1. An Overview of Robotics
Jinxiang Chai

2. Reminder
11/22: Final Report draft: You are to turn in an initial draft of your paper. Feedback will be given. If this draft is satisfactory, then you do not need to do a revision
We have graded all of the first eight short reports. You can check your grades on elearning.
Two more presentations:
- An overview of Robotics (today)
- Guest lecture from Schlumberger (This Thursday)

3. What is A Robot?

4. What is A Robot?
“A reprogrammable, multifunctional manipulator designed to move material, parts, tools, or specialized devices through various programmed motions for the performance of a variety of tasks.“
Robot Institute of America, 1979
“A physical agent that generates “intelligent” connection between perception and action”
“Where AI (Artificial Intelligence) meet the real world.”
“An automatic device that performs functions normally ascribed to humans or a machine in the form of a human.”
Webster’s Dictionary

5. History of Robotics
1921: The first reference to the word robot is made in a play by Czech writer Karel Capek ( ) - R.U.R (Rossum's Universal Robots). The word comes from the Czech “robota” which means serf or one in subservient labour.
In the play, the Czech
robot is defined as "a worker of forced labour". After this
play, electromechanical
automatons were
referred to as robots

6. History of Robotics
1940: Westinghouse Electric Corp. creates two of the first robots that use the electric motor for entire body motion. Elektra could dance, count to ten and smoke, while his dog companion Sparko, could walk, stand on its hind legs and bark.
1941: Isaac Asimov first uses the
term 'robotics' to describe the
technology of robots. He predicted
the rise of the robot industry.

7. History of Robotics
Dr. W. Grey Walter, one of the great pioneers in the field of robotics, develops the first autonomous tortoise-type robots, Elsie and Elmer (Electro MEchanical Robot, Light-Sensitive), designed with wheel motors controlled by very basic electronic circuitry and two vacuum tubes.
1951: Raymond Goertz designs the first 'teleoperator' - a device allowing actions to be performed at a distance. Goertz's device was an articulated arm, used to handle radioactive material.
1962: General Motors installs the first industrial robot on a production line. It is a Unimate robot and is used in a car factory run by General Motors in Trenton, New Jersey. The robot lifted hot pieces of metal from a die-casting machine and stacked them.

8. History of Robotics
1968: SRI International, formerly known as the Stanford Research Institute, builds and tests the first mobile robot with vision capability.
Shakey was equipped with a television camera, a range finder and sensors.
Shakey was the first mobile robot that could think and respond to the world around it.

9. History of Robotics
1968: The General Electric Walking Truck was the first manual controlled walking truck.

10. History of Robotics
1969: Stanford University develop the first electrically powered computer controlled robotic arm. This becomes standard for research projects
1974: Professor Sheinman, of
Stanford Arm fame, forms Vicarm Inc. to market a version of the arm controlled by microcomputer for industrial applications. This robotic arm, known as the Silver Arm performs small-parts assembly using touch sensitive sensors.

11. What is in A Robot?

12. What is in A Robot? ? Robots  Physical sensors and effectors sensors
environment
agent ?
sensors
effectors
Robots  Physical sensors and effectors

13. What is in A Robot?

14. Sensors
Sensors that tell the robot position/change of joints: odometers, speedometers, etc.
Force sensing. Enables compliant motion--robot just maintains contact with object
Sonar. Send out sound waves and measure how long it takes for it to be reflected back. Good for obstacle avoidance.
Vision systems
Tactile touch sensors
Etc.

15. Actuators/Effectors Converts software commands into physical motion
Actuators are like the "muscles" of a robot, the parts which convert stored energy into movement.
- By far the most popular actuators are electric motors that spin a wheel or gear, and linear actuators that control industrial robots in factories.
- But there are some recent advances in alternative types of actuators, powered by electricity, chemicals, or compressed air.
Two main types of effectors:
locomotion
manipulation

16. Locomotion
Legs!
traditional such as Honda Asimo
Still, wheeled or tread locomotion like Shakey is still most practical for typical environments
Other methods: reconfigurable robots, fish robots, snake-like robots, UAVs, etc

17. Manipulation Manipulation of objects Typical manipulators allow for:
Prismatic motion (linear movement)
Rotary motion (around a fixed hub)
Robot hands go from complex anthropomorphic models to simpler ones that are just graspers
(video: surgery on grape, Robotic heart surgery)

18. What Are Basic Robot Software Issues?

19. Perception What to perceive:
- Where am I? (Localization and Mapping, video)
- Where are targets? (e.g., object recognition)
- Who/what are you, where are you, what are you doing, etc.?...
Science fiction authors also typically assume that robots will eventually be capable of communicating with humans through speech, gestures, and facial expressions, rather than a command-line interface.

20. Motion Planning Simplest task that a robot needs to accomplish
Goal: move robot from one configuration to another under certain constraints (e.g., without colliding an obstacle).

21. Control
How to design a controller for generating appropriate forces/torques to achieve particular tasks, e.g., move from one point to another?
How can a humanoid robot walk with particular speeds, step sizes or turn angles? How to ride a bicycle?
How to balance your body when some one is pushing you?
How to cooperate a group of robots to achieve a specific goal?
etc

22. Challenges

23. Uncertainty

24. Software For Robotics

25. Software For Robotics

26. BigDog

30. Statement of Robotics Applications
Moving from manufacturing, industrial manipulators to:
– Entertainment robotics
– Personal service robots
– Medical robots
– Industrial applications beyond factory (e.g., mining, agriculture)
– Hazardous applications (e.g., military, toxic cleanup, space)

31. Some Current Robots

32. Need for Humanoid Robots
Industrial robots not flexible enough for unmodified environments
Separated from humans
New applications: Service, household helper, entertainment, ...
Interaction with people needed
Human-like body helps when acting in environments designed for humans
Intuitive multimodal communication
Programming by demonstration, imitation learning

33. Humanoid Robots

34. Humanoid Robots
Honda Asimo Robots
- youtube video (click here)

35. Other Humanoid Robots
video

36. More Robots
video

37. And Even More Robots
video

38. Robots: Alternative Terms
UAV
- Unmanned aerial vehicles
UGV (Rover)
- Unmanned ground vehicles
UUV
- Unmanned undersea vehicles

39. CSE Faculty in Robotics
Prof. Nancy Amato
Prof. Robin Murph
Prof. Dylan Shell
Prof. Dezhen Song
- Motion planning
- Rescue robotics
Distributed AI,
Biologically-inspired multi-robot systems,
Coordinated system, analysis of multi-agent systems
Distributed Sensing,
Networked Robots,
- Vision and Surveillance

40. CSE Courses in Robotics
CSCE 420: Artificial Intelligence
CSCE 452: Robotics and Spatial Intelligence
CSCE 489: Special Topics in Robotics