Introduction to Robotics

A robot is a machine—especially one

What is "Robotics"? programmable by a computer— capable
Robotics as a field of study is an interdisciplinary field that of carrying out a complex series of actions
integrates computer science and engineering. Robotics automatically. Robots can be guided by an
involves design, construction, operation, and use of robots. external control device or the control may
The goal of robotics is to design machines that can help be embedded within.  Wikipedia
and assist humans. Wikipedia
Robot, any automatically operated machine that replaces
Robots are devices that are programmed to
human effort, though it may not resemble human beings in
move parts, or to do work with a tool. appearance or perform functions in a humanlike manner.
Robotics is a multidisciplinary engineering By extension, robotics is the engineering discipline dealing
field dedicated to the development of with the design, construction, and operation of robots..
autonomous devices, including manipulators https://www.britannica.com/technology/robot-technology
and mobile vehicles.

Roboticists develop man-made mechanical devices that can move by themselves, whose
motion must be modelled, planned, sensed, actuated and controlled, and whose motion
behaviour can be influenced by “programming”. Robots are called “intelligent” if they succeed
in moving in safe interaction with an unstructured environment, while autonomously
achieving their specified tasks. This definition implies that a device can only be called a
“robot” if it contains a movable mechanism, influenced by sensing, planning, actuation and
control components. It does not imply that a minimum number of these components must be
implemented in software, or be changeable by the “consumer” who uses the device; for
example, the motion behaviour can have been hard-wired into the device by the
manufacturer. So, the presented definition, as well as the rest of the material in this part of
resource material covers not just “pure” robotics or only “intelligent” robots, but rather the
somewhat broader domain of robotics and automation. This includes “dumb” robots such
as: metal and woodworking machines, “intelligent” washing machines, dish washers and pool
cleaning robots, etc. These examples all have sensing, planning and control, but often not in
individually separated components. For example, the sensing and planning behaviour of the
pool cleaning robot have been integrated into the mechanical design of the device, by the
intelligence of the human developer. Robotics is, to a very large extent, all about system
integration, achieving a task by an actuated mechanical device, via an “intelligent” integration
of components, many of which it shares with other domains, such as systems and control,
computer science, character animation, machine design, computer vision, artificial
intelligence, cognitive science, biomechanics, etc. In addition, the boundaries of robotics
cannot be clearly defined, since also its “core” ideas, concepts and algorithms are being
applied in an ever increasing number of “external” applications, and, vice versa, core
technology from other domains (vision, biology, cognitive science or biomechanics, for
example) are becoming crucial components in more and more modern robotic systems.

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An industrial robot is defined by ISO as an
automatically controlled, reprogrammable, Definition The term comes from a Czech word,
multipurpose manipulator programmable in robota, meaning "forced labor." The word robot
three or more axes. The field of robotics may first appeared in a 1920 play by Czech writer Karel
be more practically defined as the study, Capek, R.U.R.: Rossum's Universal Robots. In the
design and use of robot systems for play, the robots eventually overthrow their human
manufacturing (a top-level definition relying on creators. An automatically controlled,
the prior definition of robot). Typical reprogrammable, multipurpose, manipulator
programmable in three or more axes, which may
applications of robots include welding,
be either, fixed in place or mobile for use in
painting, assembly, pick and place (such as industrial automation applications.
packaging, palletizing and SMT), product
inspection, and testing; all accomplished with high endurance, speed, and precision.

Robot Anatomy
The anatomy of robot is also known
as structure of robot. The basic
components or sections in anatomy
of robots are as follows. The RIA
(Robotics Industries Association) has
officially given the definition for
Industrial Robots. According to RIA,
“An Industrial Robot is a
reprogrammable, multifunctional
manipulator designed to move
materials, parts, tools, or special
devices through variable
programmed motions for the
performance of a variety of tasks.”

