This document discusses robotics and automation. It defines robotics as an interdisciplinary field that involves the design, construction, operation, and use of robots to help and assist humans. The goal of automation and robotics in intelligent environments is to automate functions in the home and provide services to inhabitants. The document outlines different types of robots including industrial, medical, military, consumer, and research robots. It also discusses the history of robotics and provides examples of early robots. The main purposes of robotics discussed are exploration, industry, medicine, military/police, and toys.

1. CST-20363-Intro-to-CS
Session 5 “iROBOTICS”

2. Robotics
 Robotics is an interdisciplinary field that
integrates computer science and engineering.
 Robotics involves design, construction, operation, and use of
robots.
 The goal of robotics is to design machines that can help and
assist humans.
 Robotics integrates fields of mechanical engineering, electrical
engineering, information engineering, mechatronics, electronics,
bioengineering, computer engineering, control engineering,
software engineering, mathematics, among others.

3. Automation

4. Motivation of Automation
Intelligent Environments are aimed at improving the inhabitants’
experience and task performance
• Automate functions in the home
• Provide services to the inhabitants
Decisions coming from the decision maker(s) in the environment have to
be executed.
• Decisions require actions to be performed on devices
• Decisions are frequently not elementary device interactions but rather relatively
complex commands
• Decisions define set points or results that have to be achieved
• Decisions can require entire tasks to be performed

5. Automation and Robotics in Intelligent Environments
Control of the physical environment
• Automated blinds
• Thermostats and heating ducts
• Automatic doors
• Automatic room partitioning
Personal service robots
• House cleaning
• Lawn mowing
• Assistance to the elderly and handicapped
• Office assistants
• Security services

6. What is a Robot?

7. What is a Robot?
Defined by Robotics Industry Association (RIA) as
• a re-programmable, multifunctional
manipulator designed to move material, parts,
tools or specialized devices through variable
programmed motion for a variety of tasks
possess certain anthropomorphic characteristics
• mechanical arm
• sensors to respond to input
• Intelligence to make decisions

8. A Robot is:
Reprogrammable Multifunctional Sensible for
environment

9. Requirements for Robots in Intelligent Environments
Autonomy
• Robots have to be capable of achieving task objectives without human input
• Robots have to be able to make and execute their own decisions based on sensor
information
Intuitive Human-Robot Interfaces
• Use of robots in smart homes can not require extensive user training
• Commands to robots should be natural for inhabitants
Adaptation
• Robots have to be able to adjust to changes in the environment

10. History of Robotics

11. Robotics Timeline
1206 Al-Jazari creates first programmable humanoid robots, consists of a boat with four robotic musicians
1495 Leonardo da Vinci designs mechanical knight
1738 Jacques de Vaucanson invents mechanical duck that was able to eat, flap its wings, and excrete
1800s Tanaka Hisashige Karakuri toys that served tea, fired arrows, and painted
1922 Karel Capek wrote a story called Rossum’s Universal Robots, introduced the word “Rabota”(worker)
1954 George Devol developed the first programmable Robot.
1955 Denavit and Hartenberg developed the homogenous transformation matrices
1962 Unimation was formed, first industrial Robots appeared.
1973 Cincinnati Milacron introduced the T3 model robot, which became very popular in industry.
1990 Cincinnati Milacron was acquired by ABB

12. History of Robotics
The word robot was introduced to the public by Czech writer Karel
Čapek in his play R.U.R. (Rossum’s Universal Robots), which premiered
in 1921.
The word robotics was first used in print by Isaac Asimov, in his
science fiction short story “Liar!“, published in May 1941 in Astounding
Science Fiction. Asimov was unaware that he was coining the term;
since the science and technology of electrical devices is electronics, he
assumed robotics already referred to the science and technology of
robots.

13. History of Robotics
early robots (1940's - 50's)
Grey Walter's "Elsie the
tortoise"
"Shakey"
Stanford Research
Institute in the
1960s.
The General Electric Walking
Truck the first legged vehicle
with a computer-brain, by Ralph
Moser at General Electric Corp.
in the 1960s.

14. History of Robotics
The first modern industrial
robots were probably the
"Unimates", created by George
Devol and Joe Engleberger in
the 1950's and 60's.
Engleberger started the first
robotics company, called
"Unimation", and has been called
the "father of robotics."

15. Types of Robots

16. Aerospace:
 This is a broad category.
 It includes all sorts of flying robots—the SmartBird robotic
seagull and the Raven surveillance drone, for example
 but also robots that can operate in space, such as Mars rovers
 and NASA's Robonaut, the humanoid that flew to the
International Space Station and is now back on Earth.

17. Consumer:
 Consumer robots are robots you can buy and use just for fun or
to help you with tasks and chores.
 Examples are the robot dog Aibo, the Roomba vacuum, AI-
powered robot assistants, and a growing variety of robotic toys
and kits.

