

• The reachable workspace is the entire set of points reachable by the manipulator.

• The dextrous workspace consists of those points that the manipulator can
reach with an arbitrary orientation of the end-effector.

Obviously, the dextrous workspace is a subset of the reachable workspace.

Manipulator

The main body of a robot consisting of the links, joints, and other structural elements, is
called the manipulator. A manipulator becomes a robot when the wrist and gripper are
attached, and the control system is implemented. However, in literature robots and
manipulators are utilized equivalently and both refer to robots.

Wrist

The joints in the kinematic chain of a robot between the forearm and end effector are
referred to as the wrist. It is common to design manipulators with spherical wrists. The
spherical wrist greatly simplifies the kinematic analysis effectively. This allows to have 3
joints for positioning and a spherical wrist for orientation of end-effector. Thus the arm
will have 6 DoF ( 3 for positioning

The value of the single coordinate describing the relative position of two connected
links at a joint is called joint coordinate or joint variable. It is an angle for a revolute
joint, and a distance for a prismatic joint.

active joint
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The coordinate of an active joint is controlled by an actuator. Active joints are usually
prismatic or revolute

passive joint

A passive joint does not have any actuator. Passive joints are also called inactive or free
joints.

There are six different lower pair joints: revolute, prismatic, cylindrical, screw, spherical,
and planar. Revolute and prismatic joints are the most common joints that are utilized in
serial robotic manipulators.

Degrees of Freedom and Workspace

The number of joints determines the degrees-of-freedom (DOF) of the manipulator.

Typically, a manipulator should possess at least six independent DOF: three for
positioning (x,y,z) and three for orientation (roll, pitch, yaw). If the robot has less than six
DOF the arm cannot reach every point in its work environment. Certain applications such
as reaching around or behind obstacles require more than six DOF. The difficulty of
controlling a manipulator increases rapidly with the number of links. A manipulator
having more than six links is referred to as a kinematically redundant manipulator.
workspace
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The workspace of a manipulator is the total volume swept out by the end- effector as the
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and 3 for orientation) . We may design a wrist having one, two, or three DOF depending
on the application.

end-effector

The end-effector is the part mounted on the last link to do the required job of the robot.
The simplest end-effector is a gripper, which is usually capable of only two actions:
opening and closing. The arm and wrist assemblies of a robot are used primarily for
positioning the end-effector and any tool it may carry. It is the end-effector or tool that
actually performs the work. Thus, a robot is composed of a manipulator or mainframe
and a wrist plus a tool. The wrist and end-effector assembly is also called a hand.

Actuators

Actuators are drivers that move the joints in robots to change their configuration. The
actuators provide power to act on the mechanical structure against gravity, inertia, and
other external forces to modify the geometric location of the robot. The actuators can be
of electric, hydraulic, or pneumatic type and have to be controllable.

Sensors

The sensors are elements used for detecting and collecting information about internal
conditions of robot and its surrounding environmental states. Generally, joint position,
velocity, acceleration, and force are the most important information to be sensed. Sensors,
integrated into the robot, send information about each link and joint to the control unit,
and the control unit determines the configuration of the robot.

Controller

The controller or control unit includes the processor and software. It has three roles.

1. Information role, which consists of collecting and processing the information

provided by the robot‟s sensors.

2. Decision role, which consists of planning the geometric motion of the robot
structure.

3. Communication role, which consists of organizing the information between the

robot and its environment.

Open Kinematic chain vs Closed Kinematic chain

kinematic chain is an assembly of rigid links connected by joints to provide desired

motion. This assembly is represented by a mathematical model (Kinetic model) for a
robotic system. Mathematical models of the connections, or joints, between two links
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are termed kinematic pairs. A kinematic diagram is a schematic of the mechanical system
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that shows the kinematic chain. Many of the kinematic chains that are popular today have
the links connected sequentially starting from a fixed base. Typically, each link is
connected to the previous link in the link chain by a joint (revolute, prismatic, or
spherical) and all of the joints are actuated.

