CURRENT RESEARCH IN ROBOTICS AROUND THE WORLD

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.

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.

HISTORY OF ROBOTICS

Our fascination with robots began more than 100 years ago. Looking back, it’s easy to get confused about what is and is not a robot. Robotics’ history is tied to so many other technological advances that today seem so trivial we don’t even think of them as robots. How did a remote controlled boat lead to autonomous metal puppies?

Slaves of Steel
The first person to use the word robot wasn’t a scientist, but a playwright. Czechoslovakian writer Karel Capek fi rst used the word robot in his satirical play, R.U.R. (Rossum’s Universal Robots). Taken from the Czech word for forced labor, the word was used to describe electronic servants who turn on their masters when given emotions. This was only the beginning of the badmouthing robots would receive for the next couple of decades. Many people feared that machines would resent their role as slaves or use their steely strength to overthrow humanity.

Wartime Inventions
World War II was a catalyst in the development of two important robot components i.e., artifi cial sensing and autonomous control. Radar was essential for tracking the enemy. The U.S. military also created autocontrol systems for mine detectors that would sit in front of a tank as it crossed enemy lines. If a mine was detected, the control system would automatically stop the tank before it reached the mine. The Germans developed guided robotic bombs that were capable of correcting their trajectory.

Calculators and Computers
Mathematician Charles Babbage dreamed up the idea for an “Analytical Engine” in the 1830s, but he was never able to build his device. It would take another 100 years before John Atanassoff would build the world’s fi rst digital computer. In 1946 the University of Pennsylvania completed the ENIAC (Electronic Numerical Integrator and Calculator), a massive machine made up of thousands of vacuum tubes. But these devices could only handle numbers. The UNIVAC I (Universal Automatic Computer) would be the fi rst device to deal with letters.

A Robot in Every Pot
For robotics, the ’40s and ’50s were full of over-the-top ideas. The invention of the transistor in 1948 increased the rate of electronic growth and the possibilities seemed endless. Ten years later, the creation of silicon microchips reinforced that growth. The Westinghouse robot Elecktro showed how far science and imagination could go. The seven-foot robot could smoke and play the piano. Ads from the era suggested that every household would soon have a robot.

Industrial-strength Arms
As the demand for cars grew, manufacturers looked for new ways to increase the effi ciency of the assembly line through telecherics. This new fi eld focused on robots that mimicked the operator’s movements from a distance. In 1961 General Motors installed the applied telecherics system on their assembly line. The one-armed robot unloaded die casts, cooled components, and delivered them to a trim press. In 1978 the PUMA (Programmable Universal Machine for Assembly) was introduced and quickly became the standard for commercial telecherics.

Early Personal Robots
With the rise of the personal computer came the personal robot craze of the early ’80s. The popularity of Star Wars didn’t hurt either. The fi rst personal robots looked like R2D2. The RB5X and the HERO 1 robots were both designed as education tools for learning about computers. The HERO 1 featured light, sound, and sonar sensors, a rotating head and, for its time, a powerful microprocessor.
But the robots had a lighter side, too. In demo mode, HERO 1 would sing. The RB5X even attempted to vacuum, but had problems with obstacles.

Arms in Space
Once earthlings traveled to space, they wanted to build things there. One of NASA’s essential construction tools is the Canadarm. First deployed in 1981 aboard the Columbia, the Canadarm has gone on to deploy and repair satellites, telescopes, and shuttles. Jet Propulsions Laboratories (JPL) in California has been working on several other devices for space construction since the late eighties. The Ranger Neutral Buoyancy Vehicle’s many manipulators are tested in a large pool of water to simulate outer space.

Surgical Tools
While robots haven’t replaced doctors, they are performing many surgical tasks. In 1985 Dr. Yik San Kwoh invented the robot software interface used in the fi rst robot-aided surgery, a stereotactic procedure. The surgery involves a small probe that travels into the skull. A CT scanner is used to give a 3D picture of the brain, so that the robot can plot the best path to the tumor. The PUMA robots are commonly used to learn the difference between healthy and diseased tissue, using tofu for practice.

