What is Robotics?
Robotics refers to research and engineering activities of study of robots and its design and development. In this modern age robotic system has been implemented almost in all fields like computer science, mechanical engineering, space technology and many more. This technology takes place when knowledge of electronics, mechanical science and software technology together forms a science or knowledge house.
Role & Impact of Robotics
Robotics in this modern age has a lot of influence in each and every field and has made many jobs easy and thus does the job automatically. Impact of robotics on IT has seen major role to play for its popularity and usage. Due to this technology speed of computer has been increased upto 100 million per second. Scientists are even working hard to replace the human thinking into this robot like storage capacity by 2030. So if this will be successful than many of the human thinking can be stored and can be done professionally.
The use of robotics is very important and plays a very vital role in space technology. The development of Eurobot is one such trial which assists astronauts during extravehicular activity for major repairing and other research analysis job what is called as spacewalk. The role of robotics is a part of study and development of scientists working for human expeditions to the moon or any other
Wednesday, 24 August 2011
Automation through Robotics
The main purpose of automation robotics is to optimize the work that has to be done to effectively complete the tasks required to manufacture products. Automation robotics has special purposes, to minimize the amount of time, effort, and energy that is required to produce a product. It is also needed to reduce the amount of waste of raw materials and rework of products that are not completed to specification. Tasks of automation robotics also include the maximization of quality in products that are finished and the safety that is needed in producing them. The definition of automation robotics is not as important as is the understanding of how to apply it to operate in a manufacturing environment for the purpose of making products in the most cost effective and safe way as possible. An engineer who is responsible for creating an automation scenario for a manufacturing company will draw from his knowledge of how robotics are used to accomplish tasks and his ability to apply robotics in an economical way to build an automation solution.
Automation robotics can have the following characteristics:
- an arm that can be configured in different ways
- a number of degrees of freedom which allows movement in multiple directions
- load-bearing capability
- defined work area
- some control system
- a source of power
- repeatability of tasks performed
- accuracy of tasks performed
- reliability in tasks that are performed
Least complex of the robots in industrial applications are those that do lifting and placing. These devices are the ones that do loading and unloading, pick and place, material movements, and palletizing. The ability to move heavier loads and work in unseemly surroundings are characteristics of these machines. Sometimes these devices replace unskilled labor and usually require low maintenance.
Used industrial robots
ABB KUKA used robots with warranty Fanuc Motoman Staubli www.eurobots.co.in
Robotic Repairs,Bangalore
Specialist in Repairs of Servos, Teach Pendants,Processor Boards etc www.amsindia.net
The next level of complexity in robots is occupied by the industrial application devices. These do tasks like spray painting, spot and arc welding, tasks that are normally done by skilled labor. A lot of these tasks are harmful to humans because of dangerous exposures that are generated. This type of device requires the ability of servo or spherical control in order to do their assigned tasks. These robots can use training to get their work defined before they are put to the automation tasks. In some cases sensors are used to help give them consistency in their work. Robotics of this type are very good at cutting operating costs and improving the quality of products that come off the production line.
Looking at the top level of complexity in robotics you can see the devices that perform tasks like assembly of products. Consistency and repeatability are high virtues of these devices. Tooling that is at the end of the arm of this devices has the ability to be very precise in placement of pieces in their proper places. These can make minor adjustment in their work to meet the needs of putting products together correctly.
Since it is the job of robotics to optimize the work in the production environment, it is important to define what tasks can best be done by robotics and what task should be best left to human accomplishment. If two tasks in manufacturing are very similar in characteristic, it is much easier to let a robotic move into the new operation, if it similar to an operation that the robotics has performed earlier. The less similar two jobs are the more likely that a human could make an easier transition to the new task. Human abilities accumulate over a lifetime, while the robotic has to start a new task from zero experience and will require extensive training to accomplish it. Robotics do not have any inherent characteristics like humans do. Some humans will better at some tasks rather than other tasks, while different robotics begin a given task from the same starting point that has zero knowledge or ability.
In deciding whether a human or a robot should do a certain manufacturing task there are certain possibilities that might help to guide you to a decision. If the task is too complicated for a robot to perform within economic reason, then the task should be left to a human to do. A robot would win the chance to perform a task if the job was too dangerous for a human to do, or space or other special considerations come into play. If a robot can generate lower cost, better quality, better consistency, or other positives then the robot would win the job.
There are definite decisions that you must make when you are deciding to put a robotic to work in the place of a human. Even the possibility of labor shortage would be a reason for putting a robotic to work.
Automation robotics can have the following characteristics:
- an arm that can be configured in different ways
- a number of degrees of freedom which allows movement in multiple directions
- load-bearing capability
- defined work area
- some control system
- a source of power
- repeatability of tasks performed
- accuracy of tasks performed
- reliability in tasks that are performed
Least complex of the robots in industrial applications are those that do lifting and placing. These devices are the ones that do loading and unloading, pick and place, material movements, and palletizing. The ability to move heavier loads and work in unseemly surroundings are characteristics of these machines. Sometimes these devices replace unskilled labor and usually require low maintenance.
