BSTRACT INTRODUCTION

A robot is a mechanical device that resembles a If you think robots are mainly the stuff of space
living animal and moves automatically or by movies, think again. Right now, all over the
remote control. It is a program that runs
world, robots are on the move. They’re painting
automatically without human intervention.
Typically, a robot is endowed with some very cars at Ford plants, assembling Milano cookies
basic logic so that it can react to different for Pepperidge Farms, walking into live
situations it may encounter. One common type of volcanoes, driving trains in Paris, and defusing
robot is a content-indexing spider, or bombs in Northern Ireland. As they grow
WebCrawler. A software application that tougher, nimbler, and smarter, today’s robots are
automatically finds and retrieves information
from the Web. It is also called a “spider” or doing more and more things we can’t –or don’t
“crawler. want to–do.

Robots are like humans in that they cannot and Robots have been with us for less than 50 years,
do not pay attention all the time; they do not but the idea of inanimate creations to do our
process all the information perceived, and make bidding is much, much older
decisions about what is worth their attention. If
we put a robot in a social environment (either
with other robots, or humans), this can help it
analyse perceptual information: modelling
attention is very hard, and a social context
simplifies the problem.

Real robots wouldn’t become possible until the

1950’s and 60’s, with the invention of transistors
and integrated circuits. Compact, reliable
electronics and a growing computer industry
added brains to the brawn of already existing
machines. In 1959, researchers demonstrated the
possibility of robotic manufacturing when they
unveiled a computer-controlled milling machine.
Its first product: ashtrays. In 1956, George Devil
and Joseph Engelberger formed the world's first Today, robots are enjoying resurgence. As
robot company computer processors are getting faster and
cheaper, robots can afford to get smarter.
A robot is a programmable machine that imitates Meanwhile, researchers are working on ways to
the actions or appearance of an intelligent help robots move and "think" more efficiently.
creature–usually a human. And the areas which Although most robots in use today are designed
deal with robots are called as Robotics for specific tasks, the goal is to someday make
universal robots, robots that are flexible enough
This paper mainly deals with the kinds of the to do just about anything a human does–and
works that a robot can perform and how does it more.
is used in medicine, in space while exploring, at
eruptions etc. The purpose of this paper is to
examine the effect of interacting with a robot on
the characteristics of the data which it is exposed
Different kinds of
to. works that a robot do:
Robots perform different kinds of works just
name a boring or dangerous job; somewhere, a
robot is probably doing it. As mechanical
workers, robots are ideal for jobs requiring
repetitive, precise movements. Human workers
need a comfortable working environment,
salaries, coffee breaks, sleep, and vacations.
Robots don’t. Human workers get bored doing
the same thing over and over, boredom that leads
to fatigue and costly mistakes. Robots don’t get
bored.

Fig: mini Andros

Robots also venture into dangerously polluted

environments, such as chemical spills and
radioactive "hot zones" in nuclear power plants.
Robug III is a spider-like robot specially
designed to explore areas where extreme
radiation would quickly kill a human. The need
for a robot like Robug III was made clear during
the Chernobyl accident in 1986. An explosion
and fire ripped apart a nuclear reactor and
Fig: robotic arm arranging chocolates in boxes released dangerous radioactive material into the
air, making rescue and containment work nearly
Ninety percent of robots work in factories, and impossible
more than half are at work making automobiles.
Car factories are so highly automated that most Robug III is designed to operate in radioactive
of the human workers are there mainly to areas, like the core of a nuclear reactor. With
supervise or maintain the robots and other eight legs and vacuum gripper feet, Robug III
machines. Robots assemble car body panels and can walk over obstacles and even climb walls.
weld them together, finish and paint the car Strong for its small size, it can drag loads of over
bodies, and stack and move partially completed 220 pounds. Mounted video cameras let human
cars. operators see and assess any damage.

Another example of a factory job done by robots

is arranging chocolates in boxed assortments.
Guided by a computer vision system, a robotic
arm can locate a piece of chocolate on a moving
conveyer belt, gently pick it up and turn it to the
proper orientation, then deposit it in a specific
location within a box on another moving
conveyer belt. Sure, it’s a task that almost
anyone could do . . . but could you do it 20,000
times over the course of an eight-hour shift?