The Anatomy of Industrial Robots deals with the assembling of outer components of a robot
such as wrist, arm, and body. Before jumping into Robot Configurations, here are some of
the key facts about robot anatomy.
 End Effectors: A hand of a robot is considered as end effectors. The grippers and tools
are the two significant types of end effectors. The grippers are used to pick and place an
object, while the tools are used to carry out operations like spray painting, spot welding, etc.
on a work piece.
 Robot Joints: The joints in an industrial robot are helpful to perform sliding and rotating
movements of a component.
 Manipulator: The manipulators in a robot are developed by the integration of links and
joints. In the body and arm, it is applied for moving the tools in the work volume. It is also
used in the wrist to adjust the tools.
 Kinematics: It concerns with the assembling of robot links and joints. It is also used to
illustrate the robot motions.

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Coordinate System
A coordinate system defines a plane or space by axes from a fixed point called the origin.
Robot targets and positions are located by measurements along the axes of coordinate
systems. A robot uses several coordinate systems, each suitable for specific types of jogging
or programming.

The Robots are mostly divided into four major configurations based on their appearances,
sizes, etc. such as:
 Cylindrical Configuration,
 Polar Configuration,
 Jointed Arm Configuration, and
 Cartesian Co-ordinate Configuration.

Cylindrical Configuration:
This kind of robots incorporates a slide in the horizontal
position and a column in the vertical position. It also
includes a robot arm at the end of the slide. Here, the slide
is capable of moving in up & down motion with the help of
the column. In addition, it can reach the work space in a
rotary movement as like a cylinder.
Example: GMF Model M1A Robot.
Advantages:  Increased rigidity, and
 Capacity of carrying high
payloads.
Disadvantages:  Floor space required is more, and
 Less work volume.
Polar Configuration:
The polar configuration robots will possess an arm,
which can move up and down. It comprises of a
rotational base along with a pivot. It has one linear & two
rotary joints that allows the robot to operate in a
spherical work volume. It is also stated as Spherical
Coordinate Robots.
Example: Unimate 2000 Series Robot.
Advantages: Long reach capability in the horizontal position.
Disadvantages:  Vertical reach is low.

Jointed Arm Configuration:

The arm in these configuration robots looks almost like a human arm. It gets three rotary
joints and three wrist axes, which form into six degrees of freedoms. As a result, it has the

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capability to be controlled at any adjustments in the work space. These types of robots are
used for performing several operations like spray painting, spot welding, arc welding, and
more.
Example: Cincinnati Milacron T3 776 Robot
Advantages:  Increased flexibility,
 Huge work volume, and
 Quick operation.
Disadvantages:  Very expensive,
 Difficult operating procedures, and
 Plenty of components.

Cartesian Co-ordinate configuration:

These robots are also called as XYZ robots, because it is equipped with three rotary joints for
assembling XYZ axes. The robots will process in a
rectangular work space by means of this three joints
movement. It is capable of carrying high payloads with
the help of its rigid structure. It is mainly integrated in
some functions like pick and place, material handling,
loading and unloading, and so on. Additionally, this
configuration adds a name of Gantry Robot.
Example: IBM 7565 Robot.
Advantages:  Highly accurate & speed,
 Fewer cost,
 Simple operating procedures, and
 High payloads.

Disadvantages:  Less work envelope, and

 Reduced flexibility.

Work Envelop
It is the shape created when a manipulator reaches forward, backward, up and down. These
distances are determined by the length of a robot's arm and the design of its axes. Each axis
contributes its own range of motion. A robot can only perform within the confines of this work
envelope. Still, many of the robots are designed with considerable flexibility. Some have the
ability to reach behind themselves. Gantry robots defy traditional constraints of work
envelopes. They move along track systems to create large work spaces.

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Technical Features of an Industrial Robot
The technical features of an industrial robot determine its efficiency and effectiveness at
performing a given task. The following are some of the most important among these technical
features.