Used industrial robots
ABB KUKA used robots with warranty Fanuc Motoman Staubli www.eurobots.co.in
Robotic Repairs,Bangalore
Specialist in Repairs of Servos, Teach Pendants,Processor Boards etc www.amsindia.net
The next level of complexity in robots is occupied by the industrial application devices. These do tasks like spray painting, spot and arc welding, tasks that are normally done by skilled labor. A lot of these tasks are harmful to humans because of dangerous exposures that are generated. This type of device requires the ability of servo or spherical control in order to do their assigned tasks. These robots can use training to get their work defined before they are put to the automation tasks. In some cases sensors are used to help give them consistency in their work. Robotics of this type are very good at cutting operating costs and improving the quality of products that come off the production line.
Looking at the top level of complexity in robotics you can see the devices that perform tasks like assembly of products. Consistency and repeatability are high virtues of these devices. Tooling that is at the end of the arm of this devices has the ability to be very precise in placement of pieces in their proper places. These can make minor adjustment in their work to meet the needs of putting products together correctly.
Since it is the job of robotics to optimize the work in the production environment, it is important to define what tasks can best be done by robotics and what task should be best left to human accomplishment. If two tasks in manufacturing are very similar in characteristic, it is much easier to let a robotic move into the new operation, if it similar to an operation that the robotics has performed earlier. The less similar two jobs are the more likely that a human could make an easier transition to the new task. Human abilities accumulate over a lifetime, while the robotic has to start a new task from zero experience and will require extensive training to accomplish it. Robotics do not have any inherent characteristics like humans do. Some humans will better at some tasks rather than other tasks, while different robotics begin a given task from the same starting point that has zero knowledge or ability.
In deciding whether a human or a robot should do a certain manufacturing task there are certain possibilities that might help to guide you to a decision. If the task is too complicated for a robot to perform within economic reason, then the task should be left to a human to do. A robot would win the chance to perform a task if the job was too dangerous for a human to do, or space or other special considerations come into play. If a robot can generate lower cost, better quality, better consistency, or other positives then the robot would win the job.
There are definite decisions that you must make when you are deciding to put a robotic to work in the place of a human. Even the possibility of labor shortage would be a reason for putting a robotic to work.
Breakthrough Developments in the Robotics Revolution
As we begin a new decade, many people are overly focused on short-term conditions. This is a recipe for financial mediocrity or perhaps even financial failure. We need to keep the big picture in mind if we intend to reap the big returns.
Despite the current pain, the last decade was historic in terms of international economic development. Growth in the BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India, and China) countries alone has raised the standards of living and purchasing power for over 40% of the world's people. Africa has seen a rate of progress that is producing a doubling in standards of living every 14 years or so.
As a result, hundreds of millions of people have switched from being net drains on the world economy to net producers. These changes will generate enormous positive benefits for markets and investors. The trick is to think long term and act on the big trends that are powering future technological transformation.
One area with disruptive technology, breakthrough developments, and transformational wealth creation is in the field of robotics. Exciting developments are underway and applications for robot technology are gaining steam.
The consumer robotics market is projected to reach $24B in 2010 and expand to $66B by 2025. By comparison, the digital music market is in projected to be $15B in 2010.
Bill Gates is predicting that in 10 years, personal robots will be as common as computers are today. Many think that investing in robotics now will be like buying Intel, AMD, Apple, and Microsoft in the 1980s.
The Great Recession has caused some temporary blows.
For example, a mainstay of the robotics industry has been assembly line machines for the automobile manufactures. This sector has been significantly down-sized and is essentially on idle (compared to what has been a few short years ago).
However, during these down-turns, innovation occurs. During the Great Depression, the automotive industry made improvements in areas of automotive technology like fully automatic transmissions and hydraulic brakes. When the Great Depression ended, motoring was revolutionized; sales went up, profit margins were larger, and share prices increased.
Robots are being used for dangerous jobs that humans would rather not perform. A recent example is from the US Commerce Dept that has developed robots to repair aging water transmission pipelines, from the inside.
Another example is the development of small and inexpensive robots that can enter collapsed buildings to find survivors after earthquakes. On the domestic front, more than 5 million robotic vacuums have been sold.
The economics of robotics is based on one simple fact. This fact is that computer costs are a fraction, for the performance received, of two decades ago, yet the technician who repairs the computer has probably received a raise.
Food prices have fallen steeply due to improved automation technologies for the agricultural industry. Due to improvements in automated agricultural equipment, the cost of our daily bread has been reduced and we have only scratched the surface of the benefits robots will bring in this area.
With the leading edge of the boomer generation entering retirement, the financial incentives for improved robots is enormous. Health care services have not declined partly because of labor costs however with improved robotic automation, simple housekeeping and personal services for our older family members will come from improved robotics.
The Japanese know this well as more than 1/5 of their population is over 65 years old. With a dwindling work force and an increasing demand for basic care in our homes and health care facilities, the solution is very likely to resemble a humanoid robot.
The biggest robotics problems are not hardware related but involve software or artificial intelligence (AI). If a robot is to be capable of operating in a wide variety of commercial and industrial environments, it must have multiple sensor feeds. This capability is necessary if a viable, multi-purpose, self-directed robot is to succeed.
Also, human / robot interactions must respond to voice requests, create voice reminders, and engage in word games.
A flagship robot will have both advanced and modular AI with a sensor system that allow robots to move about the typical home landscape. They will run on common PC hardware and use operating systems like Windows XP and Linux to keep the costs down. Due to the high cost of assisted care, a humanoid robot will pay for itself in a matter of months.