The Honda Humanoid
The team who created the Honda Humanoid robot took a lesson from our own bodies to build this two-legged robot. When they began in 1986, the idea was to create an intelligent robot that could get around in a human world, complete with stairs, carpeting, and other tough terrain. Getting a single robot mobile in a variety of environments had always been a challenge. But by studying feet and legs, the Honda team created a robot capable of climbing stairs, kicking a ball, pushing a cart, or tightening a screw.

Hazardous Duties
As scientifi c knowledge grew so did the level of questioning. And, as with space exploration, fi nding the answers could be dangerous. In 1994 the CMU Field Robotics Center sent Dante II, a tethered walking robot to explore Mt. Spurr in Alaska. Dante II aids in the dangerous recovery of volcanic gases and samples. These robotic arms with wheels (a.k.a. mobile applied telecherics) saved countless lives defusing bombs and investigating nuclear accident sites. The range of selfcontrol, or autonomy, on these robots varies.

Solar-powered Insects
Some robots mimic humans, while others resemble lower life forms. Mark Tilden’s BEAM robots look and act like big bugs. The name BEAM is an acronym for Tilden’s philosophy: biology, electronics, aesthetics, and mechanics. Tilden builds simple robots out of discrete components and shies away from the integrated circuits most other robots use for intelligence. Started in the early 1990s, the idea was to create inexpensive, solar-powered robots ideal for dangerous missions such as landmine detection.

A Range of Rovers
By the 1990s NASA was looking for something to regain the public’s enthusiasm for the space program. The answer was rovers. The fi rst of these small, semiautonomous robot platforms to be launched into space was the Sojourner, sent to Mars in 1996. Its mission involved testing soil composition, wind speed, and water vapor quantities. The problem was that it could only travel short distances. NASA went back to work. In 2004, twin robot rovers caught the public’s imagination again, sending back amazing images in journeys of kilometers, not meters.

Entertaining Pets
In the late ’90s there was a return to consumer-oriented robots. The proliferation of the Internet also allowed a wider audience to get excited about robotics, controlling small rovers via the Web or buying kits online. One of the real robotic wonders of the late ’90s was AIBO the robotic dog, made by Sony Corp. Using his sensor array, AIBO can autonomously navigate a room and play ball. Even with a price tag of over $2,000, it took less than four days for AIBO to sell out online. Other “pet robots” followed AIBO, but the challenge of keeping the pet smart and the price low remains.

INTRODUCTION TO ROBOTICS

Recently there has been a lot of discussion about futuristic wars between humans and robots, robots taking over the world and enslaving humans. Movies like The Terminator, Star Wars, etc., have propogated these ideas faster than anything else. These movies are beautiful works of fi ction and present us with an interesting point of view to speculate. However, the truth is much different but equally as interesting as the fi ction. If you look around yourself you will see several machines and gizmos within your surroundings. When you use a simple pair of spectacles, do you become nonliving? When an elderly person uses a hearing aid or a physically challenged person uses an artifi cial leg or arm do they become half machine? Yes, they do. Now we are rapidly moving toward an era where we will have chips embedded

inside our bodies. Chips will communicate with our biological sensors and will help us in performing several activities more effi ciently. An artifi cial retina is almost at the fi nal stages of its development. Now we are thinking in terms of nanobots helping us to strengthen our immune systems. Now we are already on the verge of becoming half machine. Chips will be implanted inside our bodies imparting telescopic and microscopic abilities in our eyes. Cell phones will be permanently placed inside the ear. We will communicate with different devices not through a control panel or keyboard; rather these devices will receive commands from the brain directly. The next level of development will be the part of the brain being replaced by chips, which will impart more capability to the brain. You may ask, do we need all these? The answer is that the biological evolution has already become obsolete. It is unable to keep pace with the rate at which humans are growing. Many of our primary intuitions, such as mating behavior, are still millions of years old. Evolution happens only after millions of years. But humans have built the entire civilization in only 10,000 years. And now the rate of growth has become exponential. Now we need to replace our brain’s decision-making software with faster/better ones. So, where are we heading? Yes, we are slowly becoming robots. Robots are not our competitors on this planet. They are our successors. Robots are the next level in evolution; rather we can call it robolution. We will begin our journey with a brief history of robotics.