Robot Classification
Degree of Freedom (D.O.F) - Each joint on the robot introduces a degree of freedom. Each
dof can be a slider, rotary, or other type of actuator. Robots typically have 5 or 6 degrees of
freedom. 3 of the degrees of freedom allow positioning in 3D space, while the other 2or 3 are
used for orientation of the end effector. 6 degrees of freedom are enough to allow the robot
to reach all positions and orientations in 3D space. 5 D.O.F requires a restriction to 2D
space, or else it limits orientations. 5 D.O.F robots are commonly used for handling tools
such as arc welders.

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Work Volume/Workspace - The robot tends to have a fixed and limited geometry. The work
envelope is the boundary of positions in space that the robot can reach. For a Cartesian
robot (like an overhead crane) the workspace might be a square, for more sophisticated
robots the workspace might be a shape that looks like a ‘clump of intersecting bubbles’.

The Pneumatic Robot. The pick and place machine is the simplest of the robots. Pneumatic
powered, it has no servo motors driving the axes, but an air cylinder instead. As such, each
stoke is to an end stop, that is generally adjustable for a few millimeters, via a micrometer
type screw.
A popular application is to pick and place small components into an assembly, maybe from a
vibratory bowl feeder to an assembly fixture. Pick and Place
units are fast, accurate and very cost effective.
The Scara Robots. Scara means Selective, Compliant, Robot
arm.This robot is especially designed for assembly automation
and uses 4-axes of motion, each axes driven by a servo motor.
The two joints have a motor each and the base has a rotate
axis. The forth axis is the vertical axis that generally inserts a
component. This arrangement makes a very "stiff" arrangement
that is ideally suited for accurate insertion. The Scara is the
least expensive of the servo powered robots and are usually
small and can be very fast. The photo at left is of an Epson
robot

The Gantry Robot.

This type of robot is generally mounted direct to the shop

floor and usually has a large work envelope. It can be used
for material handling applications and I used them for
stacking and de-stacking steel blanks, that were laser
welded into tailored blanks. They can be pneumatic
powered but the cost of servo drives for industrial robotics is
getting so competitive
that today the air
powered types are
few and far between.

Cartesian robots.

These machines are usually mounted on a table and

are similar in concept to the gantry robot but on a
smaller scale. The axes can be air or servo motor
powered and are generally offered in modules, that
are complete and can be bolted together, to form the
motions required. The photo shows a Toshiba robot.

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 The 6-Axes Industrial Robot Arm.
Maybe the most recognized industrial robot. It is available in
a wide range of sizes and payloads, They can be small
enough to mount on a table or, like the ABB IR 140 shown
here are floor mounted. Applications are universal in the
field of industrial robotics. The robot arm can be found in all
types of uses, from assembly to welding to painting and
material handling.

The Painting Robot.

When used in a painting
application, the robot does not
need a large payload capability
but does need good repeatability
and accurate path following.
When correctly programmed and
well maintained, a paint robot will produce excellent repeatable
results with no paint runs or overspray. The photo shows an ABB
IRB 52.
The Welding Robot.
The welding robot does not require a large payload capability but
a larger work envelope can be an advantage and smooth, non-
jerky movement is required. Welding is a dirty operation, so sealing of critical areas is
essential and the shielding gas used in MIG operations must ensure that weld spatter is kept
tp a minimum.
Robot Grippers.
A most important detail in industrial robotics is the part/ robot
interface.Grippers come in many sizes and different types. The
photo shows an SMC gripper that is available in various bore sizes
and is toggle operated. The toggle has the effect of increasing the
clamping force and can
provide gripping when
pneumatic power is absent.

Robotic End of Arm Tooling.

The E.O.A.T. ( End Of Arm Tooling), in industrial
robotics, is an essential component of the whole.
Custom designed tooling can be very complicated. The
fact that modular components are available reduces the
technical risk and cost of many applications.

Wrist configuration

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Roll- This is also called wrist swivel, this involves rotation of the wrist mechanism about the
arm axis.
Pitch- It involves up & down rotation of the wrist. This is also called as wrist bend.
Yaw- It involves right or left rotation of the wrist.