In a related area on the health care front, there are advanced robotics making large strides and being used in surgical procedures. One development is a unique and remotely controlled catheter that can be used during an operation and cause minimal trauma to the patient. One advantage of surgical robots is the degree of precision they are capable of achieving, much more than even the steadiest of surgeon's hands.
I trust this post is providing some background and evidence that a robotics revolution is underway and that transformative technology could hand you transformational wealth for decades to come.
In closing, I favor a quote from Steve Forbes. Forbes says that pursuing additional financial education and the resulting increase in our financial literacy (including the investment potential of breakthrough technology) will open our eyes to alternative wealth creating strategies and this will be they key to resolving our financial crisis.
To gain the necessary financial education, it is best to obtain association with, access to, and membership in a wealth creation community. As a result, you will obtain examples of alternative wealth creating strategies such as debt reduction, asset protection, and wealth acceleration with investments in items such as robotics, nano-based next-generation battery technology, precious metals, water rights, oil, natural gas, potash mines, food commodities, or gold mines … perhaps investments in energy assets that are inherently useful like oil rigs, hydropower, or methanol plants … things hard to build, difficult to replace, and costly to substitute … definitely not financial stocks, definitely not retail stocks, definitely not commercial property.
Despite the current pain, the last decade was historic in terms of international economic development. Growth in the BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India, and China) countries alone has raised the standards of living and purchasing power for over 40% of the world's people. Africa has seen a rate of progress that is producing a doubling in standards of living every 14 years or so.
As a result, hundreds of millions of people have switched from being net drains on the world economy to net producers. These changes will generate enormous positive benefits for markets and investors. The trick is to think long term and act on the big trends that are powering future technological transformation.
One area with disruptive technology, breakthrough developments, and transformational wealth creation is in the field of robotics. Exciting developments are underway and applications for robot technology are gaining steam.
The consumer robotics market is projected to reach $24B in 2010 and expand to $66B by 2025. By comparison, the digital music market is in projected to be $15B in 2010.
Bill Gates is predicting that in 10 years, personal robots will be as common as computers are today. Many think that investing in robotics now will be like buying Intel, AMD, Apple, and Microsoft in the 1980s.
The Great Recession has caused some temporary blows.
For example, a mainstay of the robotics industry has been assembly line machines for the automobile manufactures. This sector has been significantly down-sized and is essentially on idle (compared to what has been a few short years ago).
However, during these down-turns, innovation occurs. During the Great Depression, the automotive industry made improvements in areas of automotive technology like fully automatic transmissions and hydraulic brakes. When the Great Depression ended, motoring was revolutionized; sales went up, profit margins were larger, and share prices increased.
Robots are being used for dangerous jobs that humans would rather not perform. A recent example is from the US Commerce Dept that has developed robots to repair aging water transmission pipelines, from the inside.
Another example is the development of small and inexpensive robots that can enter collapsed buildings to find survivors after earthquakes. On the domestic front, more than 5 million robotic vacuums have been sold.
The economics of robotics is based on one simple fact. This fact is that computer costs are a fraction, for the performance received, of two decades ago, yet the technician who repairs the computer has probably received a raise.
Food prices have fallen steeply due to improved automation technologies for the agricultural industry. Due to improvements in automated agricultural equipment, the cost of our daily bread has been reduced and we have only scratched the surface of the benefits robots will bring in this area.
With the leading edge of the boomer generation entering retirement, the financial incentives for improved robots is enormous. Health care services have not declined partly because of labor costs however with improved robotic automation, simple housekeeping and personal services for our older family members will come from improved robotics.
The Japanese know this well as more than 1/5 of their population is over 65 years old. With a dwindling work force and an increasing demand for basic care in our homes and health care facilities, the solution is very likely to resemble a humanoid robot.
The biggest robotics problems are not hardware related but involve software or artificial intelligence (AI). If a robot is to be capable of operating in a wide variety of commercial and industrial environments, it must have multiple sensor feeds. This capability is necessary if a viable, multi-purpose, self-directed robot is to succeed.
Also, human / robot interactions must respond to voice requests, create voice reminders, and engage in word games.
A flagship robot will have both advanced and modular AI with a sensor system that allow robots to move about the typical home landscape. They will run on common PC hardware and use operating systems like Windows XP and Linux to keep the costs down. Due to the high cost of assisted care, a humanoid robot will pay for itself in a matter of months.
In a related area on the health care front, there are advanced robotics making large strides and being used in surgical procedures. One development is a unique and remotely controlled catheter that can be used during an operation and cause minimal trauma to the patient. One advantage of surgical robots is the degree of precision they are capable of achieving, much more than even the steadiest of surgeon's hands.
I trust this post is providing some background and evidence that a robotics revolution is underway and that transformative technology could hand you transformational wealth for decades to come.
In closing, I favor a quote from Steve Forbes. Forbes says that pursuing additional financial education and the resulting increase in our financial literacy (including the investment potential of breakthrough technology) will open our eyes to alternative wealth creating strategies and this will be they key to resolving our financial crisis.