Robots are also at work making and packaging

drugs, textiles, and foods. Certain dangerous jobs
are best done by robots. Bomb disposal is one of
these. Guided remotely using video cameras, Fig: Robug III
robots like the Mini-Andros can be sent to
On the less hazardous side, specially-designed
investigate–and defuse–possible bombs. robots also venture into tight spots like sewers,
pipes, and AC ducts for routine inspection and Victory goes to the robot that renders its
maintenance. These robots can access difficult- opponent immobile. Robots gather each year to
to-reach areas, and can be equipped with video play soccer at RoboCup, an international event
cameras and tools for performing necessary that draws over 100 teams from 35 countries.
repairs. Robotic players use radio signals to coordinate
with their teammates to chase down the ball,
pass, and shoot goals.
In medicine:
Robots are becoming increasingly common in
medicine. Already, robotic messengers are used
in some hospitals to carry supplies and
equipment from one place to another. Robots can
help during certain types of microsurgery, by
"shrinking" all of the surgeon’s movements and
filtering out any natural shakiness. This allows
surgeons to perform delicate procedures that
would otherwise be too fine for human hands.
Other medical robots allow surgeons to operate
on patients remotely. Feedback sensors let the Fig: Battle bot
surgeon "feel" the tissue underneath the robot’s
instruments. Robotic "patients" that respond to
treatment and can even "die" are used to train
paramedics and other medical students.
EXPLORING: In
Space:
A spacecraft screams downward through the
pink Martian sky. It bounces to rest on the rocky
red soil, cushioned by a grape-like cluster of
giant white airbags. The airbags are sucked back
into the craft, and out rolls a six-wheeled robot.
Scanning the terrain with laser eyes, it spies a
rock, rolls toward it, and begins to drill…

No, it’s not a sci-fi thriller. It’s a description of

the 1997 Pathfinder mission to Mars. The 22-
pound star of the mission was Sojourner, a
Fig: robots in medicine microwave-sized rover that took pictures,
sampled soil and rocks, and relayed information
back to earth. Among Sojourner’s findings: clues
In Playing: that Mars may once have been covered with
water, water that could have supported
microscopic life. The huge distance between
Even for robots, life isn’t all work and no play.
Earth and Mars–123 million miles–has a
An enthusiastic sub-culture of robotics
troublesome consequence: commands from Earth
professionals and hobbyists design and build
take 11 minutes to reach a rover on Mars.
robots of their own. In games and contests
around the world, these robots match wits and
might.

Robot Wars is a combat game that pits robot

against robot in a fight to the death. The radio-
controlled machines are armed with drills, saws,
projectiles and other means of destruction.
Fig: a stimulation of 2003 rover landing on the Fig: Dante II
mars
In 1994, Dante II rappelled down the nearly
NASA will send two identical rovers to two vertical crater walls of Mt. Spurr in Alaska.
different locations, places where water is most Eight cameras allowed scientists stationed 80
likely having left its geologic mark on the land. miles away to control Dante’s movements,
Unlike Sojourner, which communicated through though the robot was able to operate without
a stationary lander, the new rovers will send and human help about a quarter of the time. Dante
receive signals directly. Like robotic geologists, collected some useful data but crashed to the
each will be a 300-pound mobile laboratory on crater floor when a tether supporting the 1700-
wheels, equipped to gather information and pound robot snapped.
perform tests that will answer questions about
Mars’ past.
Dante II and its mission to Mt. Spurr are funded
by NASA. At the other temperature extreme,
At Eruptions: Nomad is a self-guiding robotic vehicle that
wanders the frozen Antarctic in search of
meteorites. The four-wheeled gasoline-powered
For 20 years, scientists have studied Antarctica's Nomad cruises autonomously, navigating with
Mt. Erebus volcano and its effect on the the help of laser range-finders that make a map
Antarctic atmosphere, but have been unable to of the surrounding terrain.
collect pure gas samples from the crater directly

Dante II is an eight-legged robot designed to

walk spider-like into live volcanoes, looking for
clues as to whether an eruption is likely. In
January 1993, this eight-legged, rappelling robot,
attempted to explore the crater of Mt. Erebus.
Although a failure in Dante's tether cord
prevented the robot from reaching the crater
floor, many other aspects of the mission-such as
remote operation of the robot from the
continental U.S. were successful. Since the Mt.
Erebus mission, the undaunted Dante has been
refined and improved for an investigation of the
crater floor of Mt. Spurr, Alaska, another active
volcano 80 miles west of Anchorage

Fig: Dante in the crater of Mt. Spurr, Alaska,

July 1994
. Its camera eye searches for rocks and identifies
them by analyzing their color, shape, and size. A
built-in metal detector identifies the presence of
iron, often a major component of meteorites. The
technologies used in Nomad are expected to pave
the way for future mars missions, in which
rovers are expected to help bring rock samples
back to earth.