Notation TRL: ƒ Consists of a sliding arm (L joint) actuated relative to the body, which can
rotate about both a vertical axis (T joint) and horizontal axis (R joint)

Notation TLO: ƒ Consists of a vertical column, relative to which an arm assembly is moved
up or down ƒ the arm can be moved in or out relative to the column
Notation LOO: ƒ Consists of three sliding joints, two of which are orthogonal Other names
include rectilinear robot and x-y-z robot.

Speed of Motion
1. Point-to-point (PTP) control robot: is capable of moving from one point to another point.
The locations are recorded in the control memory. PTP robots do not control the path to get
from one point to the next point. Common applications include component insertion, spot
welding, whole drilling, machine loading and unloading, and crude assembly operations.
2. Continuous-path (CP) control robot: with CP control, the robot can stop at any specified
point along the controlled path. All the points along the path must be stored explicitly in the
robot’s control memory. Typical applications include spray painting, finishing, gluing, and arc
welding operations.

3. Controlled-path robot: the control equipment can generate paths of different geometry
such as straight lines, circles, and interpolated curves with a high degree of accuracy. All
controlledpath robots have a servo capability to correct their path. 1.8 Pay Load Maximum
payload is the weight of the robotic wrist, including the EOAT and work piece. It varies with
different robot applications and models. Determining your payload requirements is one way
to narrow down your robot search.

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Pay Load
Maximum payload is the weight of the robotic wrist, including the EOAT and work piece. It
varies with different robot applications and models. Determining your payload requirements is
one way to narrow down your robot search.

Robot Parts and Functions

The controller is the "brain" of the industrial robotic arm and allows the parts of the robot to
operate together. It works as a computer and allows the robot to also be connected to other
systems.

The robotic arm controller runs a set of instructions written in code called a program. The
program is inputted with ateach pendant. Many of today's industrial robot arms use an
interface that resembles or is built on the Windows operating system. Industrial robot arms
can vary in size and shape.

The industrial robot arm is the part that positions the end effector. With the robot arm, the
shoulder, elbow, and wrist move and twist to position the end effector in the exact right spot.
Each of these joints gives the robot another degree of freedom. A simple robot with three
degrees of freedom can move in three ways: up & down, left & right, and forward &
backward. Many industrial robots in factories today are six axis robots.

The end effector connects to the robot's arm and functions as a hand. This part comes in
direct contact with the material the robot is manipulating. Some variations of an effector are a
gripper, a vacuum pump, magnets, and welding torches. Some robots are capable of
changing end effectors and can be programmed for different sets of tasks.

The drive is the engine or motor that moves the links into their designated positions. The
links are the sections between the joints. Industrial robot arms generally use one of the
following types of drives: hydraulic, electric, or pneumatic. Hydraulic drive systems give a
robot great speed and strength. An electric system provides a robot with less speed and
strength. Pneumatic drive systems are used for smaller robots that have fewer axes of
movement. Drives should be periodically inspected for wear and replaced if necessary.

Sensors allow the industrial robotic arm to receive feedback about its environment. They can
give the robot a limited sense of sight and sound. The sensor collects information and sends
it electronically to the robot controlled. One use of these sensors is to keep two robots that
work closely together from bumping into each other. Sensors can also assist end effectors by
adjusting for part variances. Vision sensors allow a pick and place robot to differentiate
between items to choose and items to ignore.

