According to MSN Learning & Research, 700,000 robots were in the industrial world in 1995 and over 500,000 were used in Japan, about 120,000 in Western Europe, and 60,000 in the United States– and many were doing tasks that are dangerous or unpleasant for humans. Some of the hazardous jobs are handling material such as blood or urine samples, searching buildings for fugitives, and deep water searches, and even some jobs that are repetitive—and these can run 24 hours a day without getting tired. General Motors Corporation uses these robots for spot welding, painting, machine Assembly line robots are the fastest growing because of higher precision and lower cost for labor. Basically a robot consists of:
■ A mechanical device, such as a wheeled platform, arm, or other construction, capable of interacting with its environment.
■ Sensors on or around the device that are able to sense the environment and give useful feedback to the device.
■ Systems that process sensory input in the context of the device’s current situation and instruct the device to perform actions in response to the situation.
In the manufacturing fi eld, robot development has focused on engineering robotic arms that perform manufacturing processes. In the space industry, robotics focuses on highly specialized, one-of-kind planetary rovers. Unlike a highly automated manufacturing plant, a planetary rover operating on the dark side of loading, parts transfer, and assembly.
In the manufacturing fi eld, robot development has focused on engineering robotic arms that perform manufacturing processes. In the space industry, robotics focuses on highly specialized, one-of-kind planetary rovers. Unlike a highly automated manufacturing plant, a planetary rover operating on the dark side of loading, parts transfer, and assembly.
The older robots of the MIT leg Lab. (a Quadrupeddemonstrated that twolegged running algorithms could be generalized to allow fourlegged running, including the trot, pace, and bound. (b) The 3D biped hops, runs, and performs tucked somersaults.
the moon without radio communication might run into unexpected situations. At a minimum, a planetary rover must have some source of sensory input, some way of interpreting that input, and a way of modifying its actions to respond to a changing world. Furthermore, the need to sense and adapt to a partially unknown environment requires intelligence (in other words, artifi cial intelligence). From military technology and space exploration to the health industry and commerce, the advantages of using robots have been realized to the point that they are becoming a part of our collective experience and everyday lives.
Several universities and research organizations around the world are engaged in active research in various fi elds of robotics. Some of the leading research organizations are MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology), JPL (Jet Propulsion Lab., NASA), CMU (Carnegie Mellon University), and Stanford University. 
M2, a 3D bipedal walking robot that is currently being developed in the MIT Leg
Laboratory.
These and many other organizations are involved in various fi elds of robotics. These fi elds of robotics can be broadly categorized as:
■ Robotic Manipulator
■ Wheeled Mobile Robots
■ Legged Robots
■ Underwater Robots
■ Flying Robots
■ Robot Vision
■ Artifi cial Intelligence
■ Industrial Automation
The Leg Lab at MIT is dedicated to studying legged locomotion and building dynamic legged robots. They are specialists in exploring the roles of balance and dynamic control. They are simulating and building creatures which walk, run, and hop like their biological counterparts. The preceeding pictures show a few of their research robots.
A JPL space exploration robot.
M2 is a 3D bipedal walking robot that is currently being developed in the MIT Leg Laboratory. The robot has 12 active degrees of freedom: 3 in each hip, 1 in each knee, and 2 in each ankle. It will be used to investigate:
■ Various walking algorithms.
■ Motion description and control techniques, particularly Virtual Model Control.
■ Force control actuation techniques, particularly Series Elastic Actuation.
■ Automatic learning techniques.
Jet Propulsion Laboratory is NASA’s lead center for creating robotic spacecraft and rovers. Robots can literally go where no person has gone before, to other planets where the environments are not suitable for humans until we have studied them in much greater detail. The robots and spacecraft we build are our eyes and ears on these distant planets. The preceeding is a picture of a robot that is being developed at JPL. Carnegie Mellon University is another center that is involved in active research of robotics. There are several robots that are being researched
Rover1 is a highly autonomous, programmable robot at CMU.
at The Robotics Institute, CMU. One of these robots is Rover 1. One of the goals in designing the rover was to create a robot that could autonomously navigate in the dynamic environment of the home. It uses a visual navigation system dependent on static landmarks. The rover can also climb stairs.
Another project in The Robotics Institute, CMU is Gyrover. Gyrover is a single- wheel robot that is stabilized and steered by means of an internal, mechanical gyroscope. Gyrover can stand and turn in place, move deliberately at low speed, climb moderate grades, and move stably on rough terrain at high speeds. It has a relatively large rolling diameter, which facilitates motion over rough terrain; a single track and narrow profi le for obstacle avoidance; and is completely enclosed for protection from the environment.
Gyrover I, a single-wheel robot that is stabilized and steered by means of an internal, mechanical gyroscope.
