TECHNOLOGY

IN ROBOTICS

ROBOT BASIC COMPONENTS

MECHANICAL FLATFORMS/ HARDWARE BASE
-mechanical device capable of interacting with its
environment and any other mechanism involve with his
capabilities and uses.
SENSOR SYSTEMS
-provide judgment to the controller with relevant
information about the environment and give useful feedback to
the robot.

JOINTS
-provide more versatility to the robot itself and are not just
a point that connects two links or parts that can flex, rotate,
revolve and translate

 CONTROLLER
- "brain" of the robot. Robots today have controllers that
are run by programs - sets of instructions written in code. In
other words, it is a computer used to command the robot
memory and logic. So it, be able to work independently and
automatically.
- Is a communication, information processing device that
initiates, terminates and coordinates the motion and sequences
of a robot.
Robots are often classified under the three major categories
according to the type of control system used:
NONSERVO Open loop system
SERVO closed loop system
SERVO-CONTROLLED closed loop system with continously
controlled path.

 POWER SOURCE
-main source of energy to fulfill all the robots needs.
It could be a source of direct current as a battery, or alternate
current from a power plant, solar energy, hydraulics or gas.
*There are three basic types of power supplies:
-ELECTRIC
-HYDRAULIC
-PNEUMATIC
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE
-represents the ability of computers to "think" in ways
similar to human beings.
-Present day "AI" does allow machines to mimic certain
simple human thought processes, but can not begin to match
the quickness and complexity of the brain.

 MANIPULATOR
- Primary function is to provide the specific motions that
will enable the tooling at the end to do the required work.
END EFFECTOR
- The device that is mechanically opened and closed.
- Depending on the type of operation, conventional end
effectors are equipped with various device and tool attachments

 * The simplest behavior of a robot is LOCOMOTION. Typically,

joints and wheels are used as the underlying mechanism to
make a robot move from one point to the next.
This type of motion should include the adaptability and
versatility of the robot to continue with a specific task.
*Adaptability means adjustment to the task being carried out.
*Versatility means that the robot should have such a mechanical
structure that it can carry out different tasks or perhaps the
same task in different ways.

DEGREE OF FREEDOM
- defined as the direction in which a robot moves when a joint
is actuated.
- Each joint usually represent one degree of freedom.
- Most of the robots used today use five or six degrees of
freedom. But this depends on the robot application, for example
a pick-and-place application need only three axes specified when
a welding robot requires five or six degrees of freedom.

TYPES OF JOINT LINKS OF A

MANIPULATOR MECHANISM
ROTARY OR REVIOLUTE JOINTS
- the most utilized joint and it rotates along the pin as an
axis.
SPHERICAL JOINTS
- the third most utilized joint and just slide causing a
revolving movement.
SCREW JOINTS
- follow the thread of the axis in spiral to move along the
axis.

 CYLINDRICAL JOINTS
- are very rare and are use in some equipment like
Parallel Robots or Flying simulator Mechanism.
PRISMATIC OR SLIDING JOINTS
- are very rare and are use in some equipment like
Parallel Robots or Flying simulator Mechanism.

ROBOTIC SENSORS
The word sensor comes from the word sense and it is
originate from the Middle French sens, sensation, feeling, and
mechanism of perception.
Improves the performance of the robots it must be able to
sense in both ways their internal and external states (the
environment) to perform some of the tasks presently done by
humans.
more accurate and intelligent robots are expected to emerge
with the newly developed sensors, especially visual sensors.
Vision provides a robot with a sophisticated sensing
mechanism that allows the machine to respond to its
environment in an intelligent and flexible manner.

DIFFERENT TYPE OF SENSORS

PROXIMITY SENSOR
- senses and indicates the presence of an object within a
fixed space near the sensor without physical contact. Different
commercially available proximity sensors are suitable for
different applications.
RANGE SENSOR
- measures the distance from a reference point to a set of
points in the scene.
- Range can be sensed with a pair of TV cameras or sonar
transmitters and receivers.

 TOUCH SENSOR
- senses and indicates a physical contact between the
object carrying the sensor and another object.
- The simplest touch sensor is a micro switch. Touch
sensors can be used to stop the motion of a robot when its endeffectors make contact with an object.
ACOUSTIC SENSOR
- senses and interprets acoustic waves in gas, liquid, or
solid.
- The level of sophistication of sensor interpretation
varies among existing acoustic sensors, frequency of acoustic
waves and recognition of isolated words in a continuous speech.

 FORCE SENSOR
- measures the three components of the force and three
components of the torque acting between two objects

ELECTRIC MOTOR
machine which converts electric energy into mechanical
energy.
A variety of electric motors provide power to robots, allowing
them to move material, parts, tools, or specialized devices
with various programmed motions.
The efficiency of a motor describes how much of the
electrical energy utilize is converted to mechanical energy.