In an open link chain or “open kinematic chain” the last link in the chain is connected
from one end to a previous link but is free from the other end resulting In the robotics
literature, we usually refer to open kinematic chains as “serial robots.”

Some kinematic chains differ from this structure in which the links are connected in series
as well as in parallel combinations forming one or more closed-link loops. We will refer
to these mechanisms as “closed kinematic chains” or “closed-chain mechanisms.”
Typically, not all joints of closed- chain mechanisms are actuated. In the robotics
literature, we refer to these mechanisms as “parallel robots.”

Figure below shows planar examples of an open kinematic chain (serial robot) and a
closed kinematic chain (parallel robot). For closed-chain mechanisms, the actuators are
typically placed lower (closer to the base or on the base itself) in the link chain. This makes
the moving parts lighter which can lead to greater efficiency and faster acceleration at the
end effector. Closed-chain mechanisms offer also greater rigidity to weight ratio.
Therefore, they are more suitable for fast assembly lines.

Robot Specifications (Robot Consideration for an Application)

The various specifications of robot are:

1) Work envelope: It’s the envelope or space within which the robot can manipulate
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the end of the wrist. It depends on the number of joints, physical size of the joints and
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links and the ranges of various joints.

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2) Load carrying capacity: The load that can be carried by the robot depends on its
physical size, construction and its capability to transmit force and torque to the end
effector in the wrist. Generally, for light robots this comes to around 1.5 kg. For heavier
class robots this may go up to 1000Kg.

3) Speed of movement: It is the speed at which a robot is capable of manipulating its

end-effector. Its governed by :

a) Distance to be moved;

b) The weight of the part to be moved;

c) The accuracy required in placement of the part in position.

4) Repeatability: It is the measure of the robots ability to position an object at a

previously taught point in the work envelope.

5) Control resolution: It relates to the systems capability to divide the range of the
total movement into closely spaced points that can be

identified. Thus , it would represent the minimum noticeable movement achievable.

6) Spatial resolution: Whereas control resolution only concerns one joint or one link,
spatial resolution combines the control resolution of all motions and also considers the
mechanical errors in the points and associated links.

7) Mechanical errors: The mechanical errors result from; backlash in gears,

hysteresis, deflection of links, hydraulic leaks etc.

8) Accuracy: It is the measure of the ability of robot to position the end of the wrist
at the desired location in the work envelope.

9) Stability: It relates to the amount of overshoot and oscillations in robot motion as

it is about to reach a certain location.

Accuracy , Repeatability and precision

The accuracy of a manipulator is a measure of how close the manipulator can come to a
given point within its workspace.

Repeatability is a measure of how close a manipulator can return to a previously taught

point.

Most present day manipulators are highly repeatable but not very accurate. The reason
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is that the angular/translator position of the joints have slight error. The primary method
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of sensing this positioning errors in most cases is with position encoders located at the
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joints. There is typically no direct measurement of the end-effector position and

orientation. One must rely on the assumed geometry of the manipulator and its rigidity
to infer (i.e., to calculate) the end-effector position from the measured joint angles.

Thus, accuracy is affected by:

• computational errors,

• machining accuracy in the construction of the manipulator,

• flexibility effects such as the bending of the links under gravitational and other
loads

• gear backlash

• other static and dynamic effects.

It is primarily for this reason that robots are designed with extremely high rigidity.
Without high rigidity, accuracy can only be improved by some sort of direct sensing of
the end-effector position, such as with vision.

The computer generally stores position error in accuracy and is used in the programming
to take care that error doesn’t add up in the long run. Repeatability therefore is affected
primarily by the controller resolution or precision. Controller resolution means the
smallest increment of motion that the controller can sense. prismatic joints, typically have
higher resolution than revolute joints, since the straight line distance traversed by the tip
of a linear axis between two points is less than the corresponding arc length traced by the
tip of a rotational link.

Classification of Robot Based on Control Systems

1. Point-to-point (PTP) control robot: is capable of moving from one point to another
point. The locations are recorded in the control memory. PTP robots do not control the
path to get from one point to the next point. Common applications include component
insertion, spot welding, hole drilling, machine loading and unloading, and crude
assembly operations.

