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Intermediate Students (F.Sc. and ICS)

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Engr. Talha Bilal

Robotics Lecturer
Punjab Colleges, Faisalabad
 1. Define Robots and Its Characteristics
For many people it is a machine that imitates a human—like the androids in Star Wars,
Terminator and Star Trek: The Next Generation. However much these robots capture our
imagination, such robots still only inhabit Science Fiction. People still haven't been able to give
a robot enough 'common sense' to reliably interact with a dynamic world. However, Rodney
Brooks and his team at MIT Artificial Intelligence Lab are working on creating such humanoid

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robots.
The type of robots that you will encounter most frequently are robots that do work that is too

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dangerous, boring, onerous, or just plain nasty. Most of the robots in the world are of this type.
They can be found in auto, medical, manufacturing and space industries. In fact, there are over
a million of these type of robots working for us today.
Some robots like the Mars Rover Sojourner and the upcoming Mars Exploration Rover, or the
underwater robot Caribou help us learn about places that are too dangerous for us to go. While

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other types of robots are just plain fun for kids of all ages. Popular toys such as Teckno, Polly
or AIBO ERS-220 seem to hit the store shelves every year.

- Robot: “A robot is an autonomous system which exists or interacts with the physical
world, and can sense, think and act to achieve some goals”.
- Characteristics: A
o Autonomous System: The robot can do its work by own its own. It means we only
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give instructions single time only after that it work automatically based on given
instructions.
o Physical World: A robot without having any physical or mechanical structure we
can’t say that it is robot. Just like human, robot should have some physical structure
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which interact with real environment.

o Sense: As a human we can sense through five senses (Nose, eye, ear, tongue, and
skin). In similar fashion, a robot can receive and interact with environment through
some devices called sensor.
o Think: From the five senses, we send all the data to our brain where data is
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processed, similarly robot send its data from sensors to its brain which is called
computer/controller where the desired instructions are manipulated on the
received data and appropriate outputs are generated.
o Act: Act is belonged to the set of actions. For example, if your hand interacts with
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flame, you feel hot, at same time the pulses generated and send to the brain and brain
manipulated these information and send back the pulses to your hand to pull out
your hand. The last line shows the action. Similarly, robot also performs some
actions as per your desire application.
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- Difference Between the Robot and Machine

So how you can differentiate between the Robot and Machine? Yes, you can differentiate
between machine and robot based on these five characteristics. If the electronic device is
missing even a single characteristics, then it will be considered as a robot. Let do some
examples which make your concept stronger. The table 1 represents some devices which can be
considered as robot or machine based on these five characteristics.
 Table 1: Some electronic Devices and their categorization

Device Machine Robot

Conventional Washing Unit

✔

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Smart Inverter AC
✔

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Toaster ✔

Desktop Printer ✔

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Fully Automatic Washing
Machine ✔

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1- Conventional Washing Machine – It is autonomous & it exists in
physical world. However, it does not have sensors. A Timer is not a
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sensor. Also, it does not have a computer, hence it does not have the
ability to think (process information). So, 2 essential conditions are
missing for a conventional washing unit to be termed a Robot.
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2- Smart Inverter AC – It is autonomous & it exists in the physical world. It is loaded

with various sensors (Thermostat and temperature sensor) and has a computer to
process information. Also, it acts in response to different sensor inputs like speed of
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cooling fan is changed with respect to value of temperature in the environment.

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So, in similar fashion, you can also differentiate remaining electronic devices whether they
are robots or machine.

3. The term “Robotics

Robotics is an interdisciplinary field that integrates computer science and engineering.
 So, the definition of robotics can be defined as the field of technology and engineering which
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.

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4. Essential Parts of a Robot

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There are 4 essential components of a robot which is shown below

Computer – Actuation - Energy

Sensors

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Intelligence Movement (A vital
(senses) (acts) component)
(thinks)

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As we previously build the concept that an electronic device can be said robot if it fulfills all
five characteristics. Here in the above picture, there are only three parts (sensor, computer
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intelligence & actuation movement). The two characteristics can be thought of as fulfilled
(Autonomous system and physical world interaction). As we already know that when we give
some instruction to the robot’s brain is stored in memory and recalls these instructions
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whenever the desire action want to perform. So, we can say that this characteristic is already
fulfilled. Secondly every robot has some physical structure maybe in the form of humanoid
shaped or anything else. So, the second condition/Characteristic is also fulfilled.
Let discuss the essential parts one by one
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1. Sensor: “A sensor is a device that detects or measures a physical quantity.”

Now, make a connection with the Robot – Just like our senses help us gauge information about
our surroundings, after which we decide and act appropriately; robots need sensors to
understand what is happening in their surroundings, so that they can effectively
perform the tasks we have set out for them. Different electronic sensors (shown below)
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allow the Robot to gather information about its environment

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 2. Computer (The Brain of the Robot): Just like the human brain processes information
from different sensors and sends signals to different muscles to perform the desired
actions; computer in a robot serves the same purpose So, the computer is the “brain of
the robot” However, robots cannot think on their own like us. They follow our
commands. To instruct a robot to perform a certain set of actions, we “give instructions
to the computer of a robot, and this is called programming”.

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3. Actuators (Movement): A robot needs to be able to move around its environment It
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needs to set something in motion. Basically, a robot needs to respond to information
received by the sensors After performing the necessary computations, the Computer
sends signals to appropriate actuators which then perform certain actions. Recall the way
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our brain sends signals to appropriate muscles to perform a certain action. So, “An actuator
is a device that performs a certain action as per the commands sent to it by the computer.”
A very common actuator in robotics is the electric motor
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4. Energy: Energy is a vital part of any system. We need energy for anything we do! (e.g.
we need energy to talk, walk, move around, etc. and we get this energy via food that
we eat) Similarly, sensors, computers and actuators all require energy to perform their
 functions. Examples of common items to further illustrate the importance of energy are,
e.g. mobile phones, TV, desktop computer, Microwave etc.

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5. Importance and Applications of Robots
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Robots are omnipresent today and play a pivotal role in making our lives easier and more
comfortable.
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1. Household robots:
a. UPS System – The UPS system installed in our homes is also a Robot. It
constantly senses the voltage level of the battery, and automatically turns
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off the battery charging when the battery gets fully charged.
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2. Industrial robots:
a. Robotic arms – used extensively in the industry to assemble parts together,
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for paint jobs etc.

 3. Mining robots:
a. Self-driving trucks – used to carry ore in and out of the mine

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b. Assistive robots – mines can be home to dangerous gases, so these robots
are sent to check whether a certain area in the mine is safe for humans or
not.

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4. Autonomous Cars:
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a. Auto-parking – modern vehicles like Toyota Prius is equipped with auto-
parking. All you have to do is to stop your car next to the area where you
want to park your car, tell the car’s computer where exactly you would like
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to park the car and that’s it. The car would park itself!
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5. Agriculture:
a. See and Spray – This is a modern machine that enables automatic spraying
of insecticide on crops. The key feature of this robot is that it only applies
insecticide to that point of the plant where it is required.
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 6. Medical:
a. Di-Vinci Surgical System – This is a robotic system that helps doctors
perform surgeries with greater precision and safety. With robots, the
surgical procedure becomes faster and results in lower blood loss.

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7. Military:
a. Drones – these are un-manned aerial vehicles (no human). All you have to
do is to specify a target and the drone would take care of it(automatically)!

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