To understand robots and how they operate, it is important to understand human beings first and their major components. A human being has a body structure with various organs to facilitate interaction with the environment. These organs move because of a muscle system within the body. To facilitate reception and relay of information, a human being has a sensory system. The brains system receives this information and acts upon it. The functioning of the muscles and brain is only possible through a power source. The five components form the basis from where people design and construct robots through a process called robotics. Cook summarizes robots’ components as a “movable physical structure, a motor of some sort, a sensor system, a power supply and a computer brain that controls these elements” (65). With advancement in technology, people are designing and constructing robots inspired by nature.
Different scholars have defined robots differently. What however sets robots apart from other machines is their reprogrammable brain. Ge and Frank provide an encompassing definition of robots as a “mechanical or virtual agent, usually an electro-mechanical machine that is guided by a computer program or electronic circuitry” (54). The first robots date back to the classical age where they were mythical characters. It is in Greece where people first used mechanized robots. Today, roboticists construct sophisticated robots to help people in executing repetitive and often risky tasks that people are afraid to do. Some robots are autonomous while others are not. At some points of their operations, human beings must operate them. This research paper will discuss how robots work. It will extrapolate how robots use sensors to perform their operations. It will also explore the opportunity of using PLC in robots.
How Robots Work
Most robots operate on similar principles. Like human beings, they have structures that can move easily. Some are however rigid with few movable parts while others are more flexible with multiple moving structures. Like indicated earlier, roboticists design and construct robots along the human structure. Human beings have bones and robots have plastics or metals. They also have joints that allow for movement. While human beings have feet, robots have wheels that allow them to move around a place. Metals and plastics can also replace motorized wheels depending on the function of the particular robot. To facilitate movement, there must be a power source. This can either be through connection to electricity source, gas, or batteries. The power source acts as a fuel for the actuator to allow movement. The actuators have “nerves” networks within it to allow transmission of electric waves to different parts of the robot. Its nerves are an electric circuit. At the end of the circuit are valves that regulate the entry of power to a particular part of the body. Lumelsky explains that for a robot to move a part, “the robot’s controller would open the valve leading from the fluid pump to a piston cylinder attached to that leg” (43). The force triggers movement and the opening and closing of the valve dictates speed.
As indicated earlier, a robot has a reprogrammable computer as its brain. This computer controls everything within the robot. It does this by regulating and controlling the opening and closure of the valve. The reprogrammable brain affords people to change the behavior of a robot to fit a specified function. If nothing else, a basic robot must have the ability for locomotion. With the advancement in technology, it is now possible to make robots with the five human common senses. This is made possible by creating sensory organs for the robot. Sensory organs allow human beings to design and construct robots of unlimited complexity.
Sensing in Robots
The basic sense in robots is that of locomotion. Roboticists fit wheels on the joints of a robot, effectively giving it the means to walk. Exactly when to walk is where sensing applies. Siciliano, Bruno and Oussama explains that an “LED on one side of the wheel shines a beam of light through the slots to a light sensor on the other side of the wheel” (43). This triggers a change of position of a particular joint (or joints) allowing the motorized wheel or plastic/metallic limb to move. The work of the sensor is to sense the light. Once it senses it, it relays codes to the programmed brain. An individual seated in front of a computer can therefore tell the direction and distance of the robot’s movement. From this basic sense, people can create sophisticated robots’ structures to suit the function for which they intend the robot.
Robots perform repetitive and risky jobs that human beings would ordinarily find boring and dangerous. Additionally, they are accurate and fast and can work long hours without rest or breaks. The robotic arm is one of the most fascinating uses of sensing in designing and constructing robots. The arm’s bone and joints are similar in structure to the human arm. Sensing capabilities allow it to perform duties with the highest degree of accuracy that humans would not. The six joints within the arm work in synchrony to make each move exact to the previous one making its accuracy very high. Gan, Zhongxue, and Qing explains that the computer “controls the robot by rotating individual step motors connected to each joint, making sure that step motors move in exact increments” (54). This is an example of how robots use motion sensory abilities to coordinate and execute repetitive movement with accuracy.