2. Continuous-path (CP) control robot: with CP control, the robot can stop at any
specified point along the controlled path. All the points along the path must be stored
explicitly in the robot‟s control memory. Typical applications include spray painting,
finishing, gluing, and arc welding operations.
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3. Controlled-path robot: the control equipment can generate paths of different

geometry such as straight lines, circles, and interpolated curves with a high degree of
accuracy. All controlled-path robots have a servo capability to correct their path

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Mobile Robots

A mobile robot needs locomotion mechanisms that enable it to move unbounded

throughout its environment. But there are a large variety of possible ways to move, and
so the selection of a robot’s approach to locomotion is an important aspect of mobile robot
design

Key issues for locomotion

In locomotion, the environment is fixed and the robot moves by imparting force to the
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environment. In both cases, the scientific basis is the study of actuators that generate
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interaction forces, and mechanisms that implement desired kinematic and dynamic
properties. Locomotion and manipulation

thus share the same core issues of stability, contact characteristics, and environmental
type:

• stability

- number and geometry of contact points

- center of gravity

- static/dynamic stability

- inclination of terrain

• characteristics of contact

- contact point/path size and shape

- angle of contact

- friction

• type of environment

- structure

- medium, (e.g. water, air, soft or hard ground)

a) Legged Mobile Robots

Legged locomotion is characterized by a series of point contacts between the

robot and the ground. The key advantages include adaptability and
maneuverability in rough terrain.
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END-EFFECTORS:
• An end effector is a device that attaches to the wrist of the robot arm and
enables the general purpose robot to perform a specific task.
• Most production machines require special purpose fixtures and tools
designed for a particular operation, and a robot is no exception.
• The end effector is part of that special purpose tooling for a robot.
• Most robot manufacturers have special engineering groups whose
function is to design end effectors.
• The end effectors are also called the grippers. There are various types of
end-effectors to perform the different work functions.
• An end-effector of any robot can be designed to have several fingers,
joints and degrees of freedom.
• The general end-effectors can be grouped according to the type of
grasping as follows:
1. Mechanical fingers.
2. Special tools.
3. Universal fingers.
• Mechanical fingers are used to perform some special tasks. Gripping by
mechanical type fingers is less versatile and less dextrous than holding by
universal fingers as the grippers with mechanical fingers have fewer number of
joints and lesser flexibility.
GRIPPERS:

• Grippers are end effectors used to grasp and hold objects.

• The objects are generally work parts that are to be moved by the robot.
• These part-handling applications include machine loading and unloading,
picking parts from a conveyor and arranging parts into a pallet.
• There are grippers to hold tools like welding gun or spray painting gun to
perform a specific task. The robot hand may hold a deburring tool.
• The grippers of the robot may be specialized devices like RCC (Remote
Centre Compliance) to insert an external mating component into an internal
member.
CLASSIFICATION OF GRIPPERS:
1. Mechanical grippers.
2. Magnetic grippers.
3. Pneumatic or Vacuum grippers.
4. Adhesive grippers.
5. Hooks, scoops and other miscellaneous devices.
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MECHANICAL GRIPPERS:
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• A mechanical gripper is an end-effector that uses mechanical fingers

actuated by a mechanism to grip an object.
• The fingers of the gripper will actually make contact with the object.
• The fingers may be attached to the mechanism or integral part of the
mechanism.
• The application of interchangeable mechanism can allow wear.
• Different sets of fingers for use with the same gripper mechanism can be
designed to accommodate different part of models.

MAGNETIC GRIPPER:
• Generally magnetic grippers are used extensively on ferrous material.
• The residual magnetism remaining in the workpiece may cause problem.
• The magnetic attraction will tend to penetrate beyond the top sheet in the
stack resulting in the possibility that more than a single sheet will be lifted by
magnet.
Advantages:
1. Variations in part size can be tolerated.
2. Pickup times are very fast
3. They have ability to handle metal parts with holes.
4. Only one surface is needed for gripping.
Disadvantages:
1. It is difficult to pick-up one sheet at a time from a stack.
2. Possibility of change in characteristic of work-piece.