18. Disaster Response:
 These robots perform dangerous jobs like searching for
survivors in the aftermath of an emergency.
 For example, after an earthquake and tsunami struck Japan
in 2011, Packbots were used to inspect damage at the
Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power station.

19. Drones
 Also called unmanned aerial vehicles, drones
come in different sizes and have different levels
of autonomy.
 Examples include DJI’s popular Phantom series and Parrot’s
Anafi, as well as military systems like Global Hawk, used for
long-duration surveillance.

20. Education:
 This broad category is aimed at the next
generation of roboticists, for use at home or in classrooms.
 Important use on STEAM programs.
 It includes hands-on programmable sets from Lego, 3D printers
with lesson plans, and even teacher robots like EMYS.

21. Entertainment
 These robots are designed to evoke an emotional response and
make us laugh or feel surprise or in awe.
 Among them are robot comedian RoboThespian, Disney’s
theme park robots like Navi Shaman, and musically inclined bots
like Partner.

22. Exoskeletons :
 Robotic exoskeletons can be used for physical rehabilitation and
for enabling a paralyzed patient walk again.
 Some have industrial or military applications, by giving the
wearer added mobility, endurance, or capacity to carry heavy
loads.

23. Humanoids :
 This is probably the type of robot that most
people think of when they think of a robot.
 Examples of humanoid robots include Honda’s Asimo, which has
a mechanical appearance, and also androids like the Geminoid
series, which are designed to look like people.

24. Industrial
 The traditional industrial robot consists of a manipulator arm
designed to perform repetitive tasks.
 An example is the Unimate, the grandfather of all factory
robots.
 This category includes also systems like Amazon's warehouse
robots and collaborative fact

25. Medical :
 Medical and health-care robots include systems
such as the da Vinci surgical robot and bionic
prostheses, as well as robotic exoskeletons.
 A system that may fit in this category but is not a robot is
Watson, the IBM question-answering supercomputer, which

26. Military & Security
 Military robots include ground systems like
Endeavor Robotics' PackBot,
 used in Iraq and Afghanistan to scout for improvised explosive
devices, and BigDog, designed to assist troops in carrying heavy
gear.
 Security robots include autonomous mobile systems

27. Research :
 The vast majority of today’s robots are born in
universities and corporate research labs.
 Though these robots may be able to do useful things, they’re
primarily intended to help researchers do, well, research.
 So although some robots may fit other categories described
here, they can also be called research robots.

28. Self-Driving Cars
 Many robots can drive themselves around,
and an increasing number of them can now drive you around.
 Early autonomous vehicles include the ones built for DARPA’s
autonomous-vehicle competitions and also Google’s pioneering
self-driving Toyota Prius, later spun out to form Waymo.

29. Telepresence :
 Telepresence robots allow you to be present
at a place without actually going there.
 You log on to a robot avatar via the internet and drive it around,
seeing what it sees, and talking with people.
 Workers can use it to collaborate with colleagues at a distant
office, and doctors can use it to check on patients.

30. Underwater :
 The favorite place for these robots is in the water.
 They consist of deep-sea submersibles like
Aquanaut, diving humanoids like Ocean One, and
bio-inspired systems like the ACM-R5H snakebot.

31. Purpose of Robotics

32. Purpose of Robotics: Exploration
People are interested in places that are
sometimes full of danger, like outer
space, or the deep ocean. But when
they can not go there themselves, they
make robots that can go there. The
robots are able to carry cameras and
other instruments so that they can
collect information and send it back to
their human operators

33. Purpose of Robotics: Industry
When doing a job, robots can do many
things faster than humans. Robots do
not need to be paid, eat, drink, or go
to the bathroom like people. They can
do repetative work that is absolutely
boring to people and they will not stop,
slow down, or fall to sleep like a human.

34. Purpose of Robotics: Medicine
Sometimes when operating, doctors have to
use a robot instead. A human would not be
able to make a hole exactly one 100th of a inch
wide and long. When making medicines,
robots can do the job much faster and more
accurately than a human can. Also, a robot
can be more delicate than a human.
Some doctors and engineers are also
developing prosthetic (bionic) limbs that use
robotic mechanisms.

35. Purpose of Robotics: Military and Police
Police need certain types of robots for
bomb-disposal and for bringing video
cameras and microphones into dangerous
areas, where a human policeman might
get hurt or killed. The military also uses
robots for (1) locating and destroying
mines on land and in water, (2) entering
enemy bases to gather information, and (3)
spying on enemy troops.

36. Purpose of Robotics: Toys
The new robot technology is making
interesting types of toys that children will
like to play with. One is the "LEGO
MINDSTORMS" robot construction
kit. These kits, which were developed by
the LEGO company with M.I.T. scientists,
let kids create and program their own
robots. Another is "Aibo" - Sony
Corporation's robotic dog.

37. Copyright