To gain the necessary financial education, it is best to obtain association with, access to, and membership in a wealth creation community. As a result, you will obtain examples of alternative wealth creating strategies such as debt reduction, asset protection, and wealth acceleration with investments in items such as robotics, nano-based next-generation battery technology, precious metals, water rights, oil, natural gas, potash mines, food commodities, or gold mines … perhaps investments in energy assets that are inherently useful like oil rigs, hydropower, or methanol plants … things hard to build, difficult to replace, and costly to substitute … definitely not financial stocks, definitely not retail stocks, definitely not commercial property.
Roles of Robotics in Industrial Automation
Automation technology refers to the methodologies and techniques when it comes to making processes automated such as the use of different control systems, logic controllers, and robotics.
Robotics has played an important role when it comes to automation especially industrial automation since it enabled most companies to achieve minimal errors when it comes to assembly since most of the processes are being performed by robots. This means that the processes are less prone to errors since they are already programmed and automated.
Robots are known as manipulators when it comes to automation since they enable us to do different tasks such as assembling products and a lot more. Robots constitute of series of parts that are interconnected to each other which enable the machine to function its programmed tasks. Robots are also reprogrammable, meaning that they can be programmed to perform specific task and then reprogrammed to do another.
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Computers also have played major roles when it comes to the development of robotics especially when it comes to industrial automation. Robots have chips that serve as their brains, without this they will not be able to perform the tasks that they are programmed to do. The role of computers is to process the controls or commands of the user so that it may be able to instruct the robot on what the specific things that it needs to do. In other terms, computers act as intermediary devices when it comes to commanding the robots to perform specific tasks.
Today, with the help of robotics in industrial automation companies were able to improve their processes and save more on different expenses such as labor expense; instead of hiring more work for in the assembly section of a factory, the company may just use automation to save more on expenses and ensure the good quality of the product at the same time.
Learn Building Your Own Robot
The Time Is Right:
The field of hobby robotics is more exciting today than ever before. The day when you will have a humanoid, walking, talking robot in your home that will do your cooking and cleaning looms ever closer. Short of having a real robotic maid or butler, there are many other options that can be built today on just about any budget. If you really want to enjoy a fun, reasonably priced hobby, you should try to build your own robots. There are many reasons why it makes sense create a robot from scratch rather than buying pre-made ones.
Affordable:
The technology that exists today staggers the mind in not only how advanced it has become, but also in how cheap it is to purchase. There are microcontrollers today that literally replace a room-sized computer of the previous century. The cost for such controllers can be well under $100 for a more-than-capable unit. Some can be purchased as kits to assemble and learn about computer architecture and electronics, others are pre-built units and some even come as single boards that are ready to "plug and play."
Sensors for hobby robots have increased in functionality while they have also reduced in price. It has gotten to the point where advanced sensors like ultrasonic range detectors and infrared distance sensors even come with robotic toys like the Lego Mindstorms kits. The accuracy of these sensors is astonishing and affords the robotic hobbyist with very high-precision instruments capable of providing ample functionality on even an entry-level robot.
Programability:
It was formerly the case that many of these microcontrollers required a high-level understanding of computers, binary math and assembler language programming to operate. This restricted the field to schooled adults or older children with a great deal of mathematics background.
Today, many of these robotic products come with a computer interface that allows "building block" style components to be visually ordered on-screen in a graphical editor which allows even younger children the ability to understand logic programming and control-flow logic structures in an easy to understand format. These same programs usually also allow code-level programming to be performed as the student gains an understanding of the high-level logic. This allows them to get "closer to the metal" of the processor's native language and architecture while providing skill-building opportunities.
Even more interesting for some, is that many of the common hobby robots have their loyal fan following, usually very technical people, who like to push the limits of the platforms. Often you can find compilers or interpreters written to support programming in other languages. This allows the clever and curious inventors to use their robotic for other purposes while learning ever more technical skills. You can often find more than one website devoted to groups like these.
Attack of the Toys:
If you are not as interested in learning programming software, you can also take existing toys and use them as a springboard to more advanced uses. Toys like the Furby of yesteryear gained a following by inspired experimenters who took them apart, rewired them, and put them back together in their own vision, to perform functions not intended by the original manufacturers.
Radio controlled toys are also an excellent springboard for robot development as they take care of a common problem with robots, locomotion. One of the persistent problems creating a robot from scratch is how to propel your robot accurately around the room. Motors require careful selection, knowledge of velocity, gearing and other complex formulas in order to operate accurately. Robots like the iRobot Roomba have solved these problems and thus it makes sense to reuse the work they have done rather than re-inventing the wheel.
Also, battery power can be tricky to learn and many of these platforms take the guesswork out of creating rechargable platforms that won't run out of juice after a five minute stroll around your home.
Reusing these technologies allows the experiment to concentrate on higher-level functions like navigation, vision and other robotic applications that may be more appealing to the robotics enthusiast.
The field of hobby robotics is more exciting today than ever before. The day when you will have a humanoid, walking, talking robot in your home that will do your cooking and cleaning looms ever closer. Short of having a real robotic maid or butler, there are many other options that can be built today on just about any budget. If you really want to enjoy a fun, reasonably priced hobby, you should try to build your own robots. There are many reasons why it makes sense create a robot from scratch rather than buying pre-made ones.
Affordable:
The technology that exists today staggers the mind in not only how advanced it has become, but also in how cheap it is to purchase. There are microcontrollers today that literally replace a room-sized computer of the previous century. The cost for such controllers can be well under $100 for a more-than-capable unit. Some can be purchased as kits to assemble and learn about computer architecture and electronics, others are pre-built units and some even come as single boards that are ready to "plug and play."