Types of Magnetic grippers:

The common types of magnetic grippers are:
(i) Electromagnetic grippers.
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(ii) Permanent magnet gripper.

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PNEUMATIC or VACUUM GRIPPERS:

• Vacuum grippers are also called as suction cups, that can be used for
handling certain type of objects.
• Vacuum grippers can handle only flat, smooth, clean conditioned objects
to form a satisfactory vacuum between the object and the suction cup
• The vacuum gripper’s suction cup is made of elastic material such as
rubber or soft plastic.
• While designing some means of removing the air between the cup and the
part surface and to create a vacuum, vacuum pump and the venturi are the
common devices used.
• The Vacuum pump is piston operated and powered by an electric motor.
It is capable of creating a relatively high vacuum.
• The Venturi is driven by “shop air pressure”. Its initial cost is less than that of a
vacuum pump and it is relatively reliable because of its simplicity.

ADHESIVE GRIPPERS:

• In adhesive gripper, an adhesive substance can be used for grasping the

object.
• These grippers can handle fabrics and other light weight material.
• The requirement is that, the object can be gripped in one side only and that
other forms of grasping such as a vacuum or magnet are not appropriate.
Limitations:
The main limitation of adhesive gripper is that reliability is lost on every
successive operation. But in order to overcome this limitation, the adhesive
materials are loaded in the form of continuous ribbon in feeding mechanism.
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HOOKS, SCOOPS, OTHER MISCELLANEOUS DEVICES:

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HOOKS

A variety of other devices can be used to grip parts or materials in robotics

applications. Hooks can be used as end effectors to handle containers of parts and to load
and unload parts hanging from overhead conveyers. Scoops and ladles can be used to
handle certain materials in liquid or powder form. Chemicals in liquid and powder form,
food materials, granular substances and molten materials are the examples that can be
handled by a robot using this method of holding. Other types of grippers include,
inflatable devices, in which an inflatable bladder or diaphragm is expanded to grasp the
object. The inflatable bladder is fabricated out of rubber or other elastic material which
makes it appropriate for gripping fragile objects. An example of the inflatable bladder
type gripper is shown in Figure below. Figure (a) shows the bladder which is fully
expanded. Figure (b) shows the bladder used to grasp the inside diameter of a bottle.

ROBOTS IN INDUSTRY
Introduction

A robot is a reprogrammable, multifunctional machine designed to manipulate

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materials, parts, tools, or specialized devices, through variable programmed

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motions for the performance of a variety of task. It can conveniently be used for
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variety of industrial tasks. Today 90% of all robots used are found in factories and
they are referred to as industrial robots. Robots are slowly finding their way into
warehouses, laboratories, research and exploration sites, power plants, hospitals,
undersea, and even outer space.
Few of the advantages for which the robots are attractive in industrial uses are as
follows :
Robots never get sick or need to rest, so they can work 24 hours a day, 7
days a week.
When the task is dangerous for a person, Robots can do the work instead.
Robots do not get bored. So, the work that is repetitive is of no problem for a robot.

INDUSTRIAL APPLICATIONS
There are certain industrial tasks robots do very well like material transfer, machine
loading, spot welding, continuous arc welding, spray coating, material removal, cutting
operations, assembling operations, part inspection, part sorting, part cleaning, part
polishing, and a dozen more specialized tasks. In this section, some of these
applications will be elaborated.

Material : The time spent to transfer a workpiece from one station

Handling to the next is high in industries. Up to 95% of the time involved in
manufacturing a part is composed of transfer and waiting time, and
only about 5 percent of the total time is the part in the actual processing
time.
Loading and unloading machine tools are the major applications of
robots. Robots are utilised to load and unload machine tools in two
basic configurations :
a robot tending a single machine, and
a robot serving several machines.

The items being handled by robots may weigh anything from a few
grams to some tonnes. Obviously the type of
robot applied will also vary considerably, from lightweight non-
servo-controlled pneumatic robots,
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through medium sized electric types, to massive hydraulic manipulators.

