Faculty of Engineering

Manufacturing and Industrial Engineering Department

Subject: Robot Programming- Grade 4/ Week 4

Cybernetics
Cybernetics comes from a Greek word "kybernetes" which roughly means
"steersman". A steersman is someone who steers a boat. If the boat goes too far
left, the steersman will steer it slightly right, and vice versa.
 Cybernetics is formally defined as the science of control and
communication in animals, humans and machines, and it is about having a
goal and taking action to achieve that goal.
 For example, if a robot required to act intelligently. It needs sensors to
move around using the "sense, think, act" loop. This loop is what
cybernetics is all about.

The robot control loop

Examples of cybernetic systems are various kinds of automatic control devices

in engineering (for example, an automatic pilot or a controller that maintains a
constant temperature in a room), electronic computers, the and human brain.

Cybernetics and AI are different ways of thinking about intelligent systems or

systems that can act toward reaching a goal. AI is primarily concerned with
making computers mimic intelligent behaviour based on stored representations
of the world. Cybernetics more broadly encompasses the study of how systems
regulate themselves

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Faculty of Engineering
Manufacturing and Industrial Engineering Department
Subject: Robot Programming- Grade 4/ Week 4

AI and Robot
 Artificial Intelligence (AI) is a general term that implies the use of a
computer to model and/or replicate intelligent behaviour. Research in AI
focuses on the development and analysis of algorithms that learn and/or
perform intelligent behaviour with minimal human intervention. These
techniques have been and continue to be applied to a broad range of
problems that arise in robotics, medical diagnosis, gaming, mathematics,
and military planning and logistics.

 The first thing to clarify is that robotics and artificial intelligence are not
the same thing at all. In fact, the two fields are almost entirely separate.

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Faculty of Engineering
Manufacturing and Industrial Engineering Department
Subject: Robot Programming- Grade 4/ Week 4

AI is used in many ways within the modern world. For example, AI algorithms
are used in Google searches, Amazon's recommendation engine and SatNav
route finders. Most AI programs are not used to control robots.

 Even when AI is used to control robots, the AI algorithms are only part of
the larger robotic system, which also includes sensors, and actuators.

 An algorithm is a procedure or formula for solving a problem, based on

conducting a sequence of specified actions.

Artificially intelligent robots

 Artificially intelligent robots are the bridge between robotics and AI. These
are robots which are controlled by AI programs.
 Many robots are not artificially intelligent. Part of the industrial robots
could only be programmed to carry out
 a repetitive series of movements. A repetitive movement do not require
artificial intelligence.
 Non-intelligent robots are quite limited in their functionality. AI algorithms
are often necessary to allow the robot to perform more complex tasks.
 A simple collaborative robot (cobot) is a perfect example of a non-
intelligent robot.

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Faculty of Engineering
Manufacturing and Industrial Engineering Department
Subject: Robot Programming- Grade 4/ Week 4

 If a camera is added to the cobot. Robot vision comes under the category
of "perception" and usually requires AI algorithms.
 For example, if the cobot to detect the object it was picking up and place it
in a different location depending on the type of object. This would involve
training a specialized vision program to recognize the different types of
object. One way to do this is using an AI algorithm called Template
Matching.

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Faculty of Engineering
Manufacturing and Industrial Engineering Department
Subject: Robot Programming- Grade 4/ Week 4

Gears
Gears are generally used:
 To reverse the direction of rotation, the driven gear spins in the opposite
direction as the driving gear.
 To increase or decrease the speed of rotation.
 To make the output gear spin in the same direction as the input gear, some
designers will use something called an idler gear.

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Faculty of Engineering
Manufacturing and Industrial Engineering Department
Subject: Robot Programming- Grade 4/ Week 4

A motor that is VERY fast but has only a little bit of torque would not be suitable
to lift a heavy load; in these cases, it is necessary to use gear ratios to change the
outputs to a more appropriate balance of torque and speed.
• Torque (T) a force that tends to cause rotation.
T (N.m) = Force (N) * Distance (m).

Gear Ratio
If gear A measures 10 inch [25.4 cm] in radius and gear B measures 5 inch [12.7
cm] in radius, then the radius of gear A is twice as large as gear B. We say that
the gear ratio of gear A to gear B is 2:1.

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Faculty of Engineering
Manufacturing and Industrial Engineering Department
Subject: Robot Programming- Grade 4/ Week 4

Imagine gear A starts to rotate, a force (FA) is exerted. If gear A rotates clockwise.
This will cause gear B to move counter-clockwise. In this case, gear A is called
the driving gear, and gear B is called the driven gear.

If the gear ratio of A to B is 2:1, then there are twice as many teeth on gear A as
on gear B. Gear A has twice as many teeth as gear B, then it will take twice
as long for gear A to rotate once all the way around.
This means that the gear A will rotate two times slower than gear B. This is very
useful because we now have a way of speeding up and slowing down torque
rotation!

Example:
For the image, the smaller gear is rotating at 1000 RPM (revolutions per minute)
and is produce a torque of 7 N.m.
Determine the torque of the larger gear using statics and by taking a gear ratio
using the radius of the two gears. Also, how fast is the large gear rotating.
Determine Torque using Statics
F= T1/r1 = 7 (N.m) / 0.5 (m) = 14 N.
T2 = F.r2 = 14 N * 1.5 m = 21 N.m

Determine Torque using Gear Ratio

Gear ratio = r2/r1 = 1.5/0.5 = 3
T2 = T1 * Gear ratio = 7 * 3 = 21 N.m

Determine RPM of Large Gear

RPM2 = PRM/Gear ration = 1000/3 = 333.3
Hint: F = T1/r1 = T2/r2, therefore T2/T1 = r2/r1

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Faculty of Engineering
Manufacturing and Industrial Engineering Department
Subject: Robot Programming- Grade 4/ Week 4

Robot Anatomy
Joints and Links
The manipulator of an industrial robot consists of a series of joints and links.
Robot anatomy deals with the study of different joints and links and other aspects
of the manipulator's physical construction. A robotic joint provides relative
motion between two links of the robot.
Each joint, or axis, provides a certain degree-of-freedom (dof) of motion. In most
of the cases, only one degree-of-freedom is associated with each joint. Therefore,
the robot's complexity can be classified according to the total number of degrees-
of-freedom they possess.
Each joint is connected to two links, an input link and an output link. Joint
provides controlled relative movement between the input link and output link.
A robotic link is the rigid component of the robot manipulator. Most of the robots
are mounted upon a stationary base, as shown in the Figure. The robotic base and
its connection to the first joint are termed as link-0.

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Faculty of Engineering
Manufacturing and Industrial Engineering Department
Subject: Robot Programming- Grade 4/ Week 4

Nearly all industrial robots have mechanical joints that can be classified into
following five types, and as shown in Figures

a) Linear joint
The relative movement between the input link and the output link is a translational
sliding motion, with the axes of the two links being parallel.

b) Orthogonal joint
This is also a translational sliding motion, whereas the input and output links are
perpendicular to each other during the move.

c) Rotational joint
This type provides rotational relative motion, with the axis of rotation
perpendicular to the axes of the input and output links.

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Faculty of Engineering
Manufacturing and Industrial Engineering Department
Subject: Robot Programming- Grade 4/ Week 4

d) Twisting joint
This joint also involves rotary motion, but the axis or rotation is parallel to the
axes of the two links.

e) Revolving joint
In this type, axis of input link is parallel to the axis of rotation of the joint.
However, the axis of the output link is perpendicular to the axis of rotation.

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