Sensors for hobby robots have increased in functionality while they have also reduced in price. It has gotten to the point where advanced sensors like ultrasonic range detectors and infrared distance sensors even come with robotic toys like the Lego Mindstorms kits. The accuracy of these sensors is astonishing and affords the robotic hobbyist with very high-precision instruments capable of providing ample functionality on even an entry-level robot.
Programability:
It was formerly the case that many of these microcontrollers required a high-level understanding of computers, binary math and assembler language programming to operate. This restricted the field to schooled adults or older children with a great deal of mathematics background.
Today, many of these robotic products come with a computer interface that allows "building block" style components to be visually ordered on-screen in a graphical editor which allows even younger children the ability to understand logic programming and control-flow logic structures in an easy to understand format. These same programs usually also allow code-level programming to be performed as the student gains an understanding of the high-level logic. This allows them to get "closer to the metal" of the processor's native language and architecture while providing skill-building opportunities.
Even more interesting for some, is that many of the common hobby robots have their loyal fan following, usually very technical people, who like to push the limits of the platforms. Often you can find compilers or interpreters written to support programming in other languages. This allows the clever and curious inventors to use their robotic for other purposes while learning ever more technical skills. You can often find more than one website devoted to groups like these.
Attack of the Toys:
If you are not as interested in learning programming software, you can also take existing toys and use them as a springboard to more advanced uses. Toys like the Furby of yesteryear gained a following by inspired experimenters who took them apart, rewired them, and put them back together in their own vision, to perform functions not intended by the original manufacturers.
Radio controlled toys are also an excellent springboard for robot development as they take care of a common problem with robots, locomotion. One of the persistent problems creating a robot from scratch is how to propel your robot accurately around the room. Motors require careful selection, knowledge of velocity, gearing and other complex formulas in order to operate accurately. Robots like the iRobot Roomba have solved these problems and thus it makes sense to reuse the work they have done rather than re-inventing the wheel.
Also, battery power can be tricky to learn and many of these platforms take the guesswork out of creating rechargable platforms that won't run out of juice after a five minute stroll around your home.
Reusing these technologies allows the experiment to concentrate on higher-level functions like navigation, vision and other robotic applications that may be more appealing to the robotics enthusiast.
Saturday, 20 August 2011
Making a Simple Robot
You have several options for the base material.
Wood Depending on the size of your robot plywood may be a good choice it is inexpensive or free and easy to work with simple tools. You can get 1/4″ and 3/8″ plywood at Hardware, Home Improvement, Craft, or Hobby stores. A good place to look for free material is at a Cabinet shop they have lots of scrap too small for their use but perfect for a small robot.
Aluminium Light weight and moderately easy to work can also be found at Hardware, Home Improvement, Craft, or Hobby stores. You should always be very cautious when working with aluminum as edges can be very sharp and should be sanded or filed to round the edges.
Plastics Acrylic or Plexiglas are both easy to work and can also be found at Hardware, Home Improvement, Craft, or Hobby stores. High-speed tools should not be used, as they will melt the plastic. When cutting or drilling use low speeds.
Old CD’s These can be easy to find most people get them in the mail from AOL or Earthlink instead of throwing them away you can use them to make a robot. They can be a little on the brittle side so go easy when you do any cutting or drilling. I will be using Plexiglas from my local home center but you can use whatever material you want.
Motors:
Servos You can use servos for easy to get gear motors. Hobby shops will usually carry several sizes and brands. You will need to modify them for use there are many sites on the net with different methods; the one I like is detailed at the PARTS website. Servos already have all of the control circuitry built in and are easy to control they have 3 wires signal, +, and ground by pulsing the signal line you can go forward, stop, or backward. Servos are probably the easiest and cheapest way to go but may not be the best for you.
Gear motors These are available from surplus stores or hobby shops some people modify servos and remove the electronics to use them as gear motors. Gear motors will require control circuitry normally an H-bridge to allow forward and reverse motion and in some cases braking. Gear motors can give the greatest flexibility but at a higher cost compared to servos. Another source for gear motors is the toy section of your locale department store. What you want are the radio control toys that have differential steering, meaning they have a separate motor for each side. To turn left they go forward on the right motor and turn off the left motor and do the opposite to turn right. The really good cars will turn right by going backward on the right motor and forward on the left this will allow a vehicle to almost turn on a dime. If you use gear motors you will need to devise a method to mount the wheels I will be using a toy for my example.
Wheels:
You can use wheels from toys or you can buy wheels from a hobby shop they have pneumatic or foam wheels for model aircraft that are very easy to use.
Power System:
Batteries You will need to decide what type of batteries to use. It can quickly become very expensive replacing batteries. Rechargeable batteries are best; there are a number of different types to choose from. Electronic supply stores or Hobby shops are good places to look, you will need batteries and a charger to charge them with.
Power supply We will need a voltage regulator to drop the voltage from the battery to the 5 volts needed by the Microcontroller and other parts of the Brain for the robot.
I will cover using two different voltage regulators both are available FREE from National Semiconductor as samples. Each part has its good and bad points:
LM2825 Integrated Power Supply 1A DC-DC Converter is a complete switching power supply on a 24 pin DIP although a little large it requires no other components and has an efficiency of 80%. It does require at least 7 volts on the input but your batteries will last much longer than with a linear regulator.