For material handling applications point to point control is necessary. The
controller should be able to store a large number of points and have the
facility to easily program horizontal and vertical increments.

The welding operations performed by robots are thermal processes in which

Welding : the metals are joined by melting or fusing their contacting surfaces. These
processes can be grouped under two classes,
Where no filler material is added to the joint interface,
In which a filler material of the same type as the parent metal is added.
Accordingly, there are two types of welding operations performed by the
robots :
a) spot welding.
Spot welding falls in the first category, in which the two pieces of metal are
joined only at certain points. The required heat is generated by the passage
of an electric current through the metals at
the point where they are to be joined. Spot welding is frequently used in the
automative industry to join

Assembling with industrial robots is mainly used for small products such as
Assembling : electrical switches and small motors. Robotised assembly systems are
programmable and therefore provided a cost-effective solution for the
assembly of small batch sizes and for batches containing different products.
Tactile or optical sensors may be added to the assembly robot to tackle more
complex assembly tasks.
Some assembly tasks require the participation of more than one robot. In
order to reduce the cost per arm, there are systems in which several cartesian
arms can use the same base and share the same controller. Assembly robots
can be designed in any coordinate system, cartesian, cylindrical, spherical, or
articulated. However, many tasks require only vertical assembly motions,
such as the assembly of printed circuit boards. For these applications a class
of robot known as the selective- compliance-assembly robot-arm (SCARA)
type robot, and was developed in Japan.
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There are five basic types of machine tools to perform machining : drilling
Machining : machine, lathe or turning machine, milling machine, shaper, and grinder. Out
of all these machining operations, only drilling is being successfully done
with robots, and mainly in the aircraft industry. Another application related
to machining which is performed by robots is deburring metal parts. Most
metal parts made by machining operations (either by machine tools or by
mass production machines) contain burrs, that is, rough edges or ridges left
on the machined surfaces. The removal of these burrs can be done by robots.

State-of-the-art Applications of Robots

Present day robots are also used in medical surgery, space explorations, and others,
which are explained next.

Medical : Medical robots have found applications mainly in

surgery. It is a highly interactive process and many surgical decisions
are made in the operating room. The goal of surgical robots is not to
replace the surgeon with a robot, but to provide the surgeon with a new
set of very versatile tools that extend his or her ability to treat patients.
Hence, medical robotic systems are surgical assistants that work
cooperatively with surgeons. A special subclass of these systems is often
used for remote surgery. Currently, there are two main varieties of
surgical assistant robot are available.

Surgeon Extender
It is a robot controlled directly by the surgeons. They augment or
supplement the surgeon‟s ability to manipulate surgical instruments
during surgery. The promise of these systems is that they can give
even average surgeons superhuman capabilities such as elimination of
hand tremor or ability to
perform dexterous operations inside the patient‟s body, etc. As a result,
casualty rates are reduced, and operative times are shortened
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Auxiliary Surgical Support

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It generally works side-by-side with the surgeon and perform such

functions as endoscope holding or retraction. These systems typically
provide one or more direct control interfaces such as joysticks, head
trackers, voice control, or the like. However, the surgeon should be
attentive during their use, e.g., while using robot vision to keep the
endoscope aimed at an anatomic target.

Surgical robots must be compatible with the operating theatre. The

robot must have sufficient strength, accuracy, and dexterity for its
intended use. It must be placed where it can work on the patient while
also allowing access by clinical staff. Usually, this is done by mounting
the robot to the operating table or placing it on the floor beside the
patient.

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Space : Explorations of the planets, moons and other near bodies in space are a
clear goal for the international space science community. There are a
variety of tasks that the robots can do in space including
space manipulation (servicing equipment in space)
surface mobility (planetary exploration)
Robotic colonies (outposts that are either self- sustaining, or
preparatory for human colonies).
In addition, robots may perform scientific experiments that include
sample and return of planetary atmosphere or terrain, manipulating the
environment (moving rocks, drilling, etc.), testing the composition of
the atmosphere and other tests
using arbitrary scientific equipment.

