Computer Integrated Manufacturing

INTRODUCTION
A robot is a machine especially one programmable by a computer
capable of carrying out a complex series of actions
automatically. Robots can be guided by an external control device or
the control may be embedded within. Robots may be constructed on
the lines of human form, but most robots are machines designed to
perform a task with no regard to their aesthetics.
Robots can be autonomous or semi-autonomous and range from
humanoids such as Honda's Advanced Step in Innovative
Mobility (ASIMO) and TOSY's TOSY Ping Pong Playing
Robot (TOPIO) to industrial robots, medical operating robots, patient
assist robots, dog therapy robots, collectively
programmed swarm robots, UAV drones such as General Atomics
MQ-1 Predator, and even microscopic nano robots. By mimicking a
lifelike appearance or automating movements, a robot may convey a
sense of intelligence or thought of its own. Autonomous things are
expected to proliferate in the coming decade, with home robotics and
the autonomous car as some of the main drivers.
The branch of technology that deals with the design, construction,
operation, and application of robots, as well as computer systems for
their control, sensory feedback, and information
processing is robotics. These technologies deal with automated
machines that can take the place of humans in dangerous
environments or manufacturing processes, or resemble humans in
appearance, behavior, or cognition. Many of today's robots are
inspired by nature contributing to the field of bio-inspired robotics.
These robots have also created a newer branch of robotics: soft
robotics.
From the time of ancient civilization there have been many accounts
of user-configurable automated devices and
even automata resembling animals and humans, designed primarily as
entertainment. As mechanical techniques developed through
the Industrial age, there appeared more practical applications such as
automated machines, remote-control and wireless remote-control.

Department of Mechanical Engineering, KLSGIT, Belagavi.

 Computer Integrated Manufacturing

The term comes from a Czech word, robota, meaning "forced

labor"; the word 'robot' was first used to denote a fictional humanoid
in a 1920 play R.U.R. (Rossumovi Univerzální Roboti - Rossum's
Universal Robots) by the Czech writer, Karel Čapek but it was Karel's
brother Josef Čapek who was the word's true inventor. Electronics
evolved into the driving force of development with the advent of the
first electronic autonomous robots created by William Grey
Walter in Bristol, England in 1948, as well as Computer Numerical
Control (CNC) machine tools in the late 1940s by John T.
Parsons and Frank L. Stulen. The first commercial, digital
and programmable robot was built by George Devol in 1954 and was
named the Unimate. It was sold to General Motors in 1961 where it
was used to lift pieces of hot metal from die casting machines at
the Inland Fisher Guide Plant in the West Trenton section of Ewing
Township, New Jersey.
Robots have replaced humans in performing repetitive and dangerous
tasks which humans prefer not to do, or are unable to do because of
size limitations, or which take place in extreme environments such as
outer space or the bottom of the sea. There are concerns about the
increasing use of robots and their role in society. Robots are blamed
for rising technological unemployment as they replace workers in
increasing numbers of functions. The use of robots in military combat
raises ethical concerns. The possibilities of robot autonomy and
potential repercussions have been addressed in fiction and may be a
realistic concern in the future.

Department of Mechanical Engineering, KLSGIT, Belagavi.

 Computer Integrated Manufacturing

HISTORY

The idea of automata originates in the mythologies of many cultures

around the world. Engineers and inventors from ancient civilizations,
including Ancient China, Ancient Greece, and Ptolemaic
Egypt, attempted to build self-operating machines, some resembling
animals and humans. Early descriptions of automata include the
artificial doves of Archytas, the artificial birds of Mozi and Lu Ban, a
"speaking" automaton by Hero of Alexandria, a washstand automaton
by Philo of Byzantium, and a human automaton described in
the LieZi.