LM2940 1A Low Dropout Regulator is a linear regulator in a TO 220 package it requires a couple of filter capacitors it is not as efficient as the LM2825 the big up point is it only requires 5.5 volts input to give a regulated 5 volts out.
For the brain, lets have a look at three different microcontroller’s. I will admit I am bias when it comes to Basic Micro products as I have been using them for quit a while now and have always been very happy with the products and the support.
Atom from Basic Micro is mostly compatible with the Basic Stamp but is much better, just to name a few of the things that set it above the Basic Stamp:
8k of program space
IDE for programming
ICD for in circuit debugging lets you watch your program run
Floating point 32×32 bit math allows you to do real math. In case you don’t now it 5/2=2 to a Basic stamp but to the Atom 5/2=2.5
Interrupts (Up to 14 Sources) allow the Atom to stop where it is in a program and jump to another part of a program and when finished go back where it came from based on an event either internal or external.
Analogue to Digital Converter 4 10 bit analog to digital converters.
You can also buy the Atom28 28 Pin Interpreter Chip and build it up on a solderless bread board.
Basic Stamp from Parrallax the old workhorse of the list has a well-established base of users and resources. Their educational resources are outstanding and nothing else really compares they have texts on Robotics, Earth Measurements, Industrial Control, and more.
PIC16F876 Programmed with Mbasic compiler also from Basic Micro version 5.0 is basically syntax compatible with the Atom most of the differences being pin designations with Mbasic you can use any one of a number of PIC Micros. I will provide a hex file of the program so that those who don’t want to buy a compiler at this time can still build the robot. I will have PIC16F876 chips programmed with a boot loader available to those who don’t have the ability to program pic’s you can download the ISP-PRO Programmer software Ver 4.0.4.1 from Basic Micro to program the chips using the boot loader. If you purchase an ISP-PRO you can make all the boot loader chips you want for free.
Any of the micro controllers above are a good choice so which should you choose? I personally like the Atom it is superior to the Basic Stamp. Below are the prices for both the module and the development kit with module for each. Though you don’t have to buy the development kit it will make the project much simpler and really is money well spent.
Cost:
Basic Micro
Atom Module $59.95
Atom Combo $129.95
Parallax
BASIC Stamp 2 Module $49.00
BS2 Starter Kit with Board of Education $159.00
You could also just buy the module and a solderless breadboard or piece of perf board to build on instead of a development board and save a little money.
A third choice is to buy a Basic compiler; I will be using Basic Micro’s 2840 Combo w/ Pro Compiler. This development board lets you use either 28 or 40 pin PIC’s. I will be using the 5.0 beta Version of the Mbasic compiler which is still in beta the current version is 4.0.3 but the 5.0 should be available by the time we start the programming and updates are free.
Below are some things that make the Atom or Mbasic compiler far superior to the Basic stamp they are speed, Basic interrupts, and hardware pulse width modulation.
The first speed is obvious; you can’t have too much speed. The second Basic interrupts we will use by connecting whiskers so they generate an interrupt if something is bumped and the program will jump to a subroutine that will determine the correct course of action and after it completes that returning to continue the program from where it was when the interrupt was generated.
The third hardware pulse width modulation will really shine if you use gear motors instead of servos. With the Basic Stamp we will just be able to turn the motors on at one speed because we have other things to do. We will not be able to do variable speed but the Atom or a PIC16F876 both have 2 hardware pulse width modulation channels which means we can set the pulse width and it continues until we change or stop it which will give us variable speed.
For gear motors we can use the same HPWM command on the Atom to get a variable speed. The Basic stamp has a PWM command but it is done with software and the Stamp cannot do anything else so it is not really usable for variable motor speed because we will not get smooth movement so all we can do is turn the motor on full speed
Sensors:
We will use infrared obstacle avoidance and bump sensors we will use the PNA4612M it is easy to use and inexpensive you could substitute the infrared detection module from Radio Shack. So what will you need to complete a robot as described in this series of articles? Material for a base a piece of material 8″ x 8″ will be more than enough.
Motors:
You will need 2 motors either servo’s modified for continuous rotation or gear motors. You could also hack a toy that has the motors and the wheels or even legs.
A toy called a Battle Scarab is a good candidate for hacking.
In short, you will need:
2 Wheels
Batteries and a holder if needed you will need between 6 and 12 volts depending on what motors and regulator you use. Servos will run fine on 6 volts.
A voltage regulator LM2825 or a LM2940
A microcontroller ATOM, Basic Stamp or PIC16F876
Infrared detection module you will need 1 or more we will go more into these later.
You will need a development board a solderless breadboard or perfboard to build on.
If you are using gear motors, you will also need a motor controller either a L293DNE Dual H Bridge with diodes or two 3952 Full-Bridge PWM Motor Drivers available from Alegro as ree samples.
Wood Depending on the size of your robot plywood may be a good choice it is inexpensive or free and easy to work with simple tools. You can get 1/4″ and 3/8″ plywood at Hardware, Home Improvement, Craft, or Hobby stores. A good place to look for free material is at a Cabinet shop they have lots of scrap too small for their use but perfect for a small robot.
Aluminium Light weight and moderately easy to work can also be found at Hardware, Home Improvement, Craft, or Hobby stores. You should always be very cautious when working with aluminum as edges can be very sharp and should be sanded or filed to round the edges.