There are three characteristics that a robot should have for space
missions:
c) Compactness and Lightness: The cost of sending robot into space
is directly correlated to its size and weight.
d) Robustness: Missions often have only one attempt to succeed
(usually at great cost).
e) Versatility and Adaptability: In exploration where the
environments are inherently unknown, adaptability must be high to
increases the chance
of success.

Underwat : Underwater applications of robots involve prospecting for minerals on

er the floor of the ocean (e.g., nodules of manganese), salvaging of sunken
vessels, and the repair of ships either at sea or in dry dock. In the latter
case, a prototype version of a mobile robot that is used to clean
barnacles from the sides of ships has been built and tested in France by
a ship-building company. This rather remarkable tripod is capable of
moving in either air (i.e., above the waterline) or in water. It grips the
ships sides with both vacuum and magnetic feet, a technique that has
proven to be reliable. The scrubbing
action is produced by a rotating brush mounted on the end of a rotary
axis arm.
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Department of Computer Science & Engineering (AI & ML)

Defense : The defence people, namely, the air force and navy, are both interested
in mobile fire fighters. These devices would be equipped with infrared
sensors and could react more quickly than people in an emergency and
in extremely hazardous situations.
Other defence applications of robots will be on the battlefield itself.
Although it is not inconceivable that robots might someday be used to
fight other robots, more realistic short-term applications from the
defence‟s point of view would be in the areas of surveillance (e.g.,
guard and sentry duty), mine sweeping, and artillery-loading devices.
The application of robots for surveillance and guard duty can be in
power generating plants, oil refineries, and other large civilian facilities
that are potential targets of the terrorist groups. The robots for these
applications would probably be mobile (running on wheels, treads, or
tracks), equipped with some form of vision system and other types of
sensors (e.g., infrared), and even have
defensive and/or offensive capability.

Mining : In order to enhance productivity, access unworkable

mineral seams, and reduce human exposure to the inhospitable
environment of dust, noise, gas, water, moving equipment and robots
are used. In coal mining room-and-pillar mining is accomplished by
repetition of a well-defined cycle of cutting coal, removing coal, and
supporting the roof. When a robot is used the ability to maneuver it in
highly constrained corridor-like environments, and to accurately
cutting coal is required. Data from the laser range scanner can be used
to model the environment and to compute the position of the robot

ETHICS IN ROBOTICS

Ethics or moral philosophy is a branch of philosophy that studies in a systematic way,

defends, and suggests concepts of right or wrong performance.

Robotics and Automation Ethics is the branch of applied ethics which investigates the
social and ethical issues of robotics and automation in the broader sense which includes
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communication, and control science and technology

St. Thomas College of Engineering & Technology
Department of Computer Science & Engineering (AI & ML)

In particular, Robot Ethics (Roboethics) covers the entire range of ethical issues related to
robot design, operation, and use.

The central aim of robotics research is to create robots that possess full autonomy, i.e., the
capability of autonomous decision making.

Present day robots are still not fully autonomous.

They are partially autonomous.

At the lowest end they possess low level (operational) autonomy (i.e., autonomous
execution of programmed operations without any human intervention), and passing
from medium level-autonomy (functional autonomy), they approach the level of full
autonomy (at which there is not any human intervention in decision-making,
planning/scheduling, functioning, and action performing).

Several levels of morality

Operational morality (moral responsibility lies entirely in the robot designer and user).

Functional morality (the robot has the ability to make moral judgments without top-
down instructions from humans, and the robot designers can no longer predict the
robot’s actions and their consequences)

Full morality (the robot is so intelligent that it is fully autonomously choosing its actions,
thereby being fully responsible for them).

But could a robot be ethical? As argued by many authors, the minimum requirements for
a robot to be ethical are:
complete ability to predict the consequences of its own actions (or inactions)
a set of ethical rules against which to test each possible action/consequence, so it can
select the most ethical action
Legal authority to carry-out autonomous decision making and action, accompanied by
associated liability
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