Early robots

W. H. Richards with "George", 1932

In 1928, one of the first humanoid robots, Eric, was exhibited at the
annual exhibition of the Model Engineers Society in London, where
it delivered a speech. Invented by W. H. Richards, the robot's frame
consisted of an aluminium body of armour with
eleven electromagnets and one motor powered by a twelve-volt
power source. The robot could move its hands and head and could be
controlled through remote control or voice control. Both Eric and his
"brother" George toured the world.
Westinghouse Electric Corporation built Televox in 1926; it was a
cardboard cutout connected to various devices which users could turn
on and off. In 1939, the humanoid robot known as Elektro was
debuted at the 1939 New York World's Fair. Seven feet tall (2.1 m)
Department of Mechanical Engineering, KLSGIT, Belagavi.
 Computer Integrated Manufacturing

and weighing 265 pounds (120.2 kg), it could walk by voice

command, speak about 700 words (using a 78-rpm record player),
smoke cigarettes, blow up balloons, and move its head and arms. The
body consisted of a steel gear, cam and motor skeleton covered by an
aluminum skin. In 1928, Japan's first robot, Gakutensoku, was
designed and constructed by biologist Makoto Nishimura.

Department of Mechanical Engineering, KLSGIT, Belagavi.

 Computer Integrated Manufacturing

MODERN AUTONOMOUS ROBOT

The first electronic autonomous robots with complex behaviour were
created by William Grey Walter of the Burden Neurological
Institute at Bristol, England in 1948 and 1949. He wanted to prove
that rich connections between a small number of brain cells could
give rise to very complex behaviors – essentially that the secret of
how the brain worked lay in how it was wired up. His first robots,
named Elmer and Elsie, were constructed between 1948 and 1949 and
were often described as tortoises due to their shape and slow rate of
movement. The three-wheeled tortoise robots were capable
of phototaxis, by which they could find their way to a recharging
station when they ran low on battery power.
Walter stressed the importance of using purely analogue electronics
to simulate brain processes at a time when his contemporaries such
as Alan Turing and John von Neumann were all turning towards a
view of mental processes in terms of digital computation. His work
inspired subsequent generations of robotics researchers such
as Rodney Brooks, Hans Moravec and Mark Tilden. Modern
incarnations of Walter's turtles may be found in the form of BEAM
robotics.
The first digitally operated and programmable robot was invented
by George Devol in 1954 and was ultimately called the Unimate. This
ultimately laid the foundations of the modern robotics industry. Devol
sold the first Unimate to General Motors in 1960, and it was installed
in 1961 in a plant in Trenton, New Jersey to lift hot pieces of metal
from a die casting machine and stack them. Devol's patent for the first
digitally operated programmable robotic arm represents the
foundation of the modern robotics industry
The first palletizing robot was introduced in 1963 by the Fuji Yusoki
Kogyo Company. In 1973, a robot with six electromechanically
driven axes was patented by KUKA robotics in Germany, and
the programmable universal manipulation arm was invented by Victor
Scheinman in 1976, and the design was sold to Unimation.
Commercial and industrial robots are now in widespread use
performing jobs more cheaply or with greater accuracy and reliability
Department of Mechanical Engineering, KLSGIT, Belagavi.
 Computer Integrated Manufacturing

than humans. They are also employed for jobs which are too dirty,
dangerous or dull to be suitable for humans. Robots are widely used
in manufacturing, assembly and packing, transport, earth and space
exploration, surgery, weaponry, laboratory research, and mass
production of consumer and industrial goods.

Department of Mechanical Engineering, KLSGIT, Belagavi.

 Computer Integrated Manufacturing

APPLICATION OF THE TOPIC TO THE

COURSE

Mobile robots have the capability to move around in their

environment and are not fixed to one physical location. An example
of a mobile robot that is in common use today is the automated
guided vehicle or automatic guided vehicle (AGV). An AGV is a
mobile robot that follows markers or wires in the floor, or uses vision
or lasers. AGVs are discussed later in this article.
Mobile robots are also found in industry, military and security
environments. They also appear as consumer products, for
entertainment or to perform certain tasks like vacuum cleaning.
Mobile robots are the focus of a great deal of current research and
almost every major university has one or more labs that focus on
mobile robot research.
Mobile robots are usually used in tightly controlled environments
such as on assembly lines because they have difficulty responding to
unexpected interference. Because of this most humans rarely
encounter robots. However domestic robots for cleaning and
maintenance are increasingly common in and around homes in
developed countries. Robots can also be found
in military applications.

