PRASHANTH BN

Assistant Professor
Department Mechanical Engineering
Amrita School of Engineering
 CHAPTER 1

FUNDAMENTALS OF ROBOTICS
Introduction
 Term “Robot” derived from Czech word robota, meaning
“forced labor” by Karel Capek, around 1921.
 Robots are highly automated mechanical manipulators
controlled by computers.
 Robotics Industries Association (RIA) defines a Robot as: "A
programmable multi-function manipulator designed to move
material, parts, or specialized devices through variable
programmed motion for the performance of a variety of tasks”.
 International Standards Organization (ISO) describes Industrial
Robot as: “An automatically controlled, reprogrammable,
multipurpose, manipulator programmable in three or more
axes, which may be either fixed in place or mobile for use in
industrial automation applications.”
 In 1950s Isaac Asimov Came up with laws of robotics in Robot
 A robot may not injure a human being, or through inaction
allow a human being to come to harm.
 A robot must obey the orders given it by human beings,
except where such orders would conflict with the first law.
 A robot must protect its own existence as long as such
protection does not conflict with the first or second law.
 Capek’s term Robot means a manipulator that was activated
directly by an operator or other mechanical or electrical means.
 Robots were originally used in hazardous operations such as
Handling toxic and radioactive materials, loading and
unloading hot workpieces from furnaces and handling them in
foundaries.
Automation and Robots
 Automation is a technology concerned with the use of
Mechanical, Electrical/Electronics and computer based systems
to control and operate production processes. For example,
Mechanized assembly machines, NC machine tools, Feedback
control systems and robots.
 Robots are Mechanical devices that assist Industrial
automation.
 Automation is generally regarded as being able to be divided
into 3 types:
 Fixed Automation
 Programmable Automation
 Flexible Automation
 Fixed automation
 Used when the volume of production is very high and it is,
therefore, appropriate to design specialized equipment to
process products at high rates and low cost.
 Eg: automobile industry, where highly integrated transfer
line are used to perform machine operation on engine and
transmission components.
 Programmable Automation
 Used when volume production is relatively low.
 Production equipment is designed to make suitable changes in a
product configuration.
 Program is read into the equipment and equipment performs
particular sequence or assembly of operations to make the
product.
 Flexible automation
 Most suitable for the mid-volume production range.
 Typically consists of a series of workstation that are
interconnected by material-handling and storage equipment to
process different product configuration at the same time to
control manufacturing system.
 Eg: Flexible Manufacturing System (FMS), Computer Integrated
Manufacturing (CIM)
History and Evolution of Robots
 1921: R.U.R. (Rossum‘s Universal Robots), a play by Czech
writer Karel Capek features the first mention of the word
‘robot’, from the Czech word ‘robota’, meaning ‘forced
labour’.
 1956 - The world's first robot company, Unimate.
 1961 – Unimate, the first industrial robot goes online in a GM
automobile factory in NJ, USA.
 1963 – The first artificial robotic arm to be controlled by a
computer is designed.
 1974 – Asia’s first robot, IRB 6, is developed.
 Late 1970s: The robot industry starts its rapid growth, with a
new robot or company entering the market every month.
 The development of robotics technology followed the
development of numerical control, and the two technologies are
quite similar.
 NC machines are designed to perform specific processes
whereas, robots are designed for a wider variety of tasks.”
Advantages of Robots
 Robots can work in hazardous environments
 Robots need no environmental comfort
 Robots work continuously without any humanity needs &
illnesses
 Robots have repetable precision at all times
 Robots can be much more accurate than humans, they may
have mili or micro inch accuracy.
 Robots & their sensors can have capabilities beyond that of
humans
 Robots can process multiple stimuli or tasks simultaneously,
humans can only one.
Disadvantages of Robots
 Robots lack capability to respond in emergencies, this
can cause:
 Inappropriate and wrong responses
 A lack of decision-making power
 A loss of power
 Damage to the robot and other devices
 Human injuries
 Robots may have limited capabilities in
 Degrees of Freedom
 Dexterity
 Sensors
 Vision systems
 Real-time Response
 Robots are costly, due to
 Initial cost of equipment
 Installation Costs
 Need for peripherals
 Need for training
 Need for Programming