Plastics Acrylic or Plexiglas are both easy to work and can also be found at Hardware, Home Improvement, Craft, or Hobby stores. High-speed tools should not be used, as they will melt the plastic. When cutting or drilling use low speeds.
Old CD’s These can be easy to find most people get them in the mail from AOL or Earthlink instead of throwing them away you can use them to make a robot. They can be a little on the brittle side so go easy when you do any cutting or drilling. I will be using Plexiglas from my local home center but you can use whatever material you want.
Motors:
Servos You can use servos for easy to get gear motors. Hobby shops will usually carry several sizes and brands. You will need to modify them for use there are many sites on the net with different methods; the one I like is detailed at the PARTS website. Servos already have all of the control circuitry built in and are easy to control they have 3 wires signal, +, and ground by pulsing the signal line you can go forward, stop, or backward. Servos are probably the easiest and cheapest way to go but may not be the best for you.
Gear motors These are available from surplus stores or hobby shops some people modify servos and remove the electronics to use them as gear motors. Gear motors will require control circuitry normally an H-bridge to allow forward and reverse motion and in some cases braking. Gear motors can give the greatest flexibility but at a higher cost compared to servos. Another source for gear motors is the toy section of your locale department store. What you want are the radio control toys that have differential steering, meaning they have a separate motor for each side. To turn left they go forward on the right motor and turn off the left motor and do the opposite to turn right. The really good cars will turn right by going backward on the right motor and forward on the left this will allow a vehicle to almost turn on a dime. If you use gear motors you will need to devise a method to mount the wheels I will be using a toy for my example.
Wheels:
You can use wheels from toys or you can buy wheels from a hobby shop they have pneumatic or foam wheels for model aircraft that are very easy to use.
Power System:
Batteries You will need to decide what type of batteries to use. It can quickly become very expensive replacing batteries. Rechargeable batteries are best; there are a number of different types to choose from. Electronic supply stores or Hobby shops are good places to look, you will need batteries and a charger to charge them with.
Power supply We will need a voltage regulator to drop the voltage from the battery to the 5 volts needed by the Microcontroller and other parts of the Brain for the robot.
I will cover using two different voltage regulators both are available FREE from National Semiconductor as samples. Each part has its good and bad points:
LM2825 Integrated Power Supply 1A DC-DC Converter is a complete switching power supply on a 24 pin DIP although a little large it requires no other components and has an efficiency of 80%. It does require at least 7 volts on the input but your batteries will last much longer than with a linear regulator.
LM2940 1A Low Dropout Regulator is a linear regulator in a TO 220 package it requires a couple of filter capacitors it is not as efficient as the LM2825 the big up point is it only requires 5.5 volts input to give a regulated 5 volts out.
For the brain, lets have a look at three different microcontroller’s. I will admit I am bias when it comes to Basic Micro products as I have been using them for quit a while now and have always been very happy with the products and the support.
Atom from Basic Micro is mostly compatible with the Basic Stamp but is much better, just to name a few of the things that set it above the Basic Stamp:
8k of program space
IDE for programming
ICD for in circuit debugging lets you watch your program run
Floating point 32×32 bit math allows you to do real math. In case you don’t now it 5/2=2 to a Basic stamp but to the Atom 5/2=2.5
Interrupts (Up to 14 Sources) allow the Atom to stop where it is in a program and jump to another part of a program and when finished go back where it came from based on an event either internal or external.
Analogue to Digital Converter 4 10 bit analog to digital converters.
You can also buy the Atom28 28 Pin Interpreter Chip and build it up on a solderless bread board.
Basic Stamp from Parrallax the old workhorse of the list has a well-established base of users and resources. Their educational resources are outstanding and nothing else really compares they have texts on Robotics, Earth Measurements, Industrial Control, and more.
PIC16F876 Programmed with Mbasic compiler also from Basic Micro version 5.0 is basically syntax compatible with the Atom most of the differences being pin designations with Mbasic you can use any one of a number of PIC Micros. I will provide a hex file of the program so that those who don’t want to buy a compiler at this time can still build the robot. I will have PIC16F876 chips programmed with a boot loader available to those who don’t have the ability to program pic’s you can download the ISP-PRO Programmer software Ver 4.0.4.1 from Basic Micro to program the chips using the boot loader. If you purchase an ISP-PRO you can make all the boot loader chips you want for free.
Any of the micro controllers above are a good choice so which should you choose? I personally like the Atom it is superior to the Basic Stamp. Below are the prices for both the module and the development kit with module for each. Though you don’t have to buy the development kit it will make the project much simpler and really is money well spent.
Cost:
Basic Micro
Atom Module $59.95
Atom Combo $129.95
Parallax
BASIC Stamp 2 Module $49.00
BS2 Starter Kit with Board of Education $159.00
You could also just buy the module and a solderless breadboard or piece of perf board to build on instead of a development board and save a little money.
A third choice is to buy a Basic compiler; I will be using Basic Micro’s 2840 Combo w/ Pro Compiler. This development board lets you use either 28 or 40 pin PIC’s. I will be using the 5.0 beta Version of the Mbasic compiler which is still in beta the current version is 4.0.3 but the 5.0 should be available by the time we start the programming and updates are free.