Need of Robot and its Application

Industrial Applications

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Industrial robots are used to assemble the vehicle parts, as shown in the figure. As the
assembly of the machine parts is a repetitive task to be performed, the robots are
conveniently used instead of using mankind (which is more costly and less précised
compared to robots.)
Auto Industry: The auto industry is the largest users of robots, which automate the
production of various components and then help, assemble them on the finished vehicle. Car
production is the primary example of the employment of large and complex robots for
producing products. Robots are used in that process for the painting, welding and assembly
of the cars. Robots are good for such tasks because the tasks can be accurately defined and
must be performed the same every time, with little need for feedback to control the exact
process being performed.
Material Transfer, Machine Loading And Unloading There are many robot applications in
which the robot is required to move a work part or other material from one location to
another. The most basic of these applications is where the robot picks the part up from one
position and transfers it to another position. In other applications, the robot is used to load
and/or unload a production machine of some type. Material transfer applications are defined
as operations in which the primary objective is to move a part from one location to another
location. They are usually considered to be among the most straightforward of robot
applications to implement. The applications usually require a relatively unsophisticated robot,
and interlocking requirements with other equipments are typically uncomplicated. These are
the pick ad place operations. The machine loading and unloading applications are material
handling operations in which the robot is used to service a production machine by
transferring parts to and/or from the machine. Robots have been successfully applied to
accomplish the loading and/or unloading function in the production operations
· Die casting
· Plastic molding
· Forging and related operations
· Machining operations
· Stamping press operations

The other industrial applications of robotics include processing operations such as spot
welding, continuous arc welding; spray coating, also in assembly of machine parts and their
inspection.
Roboticarm The most developed robot in practical use today is the robotic arm and it is seen
in applications throughout the world. We use robotic arms to carry out dangerous work such
as when dealing with hazardous materials. We use robotic arms to carry out work in outer
space where man cannot survive and we use robotic arms to do work in the medical field
such as conducting experiments without exposing the research. Some of the most advanced
robotic arms have such amenities as a rotating base, pivoting shoulder, pivoting elbow,
rotating wrist and gripper fingers. All of these amenities allow the robotic arm to do work that
closely resembles what a man can do only without the risk.

Medical Applications

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Medical robotics is a growing field and regulatory approval has been granted for the use of
robots in minimally invasive procedures. Robots are being used in performing highly delicate,
accurate surgery, or to allow a surgeon who is located remotely from their patient to perform
a procedure using a robot controlled remotely. More recently, robots can be used
autonomously in surgery.

Future Applications
We can theorize a likely profile of the future robot based on the various research activities
that are currently being performed. The features and capabilities of the future robot will
include the following (it is unlikely that all future robots will possess all of the features listed).
•Intelligence: The future robot will be an intelligent robot, capable of making decisions
about the task it performs based on high-level programming commands and feed back data
from its environment.
•Sensor capabilities: the robot will have a wide array of sensor capabilities including
vision, tactile sensing, and others. Progress is being made in the field of feedback and tactile
sensors, which allow a robot to sense their actions and adjust their behavior accordingly.
This is vital to enable robots to perform complex physical tasks that require some active
control in response to the situation. Robotic manipulators can be very precise, but only when
a task can be fully described.
•Tele presence: it will possess a tele presence capability, the ability to communicate
information about its environment (which may be unsafe for humans) back to a remote” safe”
location where humans will be able to make judgments and decisions about actions that
should be taken by the robots.
•Mechanical design: the basic design of the robot manipulator will be mechanically
more efficient, more reliable, and with improved power and actuation systems compared to
present day robots. Some robots will have multiple arms with advanced control systems to
coordinate the actions of the arms working together. The design of robot is also likely to be
modularized, so that robots for different purposes can be constructed out of components that
are fairly standard.
•Mobility and navigation: future robots will be mobile, able to move under their own
power and navigation systems.
•Universal gripper: robot gripper design will be more sophisticated, and universal
hands capable of multiple tasks will be available.
•Systems integration and networking: robots of the future will be “user friendly” and
capable of being interfaced and networked with other systems in the factory to achieve a very
high level of integration.

Industrial Applications
We will divide our presentation of future industrial applications into three areas: ·
Manufacturing ·
Hazardous and inaccessible environments, ·
Service industries

Future Manufacturing Applications

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The present biggest application areas for industrial robots are in the spot-welding and the
materials handling and machine loading categories. The handling of materials and machine
tending are expected to continue to represent important applications for robots, but the
relative importance of spot welding is expected to decline significantly. The most significant
growth in shares of manufacturing applications is expected to be in assembly and inspection
and in arc welding.