In addition to motion sensors, robots have pressure sensors that roboticists fit inside it to facilitate internal activities. If it is a limb’s movement, the in-built sensors will transmit the information to the computer. If it is the arm, the sensors relay the grip and indicate the degree of its tightness. An individual sitting in front of a computer can therefore supervise the performance of a robot and adjust it accordingly by reprogramming. The reprogramming arises out of the recognition that robots only do what people program them to do. Consider a situation where a robot fixes caps on beer bottles. The programmer’s duty is to “guide the arm through the motions using a handheld controller” (Siciliano, Bruno & Oussama 54). The robot memorizes this movement and performs it repeatedly. Pressure sensors guide the programmer to know whether his or her instructions were accurate in order for him or her to make necessary adjustments.
Extreme Sensing: Autonomous Robots
Manufacturers favor robots for their speed, accuracy, ability to work long ours without supervision and efficiency. Until recently, robots were semi-autonomous and human presence was inevitable to perform tasks beyond the robots’ abilities. Autonomous robots are proving their worth in this respect because they have the ability to interact with the environment in a way that only human beings could previously do. Siciliano, Bruno and Oussama explain that the concept behind autonomous robots is to make them “respond a certain way to outside stimuli” (54). The sense of movement is high. Roboticists fit robots with sensors that react every time a robot hits an obstacle. This triggers a reaction that makes the robot to retract and change direction. Sophisticated robots are able to navigate complex environments with ease. There are fitted with programs that allow them to sense distance covered; an obstacle within hitting radius, and appropriate direction to go. This is possible through ultrasound sensors. It operates on the model of echolocation by animals.
The sense of sight has advanced especially by use of stereo vision. Sophisticated robots are able to perceive the world through sight and smell. Cook explains that these robots have “cameras that give depth perception and image recognition software give them the ability to locate and classify various objects” (76). Such robots are able to master their environment and analyze it accurately. Whenever they are in a fix, they use their sense to maneuver their way out of the situation. For instance, it an organ fails, the robot will press other parts of the body to activate movement.
The sense that has baffled many is artificial intelligence. Sophisticated robots are able to gather information from their environment, compare it with what it has in the database and respond accordingly. This problem –solving ability combines higher senses in a manner that is close to what human beings use. Such robots have the ability to learn from the environment, store the information, and remember it in a similar situation. Though they cannot learn as humans do, sophisticated ones can mimic human beings. Some are even capable of social interactions with humans.
Use of PLC in Robots
PLC is shortened form for Programmable Logic Controller. An advanced technology, it allows for use of software and computer applications to make robots more sophisticated. It however makes it sophisticated by reducing complexity (Lumelsky 43). Siciliano, Bruno, and Oussama argue that the use of PLC in robots portend more advantages such as “common programming controls, software interfaces, program backup and restore methods and program documentation” (76). The use of OEM in robots presents the challenges of complexity that makes robots hard to design, construct, and apply in simple and complex activities. PLC portends the benefits of merging all activities of a company within one control mechanism. This allows for synchrony and ease in managing affairs of a company. PLC is also easy to troubleshoot whenever a problem arises within the system. They thus save time and resources and reduce interruption of services.
Conclusion
The use of robots is becoming popular especially in developed nations. In manufacturing industries, they are capable of carrying out multiple activities with speed, accuracy and with minimal supervision. They rarely break down and do not need breaks or time-offs. People employ sophisticated technology to enhance performance of robots. We now have robots that use advanced sensing to interact with the environment. In the recent years, people have fitted artificial intelligence onto robots. We now have robots that understand the environment better and solve problems.
Works Cited
Cook, Gerald. Mobile Robots: Navigation, Control and Remote Sensing. Hoboken, N.J: IEEE Press, 2011. Print.
Gan, Zhongxue, and Qing Tang. Visual Sensing and Its Applications: Integration of Laser Sensors to Industrial Robots. Hangzhou [u.a.: Zhejiang Univ. Press, 2011. Print.
Ge, S S, and Frank L. Lewis. Autonomous Mobile Robots: Sensing, Control, Decision-Making, and Applications. Boca Raton, FL: CRC/Taylor & Francis, 2006. Internet resource.
Lumelsky, Vladimir J. Sensing, Intelligence, Motion: How Robots and Humans Move in an Unstructured World. Hoboken: John Wiley & Sons, 2005. Internet resource.
Siciliano, Bruno, and Oussama Khatib. Springer Handbook of Robotics. Berlin: Springer, 2008. Print.
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