WORKING:
Robots are defined in part by their ability to
move; it’s what sets them apart from computers.
The fancy word for a mechanical device that
produces motion is an actuator. A single robot Fig: Honda Humanoid robot in action
can contain dozens of different types of
actuators, each chosen to do a specific task.

Electric motors are actuators that produce motion

CONSTRUCTION:
from electricity by the electromagnetic effect:
Nitinol wire is a unique metal (known as a
when electricity moves in a coil of wire that is
"shape memory alloy") that can be used to
near a magnet, a force pushes on the coil.
activate robotic parts. When heated, usually by
Electric motors typically operate at a high speed
passing electricity through it, nitinol wire
and have small turning power. But most robots
contracts up to 10% of length. (Ordinarily, metal
need low speed but large power. A collection of
expands when you heat it–that’s part of why
gears, called a gearbox, is used to adjust the
nitinol wire is so unusual.) The contractile force
speed and force of the turning power.
is surprisingly strong, approaching 22,000
pounds per square inch. Even a hair-thin nitinol
Not all electric motors produce rotational wire six thousandths of an inch thick can lift 11
motion. Solenoids are electric motors that ounces.
produce linear or in-and-out motion. Solenoids
are frequently used in switches that turn things
Not all robotic actuators are electric. Hydraulic
off and on.
and pneumatic actuators rely on oil and gas,
respectively, to move things in and out. In both,
plungers called pistons move in or out when they
WALKING: are pushed or pulled. Hydraulic systems are used
instead of electric when there is a danger of
Walking may seem simple, but making a robot sparks igniting fumes, for example, in the
that can walk like a person is no easy feat. Even painting area of an automobile factory.
when you seem to be standing still, you’re really Pneumatic systems are often used in grippers, the
making constant adjustments to keep from part of a robot that picks something up. The
falling over. Engineers at Honda have designed compressibility of gas makes the gripper more
two humanoid robots, P2 and the newer P3, that responsive, and less likely to crush what it’s
do what no two-legged robot has done before: picking up.
walk, climb stairs, and regain their balance. The
Honda Humanoid Project is a first step towards Air muscles are simple pneumatic devices that
universal robots–robots with the flexibility, contract by thickening, a lot like our own
intelligence, and mobility of human beings muscles do. When pumped up with air, an air
muscle shortens by as much as 40% of its length.
With a power-to-weight ratio of 400 to one, air
muscles can provide substantial pulling force.
Since they are mostly made of soft plastic and
rubber, air muscles can be bent around curves
and can work when wet or even underwater.

Fig: This is what you see when you head for the
doorway.

Fig: air muscle

To do work, a robot needs to be fitted with

what’s called an "end effector": a gripper or a
tool such as a welder, saw, or spray gun.
Vacuum grippers use suction to pick up fragile
things like sheets of paper or glass. Magnets
activated by electricity, called electromagnets,
are used for picking up and releasing metal
objects.

Fig: …and this is what a robot might see

SENSING
The robot sends out a beam of infrared light,
some of which bounces off of an obstacle and
Robots rely on sensors to get information about
returns to a light sensor on the robot. For more
their surroundings. In general, a sensor measures
elaborate vision systems, simple light sensors are
an aspect of the environment and produces a
not enough. Robots like the ones that find and
proportional electric signal. Many of robots
remove imperfect products from a conveyor belt
sensors mimic aspects of our own senses, but not
need to be able to resolve complex, changing
all of them. Robots can also sense that things we
images–quickly. In these situations, the image
can’t, like magnetic fields or ultrasonic sound
from a camera "eye" must be broken down and
waves.
analyzed by a computer program
Robotic light sensors come in many different
Robotic vision has proved to be one of the
forms–photo resistors, photodiodes,
greatest challenges for engineers. The difficulty
phototransistors–but they all have roughly the
lies in programming a robot to see what’s
same result. When light falls on them, they
important and ignores what isn’t; a robot has
respond by creating or modifying an electric
trouble interpreting things like glare, lighting
signal. A filter put in front of a light sensor can
changes, and shadows. Also, for a robot to have
be used to create a selective response, so the
depth perception, it needs stereoscopic vision
robot only "sees" a certain color.
like our own. Resolving two slightly different
images to make one 3-D image can be a
Light sensors can also be used for simple computational nightmare, requiring large
navigation, for example, by allowing a robot to amounts of computer memory.
follow a white line. Other robots navigate using
infrared light (the same invisible light used in
your TV remote control).
Can robots see….? Artificial intelligence:
Some robots "see" using ultrasonic sound, much Rule-based systems can be used to create
the same way bats do. Such robots typically emit artificial intelligence, by programming vast
40 kilohertz sound pulses (too high for us amounts of information into a computer. Relying
humans to hear), then detect the echoes. on this enormous set of data, such a computer is
Measuring the time delay from when the sound able to mimic intelligence, for example, helping
pulse goes out to when it returns gives a to diagnose diseases by comparing symptoms to
surprisingly accurate measure of the distance of those in a database. Such "expert systems" can
objects. An advantage of this navigation know more, fact-wise, than any single person,
technique is that it works in the dark. and yet they have only a very narrow range of
useful function. Also, they can’t learn. They can
Touch sensors help otherwise blind robots with only make connections they’ve been
navigation: feelers, contact switches, bump programmed to make.
sensors . . . all let a robot know when it has made
contact with walls or objects. Piezoelectric Another approach to artificial intelligence is
material is commonly found in touch sensors. neural networks. Neural networks are modeled
Piezoelectric crystals respond to pressure with a after the human brain, with the advantage that
small electric voltage. They can detect vibration, they are better at handling ambiguity than rule-
impact, and even heat. based systems. A neural net "learns" by exposure
to lots of inputs and corresponding outputs. Once
trained, the neural net responds to an input with a
Can robots think…...? likely output. .