Department of Mechanical Engineering, KLSGIT, Belagavi.

 Computer Integrated Manufacturing

APPLICATIONS
Car production

Over the last three decades, automobile factories have become

dominated by robots. A typical factory contains hundreds of industrial
robots working on fully automated production lines, with one robot
for every ten human workers. On an automated production line, a
vehicle chassis on a conveyor is welded, glued, painted and finally
assembled at a sequence of robot stations.

Packaging

Industrial robots are also used extensively for palletizing and

packaging of manufactured goods, for example for rapidly taking
drink cartons from the end of a conveyor belt and placing them into
boxes, or for loading and unloading machining centers.

Electronics

Mass-produced printed circuit boards (PCBs) are almost exclusively

manufactured by pick-and-place robots, typically
with SCARA manipulators, which remove tiny electronic
components from strips or trays, and place them on to PCBs with
great accuracy. Such robots can place hundreds of thousands of
components per hour, far out-performing a human in speed, accuracy,
and reliability.

Department of Mechanical Engineering, KLSGIT, Belagavi.

 Computer Integrated Manufacturing

AUTOMATED GUIDED VEHICLES (AGVs)

An intelligent AGV drops-off goods without needing lines or beacons in the workspace.
Mobile robots, following markers or wires in the floor, or using
vision or lasers, are used to transport goods around large facilities,
such as warehouses, container ports, or hospitals.
Early AGV-style robots
Limited to tasks that could be accurately defined and had to be
performed the same way every time. Very little feedback or
intelligence was required, and the robots needed only the most
basic exteroceptors (sensors). The limitations of these AGVs are that
their paths are not easily altered and they cannot alter their paths if
obstacles block them. If one AGV breaks down, it may stop the entire
operation.
Interim AGV technologies
Developed to deploy triangulation from beacons or bar code grids for
scanning on the floor or ceiling. In most factories, triangulation
systems tend to require moderate to high maintenance, such as daily
cleaning of all beacons or bar codes. Also, if a tall pallet or large
vehicle blocks beacons or a bar code is marred, AGVs may become
lost. Often such AGVs are designed to be used in human-free
environments.
Intelligent AGVs (i-AGVs)
SmartLoader, SpeciMinder, ADAM, Tug Eskorta and MT 400 with
Motivity are designed for people-friendly workspaces. They navigate
Department of Mechanical Engineering, KLSGIT, Belagavi.
 Computer Integrated Manufacturing

by recognizing natural features. 3D scanners or other means of

sensing the environment in two or three dimensions help to eliminate
cumulative errors in dead-reckoning calculations of the AGV's current
position. Some AGVs can create maps of their environment using
scanning lasers with simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM)
and use those maps to navigate in real time with other path
planning and obstacle avoidance algorithms. They are able to operate
in complex environments and perform non-repetitive and non-
sequential tasks such as transporting photomasks in a semiconductor
lab, specimens in hospitals and goods in warehouses. For dynamic
areas, such as warehouses full of pallets, AGVs require additional
strategies using three-dimensional sensors such as time-of-
flight or stereovision cameras.

Department of Mechanical Engineering, KLSGIT, Belagavi.