*The difference between Direct Current (DC) and Alternating

Current (AC) electric current is the way that electrons travel in
the wire connections

ALTERNATING CURRENT (AC)

- type of electricity that we get from plugs in the wall.
- switch their direction of flow back and forth.
DIRECT CURRENT (DC)
- electric charges flow always in the same direction.

DIFFERENT TYPES OF MOTORS

Direct Current (DC) motor
-switches the direction of the electric current at each half
of the rotation of the rotor
Brushless DC Motors
- this motor reduced maintenance, no spark hazard, and
better speed control. They are widely used in computer disk
drives, tape recorders, and other electronic devices.

 Alternating Current (AC) motor

Synchronous AC Motors
Universal Motors

6 COMMON TYPES OF ROBOT SYSTEMS

CARTESIAN ROBOT
- These robots move in three directions, in translation, at
right angles to each other.
- form by 3 prismatic joints, whose axes are coincident
with the X, Y and Z planes.
SCARA ROBOT
-Selective Compliance Assembly Robot Arm
-is built with 2 parallel rotary joints to provide compliance
in a plane. The robots work in the XY-plane and have Zmovement and a rotation of the gripper for assembly.

 CYLINDRICAL ROBOT
-able to rotate along his main axes forming a cylindrical
shape.
-The robot arm is attached to the slide so that it can be
moved radially with respect to the column.
ARTICULATED ROBOTS
-They are used in welding and painting; gantry and
conveyor systems move parts in factories.
-mechanic manipulator that looks like an arm with at
least three rotary joints.

 SPHERICAL ROBOT
-It used for a small number of vertical actions and is
adequate for loading and unloading of a punch .
-is able to rotate in two different directions along his
main axes and the third joint moves in translation forming a
hemisphere or polar coordinate system.
PARALLEL ROBOT
-complex mechanism which is constituted by two or more
kinematics chains between, the base and the platform where the
end-effectors are located.
-Good examples are the flying simulator and 4-D
attractions at Univ. Studios

TYPES OF ROBOTS ACCORDING TO

APPLICATION
INDUSTRIAL ROBOTS
- includes the automobile and manufacturing industries.
EDUCATIONAL ROBOTS
- Their role is demonstrational for teaching basic concepts .
AGRICULTURAL ROBOTS
- one example is the Demeter harvester it contains new
controllers, proximity sensors, safeguards and task software
specialized to the needs of commercial agriculture processes
-

 ROBOTS IN SPACE
- Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV).
- It can be consistent with an unmanned spacecraft that
remains in flight or a lander that makes contact with an
extraterrestrial body and operates from a stationary position, or
a rover that can move over terrain once it has landed.
MOBILE ROBOTS(TRANSPORTATION)
- these types of robot operate by control remote
deploying sensor position.
- consist of sampling payloads, mapping surface and
creating a photorealistic 3D models and sent back any kind of
visual information of building interiors and any environmental
data.

 HEALTH CARE ROBOTS

- perform simple task and improve some medical
protocol and procedures.

OTHER TYPES:
ROLLING ROBOTS
- have wheels to move around. These are the type of
robots that can quickly and easily search move
around. However they are only useful in flat areas.

 WALKING ROBOTS
- . Development of legged robots is often modeled after
insects or crawfish
- Robots on legs are usually brought in when the terrain is
rocky and difficult to enter with wheels. Robots have a hard
time shifting balance and keep them from tumbling. Thats why
most robots with have at least 4 of them, usually they have 6
legs or more.
STATIONARY ROBOTS
- Most robots perform repeating tasks without ever
moving an inch.
- In case the tasks at hand are done, the robots will be
reprogrammed to perform other tasks

 AUTONOMOUS ROBOTS
- are self supporting or in other words self contained. In
a way they rely on their own brains.
- run a program that give them the opportunity to decide
on the action to perform depending on their surroundings. At
times these robots even learn new behavior. They start out with
a short routine and adapt this routine to be more successful at
the task they perform.
REMOTE CONTROL ROBOTS
- Complicated tasks are still best performed by human
beings with real brainpower. A person can guide a robot by
remote control.

 VIRTUAL ROBOTS
- Virtual robots are just programs, building blocks of
software inside a computer.
- A virtual robot can simulate a real robot or just perform
a repeating task. A special kind of robot is a robot that searches
the world wide web.
BEAM ROBOTS
- Biology, Electronics, Aesthetics and Mechanics.
- made by hobbyists. BEAM robots can be simple and
very suitable for starters