Robotic welding is one of the most successful applications of industrial robot manipulators. In
fact, a huge number of products require welding operations in their assembly processes
Welding can in most cases impose extremely high temperatures concentrated in small
zones. Physically, that makes the material experience extremely high and localized thermal
expansion and contraction cycles, which introduce changes in the materials that may affect
its mechanical behavior along with plastic deformation. Those changes must be well
understood in order to minimize the effects.

The majority of industrial welding applications benefit from the introduction of robot
manipulators, since most of the deficiencies attributed to the human factor is removed with
advantages when robots are introduced. This should lead to cheaper products since
productivity and quality can be increased, and production costs and manpower can be
decreased.
Hazardous And Inaccessible Nonmanufacturing Environments
Manual operations in manufacturing that are characterized as unsafe, hazardous,
uncomfortable, or unpleasant for the human workers who perform them have traditionally
been ideal candidates for robot applications. Examples include die-casting, hot forging,
spray-painting, and arc welding. Potential manufacturing robot applications that are in
hazardous or inaccessible environments include the following:

· Construction trades
· Underground Coal mining: The sources of dangers in this field for humans include
fires, explosions, poisonous gases, cave-ins, and underground floods.
· Hazardous utility company operations: The robots have a large scope of
application in the nuclear wastage cleaning in nuclear plants, in the electrical wiring,
which are dangerous and hazardous to humans.
· Military applications
· Fire fighting
· Undersea operations: The Ocean represents a rather hostile environment
for human beings due principally to extreme pressures and currents. Even when the
humans venture into the deep, they are limited in terms of mobility and the length of
time they can remain underwater. It seems much safer and more comfortable to
assign aquatic robots to perform whatever task must be done underwater.
· Robots in space: Space is another inhospitable environment for humans, in
some respects the opposite of the ocean. Instead of extremely high pressures in
deep waters, there is virtually no pressure in outer space. Therefore, this field is
also of large importance as far as the robotics is concerned.

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Service Industry And Other Applications:
In addition to manufacturing robot applications, robot applications that are considered
hazardous, there are also opportunities for applying robots to the service industries. The
possibilities cover a wide spectrum of jobs that are generally non-hazardous:

· Teaching robots
· Retail robots
· Fast-food restaurants
· Garbage collection in waste disposal operations
· Cargo handling and loading and distribution operations
· Security guards
· Medical care and hospital duties
· Agricultural robots
· House hold robots
Medical Applications
The medical applications of robotics include Nano robotics, swarm robotics, also surgeries
and operations using the knowledge of robotics. Nano robotics is the technology of creating
machines or robots at or close to the scale of a nanometer (10-9 meters). Nanorobots
(nanobots or nanoids) are typically devices ranging in size from 0.1-10 micrometers and
constructed of nanoscale or molecular components. As no artificial non-biological nanorobots
have so far been created, they remain a hypothetical concept at this time.
Swarm robotics is a new approach to the coordination of multirobot systems, which consist of
large numbers of relatively simple physical robots. Potential application for swarm robotics
includes tasks that demand for extreme miniaturization (Nano robotics, microbotics), on the
one hand, as for instance distributed sensing tasks in micro machinery or the human body.
On the other hand, swarm robotics is suited to tasks that demand for extremely cheap
designs, for instance a mining task, or an agricultural foraging task. Artists are using swarm
robotic techniques to realize new forms of interactive art installation.

Robots For Paralyzed Patients

One of the interesting and concerning future applications of robotics in medical field include
service to paralyzed people who electric wheelchairs to move around. But now a robotic
device can help paralyzed patients to walk on treadmills. After training, some of the patients,
who rebuild confidence, have also regained muscle power and can, walk over short
distances. The robot helps the paralyzed patients in their daily routine such as helping them
to take bath, changing their clothes, and feeding them. A robot doesn’t force food into their
mouth but it takes the spoon to till the patient’s mouth.

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