 Computer Integrated Manufacturing

LITERATURE
Robotic characters, androids (artificial men/women)
or gynoids (artificial women), and cyborgs (also
"bionic men/women", or humans with significant mechanical
enhancements) have become a staple of science fiction.
The first reference in Western literature to mechanical servants
appears in Homer's Iliad. In Book XVIII, Hephaestus, god of fire,
creates new armor for the hero Achilles, assisted by
robots. According to the Rieu translation, "Golden maidservants
hastened to help their master. They looked like real women and could
not only speak and use their limbs but were endowed with
intelligence and trained in handwork by the immortal gods." The
words "robot" or "android" are not used to describe them, but they
are nevertheless mechanical devices human in appearance. "The first
use of the word Robot was in Karel Čapek's play R.U.R. (Rossum's
Universal Robots) (written in 1920)". Writer Karel Čapek was born
in Czechoslovakia (Czech Republic).
Possibly the most prolific author of the twentieth century was Isaac
Asimov (1920–1992) who published over five-hundred
books. Asimov is probably best remembered for his science-fiction
stories and especially those about robots, where he placed robots and
their interaction with society at the center of many of his
works. Asimov carefully considered the problem of the ideal set of
instructions robots might be given in order to lower the risk to
humans, and arrived at his Three Laws of Robotics: a robot may not
injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to
come to harm; a robot must obey orders given it by human beings,
except where such orders would conflict with the First Law; and a
robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does
not conflict with the First or Second Law. These were introduced in
his 1942 short story "Runaround", although foreshadowed in a few
earlier stories. Later, Asimov added the Zeroth Law: "A robot may
not harm humanity, or, by inaction, allow humanity to come to
harm"; the rest of the laws are modified sequentially to acknowledge
this.

Department of Mechanical Engineering, KLSGIT, Belagavi.

 Computer Integrated Manufacturing

According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the first passage in

Asimov's short story "Liar!" (1941) that mentions the First Law is the
earliest recorded use of the word robotics. Asimov was not initially
aware of this; he assumed the word already existed by analogy
with mechanics, hydraulics, and other similar terms denoting
branches of applied knowledge.

Department of Mechanical Engineering, KLSGIT, Belagavi.

 Computer Integrated Manufacturing

RESULTS
Recent developments in the robotics world has made robots more
user friendly, intelligent, and most importantly affordable. With these
benefits of robotics it is no wonder that they have found jobs in every
field. That is right, from industrial manufacturing to the medical field
robots are being used.
The benefits of robots has increased their flexibility with being
capable of performing a variety of tasks and applications. They are
more precise and consistent than human workers. Robots also allow
for increased production and profit margin because they can
complete tasks faster. Robots have the ability to work around the
clock since they do not require vacations, sick days, or breaks. They
also make fewer mistakes than humans, saving companies time.
Other benefits of robotics is that they can work in any environment,
adding to their flexibility. Robots eliminate dangerous jobs for
humans because they are capable of working in hazardous
environments. They can handle lifting heavy loads, toxic substances,
and repetitive tasks. This has helped companies to prevent many
accidents, also saving time and money.

Department of Mechanical Engineering, KLSGIT, Belagavi.

 Computer Integrated Manufacturing

CONCLUSION
Achieving safe Human-Robot Interaction is one of the grand
challenges of robotics. It is necessary to design systems that do not
harm human beings during operation. However, due to the lack of
real world applications for pHRI, there was very little research on
how to assess, rate, and improve the safety of robots for tasks with
direct human contact. Mostly, the term safe was used to label
dependable robotic components, for which failure rate has to be
minimized and reliability to be maximized. In this sense, the
monograph gives the first large scale investigation of possible
injuries a human would suffer from collisions with robots and
elaborates the significant factors in this complex problem.

Department of Mechanical Engineering, KLSGIT, Belagavi.

 Computer Integrated Manufacturing

REFERENCES
1. Definition of 'robot'. Oxford English Dictionary. Retrieved
November 27, 2016.
2. https://www.conres.com/it-products-solutions/news-events/top-
10-tech-trends-autonomous-agents-things/ Archived 2017-04-
19 at the Wayback Machine retrieved April 18, 2017
3. "Forecasts - Driverless car market watch". www.driverless-
future.com. Archived from the original on 2017-04-19.
Retrieved 2017-04-18.
4. Jump up to "robotics". Oxford Dictionaries. Archived from the
original on 18 May 2011. Retrieved 4 February 2011

Department of Mechanical Engineering, KLSGIT, Belagavi.