Have you ever had someone yell "Think fast!" A third and relatively new approach to robotic
and then toss something at you? It’s a dirty trick, intelligence is something called a stimulus-
but the amazing part is that you can usually response mechanism (also known as
manage to dodge, block, or catch the item, as subsumption architecture). In a stimulus-
you see fit. Not only is your brain fast, it can response robot, there is no memory and no
make judgments "on the fly," and adapt to logical decision-making, only hard-wired
changing situations. Traditionally, efforts to responses to stimulation. For example, by linking
mimic human thought have centered around rule- light sensors directly to motors, it’s possible to
based logic. The computer in front of you now make a light-seeking robot. Several stimulus-
uses rule-based logic: binary data is stored and response mechanisms operating simultaneously
manipulated according to a set of pre- in one robot can create elaborate behavior that
programmed rules. Most robotic "brains" are seems intelligent.
rule-based, often contained on a single chip that
functions as a computer–a microcomputer.
FUTURE SCOPE: The
Road to Universal Robots
Research scientist Hans Moravec sees a 4-stage
evolution towards universal robots, robots with
human-level intelligence flexible enough to do a
broad range of tasks. Key to this evolution is a
steady increase in computer power, defined in
terms of millions of instructions per second, or
MIPS.

Fig: Able to consider 400 million chess moves

per second
 up gently.) Simulations will allow robots to
practice and perfect new tasks before attempting
them. Robot servants will be able to "read" the
moods of the people around them.

Year: 2040
Processing power: 100,000,000 MIPS
Intelligence equivalent: Human

Robots will be able to speak and understand

speech, think creatively, and anticipate the
results of their actions far in advance. With
reasoning power at or beyond the human level,
robots will be generally as competent as people

Fig: Hans Moravec CONCLUSION

Moravec describes computer intelligence in
terms of animal intelligence. For example, a Some see silicon-based life forms as the next
typical home computer has 1000 MIPS of power, step in evolution, replacing carbon-based life
about the brain power equivalent of an insect. forms like us.
Among Moravec’s predictions, outlined below,
is that robots will achieve human-level Imagine: robots become so intelligent and so
intelligence (100,000,000 MIPS) in 2040. capable that we come to rely on them for
everything. Useless and unnecessary, humans are
gradually pushed aside.
Year: 2010
Processing power: 3,000 MIPS However, if robots do develop consciousness,
Intelligence equivalent: Lizard they may also develop conscience, and choose to
be kind to their human creators.
Robots will have basic navigation skills and
could be used for cleaning or delivery and take
on expanded roles in factories. AUTHORS:
Year: 2020
Processing power: 100,000 MIPS VEENA GAYATHRI and
Intelligence equivalent: Mouse SWATHI, 3/4B-Tech, EEE
Robots will be able to learn on the job, adapting
their own programs to perform more SRIDEVI WOMEN’S
successfully. Robots will do the same jobs as
before, but more reliably and flexibly ENGG COLLEGE
Year: 2030 HYDERABAD
Processing power: 3,000,000 MIPS
Intelligence equivalent: Monkey

Robots will demonstrate world modeling: a

general understanding of objects and what they
are for, and of living things and how to interact
with them. (For example, a robot will "know"
what an egg is and know that it must be picked