Below are some things that make the Atom or Mbasic compiler far superior to the Basic stamp they are speed, Basic interrupts, and hardware pulse width modulation.
The first speed is obvious; you can’t have too much speed. The second Basic interrupts we will use by connecting whiskers so they generate an interrupt if something is bumped and the program will jump to a subroutine that will determine the correct course of action and after it completes that returning to continue the program from where it was when the interrupt was generated.
The third hardware pulse width modulation will really shine if you use gear motors instead of servos. With the Basic Stamp we will just be able to turn the motors on at one speed because we have other things to do. We will not be able to do variable speed but the Atom or a PIC16F876 both have 2 hardware pulse width modulation channels which means we can set the pulse width and it continues until we change or stop it which will give us variable speed.
For gear motors we can use the same HPWM command on the Atom to get a variable speed. The Basic stamp has a PWM command but it is done with software and the Stamp cannot do anything else so it is not really usable for variable motor speed because we will not get smooth movement so all we can do is turn the motor on full speed
Sensors:
We will use infrared obstacle avoidance and bump sensors we will use the PNA4612M it is easy to use and inexpensive you could substitute the infrared detection module from Radio Shack. So what will you need to complete a robot as described in this series of articles? Material for a base a piece of material 8″ x 8″ will be more than enough.
Motors:
You will need 2 motors either servo’s modified for continuous rotation or gear motors. You could also hack a toy that has the motors and the wheels or even legs.
A toy called a Battle Scarab is a good candidate for hacking.
In short, you will need:
2 Wheels
Batteries and a holder if needed you will need between 6 and 12 volts depending on what motors and regulator you use. Servos will run fine on 6 volts.
A voltage regulator LM2825 or a LM2940
A microcontroller ATOM, Basic Stamp or PIC16F876
Infrared detection module you will need 1 or more we will go more into these later.
You will need a development board a solderless breadboard or perfboard to build on.
If you are using gear motors, you will also need a motor controller either a L293DNE Dual H Bridge with diodes or two 3952 Full-Bridge PWM Motor Drivers available from Alegro as ree samples.
What is Robotics?
Robotics is the branch of technology that deals with the design, construction, operation, structural disposition, manufacture and application of robots. Robotics is related to the sciences of electronics, engineering, mechanics, and software.
The word robot was introduced to the public by the Czech writer Karel Čapek in his play R.U.R. (Rossum's Universal Robots), published in 1920. The play begins in a factory that makes artificial people called robots creatures who can be mistaken for humans – though they are closer to the modern ideas of androids. Karel Čapek himself did not coin the word. He wrote a short letter in reference to an etymology in the Oxford English Dictionary in which he named his brother Josef Čapek as its actual originator.
In 1927 the Maschinenmensch ("machine-human") gynoid humanoid robot (also called "Parody", "Futura", "Robotrix", or the "Maria impersonator") was the first and perhaps the most memorable depiction of a robot ever to appear on film was played by German actress Brigitte Helm) in Fritz Lang's film Metropolis.
In 1942 the science fiction writer Isaac Asimov formulated his Three Laws of Robotics and, in the process of doing so, coined the word "robotics" (see details in "Etymology" section below).
In 1948 Norbert Wiener formulated the principles of cybernetics, the basis of practical robotics.
Fully autonomous robots only appeared in the second half of the 20th century. The first digitally operated and programmable robot, the Unimate, was installed in 1961 to lift hot pieces of metal from a die casting machine and stack them. Commercial and industrial robots are widespread today and used to perform jobs more cheaply, or more accurately and reliably, than humans. They are also employed in jobs which are too dirty, dangerous, or dull to be suitable for humans. Robots are widely used in manufacturing, assembly, packing and packaging, transport, earth and space exploration, surgery, weaponry, laboratory research, safety, and the mass production of consumer and industrial goods.
The word robot was introduced to the public by the Czech writer Karel Čapek in his play R.U.R. (Rossum's Universal Robots), published in 1920. The play begins in a factory that makes artificial people called robots creatures who can be mistaken for humans – though they are closer to the modern ideas of androids. Karel Čapek himself did not coin the word. He wrote a short letter in reference to an etymology in the Oxford English Dictionary in which he named his brother Josef Čapek as its actual originator.
In 1927 the Maschinenmensch ("machine-human") gynoid humanoid robot (also called "Parody", "Futura", "Robotrix", or the "Maria impersonator") was the first and perhaps the most memorable depiction of a robot ever to appear on film was played by German actress Brigitte Helm) in Fritz Lang's film Metropolis.
In 1942 the science fiction writer Isaac Asimov formulated his Three Laws of Robotics and, in the process of doing so, coined the word "robotics" (see details in "Etymology" section below).
In 1948 Norbert Wiener formulated the principles of cybernetics, the basis of practical robotics.
Fully autonomous robots only appeared in the second half of the 20th century. The first digitally operated and programmable robot, the Unimate, was installed in 1961 to lift hot pieces of metal from a die casting machine and stack them. Commercial and industrial robots are widespread today and used to perform jobs more cheaply, or more accurately and reliably, than humans. They are also employed in jobs which are too dirty, dangerous, or dull to be suitable for humans. Robots are widely used in manufacturing, assembly, packing and packaging, transport, earth and space exploration, surgery, weaponry, laboratory research, safety, and the mass production of consumer and industrial goods.
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