robot
any automatically operated
machine that replaces human effort, though it may not resemble human
beings in appearance or perform functions in a humanlike manner. The term
is derived from the Czech word robota, meaning "forced labour."
Modern use of the term stems from the play R.U.R.,
written in 1920 by the Czech author Karel
Capek, which depicts society as having become dependent on
mechanical workers called robots that are capable of doing any kind of
mental or physical work.
Modern robot devices descend through two distinct
lines of development--the early automaton,
essentially mechanical toys, and the successive innovations and
refinements introduced in the development of industrial
machinery.
Possibly the
earliest ancestor of today's industrial-robot devices is the clepsydra, or
water clock, which improved upon the hourglass by employing a siphon
principle to automatically recycle itself. Ctesibius of
Alexandria, a Greek physicist and inventor, is reputed to have
constructed such a clock about 250
BC. Weight-driven, pendulum-controlled clocks were invented in the
European Middle Ages. The spring-driven clock was finally developed during
the 18th century, which also witnessed the introduction of rudimentary
forms of automatic machinery in the textile industry.
The Industrial Revolution stimulated the invention
of elementary robot mechanisms to perfect the production of power itself.
The steam
engine inspired the governor (actuated by rotating weights), which,
when it slowed under load, increased the flow of steam to the engine and,
when its load decreased, reduced it. The internal-combustion engine of the
19th century brought a recycling innovation in the form of pistons that
repositioned themselves after each cycle. The later 19th and early 20th
centuries saw a rapid proliferation of powerful machinery in industrial
operations. These at first required a person to position both the work and
the machine, and later only the work. Automatic cycle-repeating machines
(automatic washers), self-measuring and adjusting machines (textile
colour-blending equipment), and machines with a degree of self-programming
(automatic elevators) soon followed.
Since the late 1960s major
developments in microelectronics and computer technology have led to
significant advances in robotics. In the automobile industry, for example,
the introduction of computer-controlled robot devices has automated assembly lines to
a marked degree. These one-armed robots are capable of simulating the
articulation and movement of the human arm and hand and can be used to
lift, weld, and spray-paint automobile bodies. The mechanical arms are
programmed by physically moving them through the desired motions. The
different movements are recorded in the computer's memory so that they can
be repeated precisely. Some high-performance robots have built-in sensors
that enable them to correct their movements if they deviate from the
programmed patterns. Others are equipped with electronic digital cameras
and are used to inspect automobile bodies to make certain that their
dimensions meet specified standards. In such robot devices, the camera
converts images into patterns of digital pulses, which in turn are
compared with pulse patterns stored in the controlling computer's memory.
The stored patterns represent two-dimensional geometric shapes that the
computer has been programmed to identify. Similar kinds of advanced
high-performance robots have been adopted by other assembly industries.
Aircraft manufacturers employ single-arm mechanisms for drilling and
riveting body sections, while a growing number of electronics firms are
utilizing robot devices in conjunction with other computerized instruments
to sort or test finished products. (See automotive
industry.)
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robot (tech.)
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