A field of engineering concerned with the development and application of robots, and computer systems for their control, sensory feedback, and information processing. There are many types of robotic systems, including robotic manipulators, robotic hands, mobile robots, walking robots, aids for disabled persons, telerobots, and microelectromechanical systems.
The term “robotics” has been broadly interpreted. It includes research and engineering activities involving the design and development of robotic systems. Planning for the use of industrial robots in manufacturing or evaluation of the economic impact of robotic automation can also be viewed as robotics. This breadth of usage arises from the interdisciplinary nature of robotics, a field involving mechanisms, computers, control systems, actuators, and software. See Biomechanics, Computer, Control systems, Cybernetics, Electrical engineering, Industrial engineering, Mechanical engineering, Software engineering
Robots produce mechanical motion that, in most cases, results in manipulation or locomotion. Mechanical characteristics for robotic mechanisms include degrees of freedom of movement, size and shape of the operating space, stiffness and strength of the structure, lifting capacity, velocity, and acceleration under load. Performance measures include repeatability and accuracy of positioning, speed, and freedom from vibration.
A robot control system directs the motion and sensory processing of a robot or system of cooperating robots. The controller may consist of only a sequencing device for simple robots, although most multiaxis industrial robots today employ servo-controlled positioning of their joints by a microprocessor-based system.
The robot sensory system gathers specific information needed by the control system and, in more advanced systems, maintains an internal model of the environment to enable prediction and decision making. The joint position transducers on industrial robots provide a minimal sensory system for many industrial applications, but other sensors are needed to gather data about the external environment. Sensors may detect position, velocity, acceleration, visual, proximity, acoustic, force-torque, tactile, thermal, and radiation data.
As information moves up from the sensory device, the amount of information increases and the speed of data acquisition decreases. These control architectures form the basis for computer integrated manufacturing (CIM), a hierarchical approach to organizing automated factories. A new paradigm has emerged, based on the interconnection of intelligent system elements that can learn, reason, and modify their configuration to satisfy overall system requirements. One of the most important of these approaches is based on holonic systems. See Automation, Computer-integrated manufacturing, Intelligent machine
A telerobotic system augments humans by allowing them to extend their ability to perform complex tasks in remote locations. It is a technology that couples the human operator's visual, tactile, and other sensory perception functions with a remote manipulator or mobile robot. These systems are useful for performing tasks in environments that are dangerous or not easily accessible for humans. Telerobotic systems are used in nuclear handling, maintenance in space, undersea exploration, and servicing electric transmission lines. Perhaps the most important sensory data needed for telepresence are feedback of visual information, robot position, body motion and forces, as well as tactile information. Master-slave systems have been developed in which, for example, a hand controller provides control inputs to an articulated robotic manipulator. These systems are capable of feeding back forces felt by the robot to actuators on the exoskeletal master controller so that the operator can “feel” the remote environment. See Human-machine systems, Remote manipulators
Graphical simulation is used to design and evaluate a workcell layout before it is built. The robot motion can be programmed on the simulation and downloaded to the robot controller. Companies market software systems that include libraries of commercially available robots and postprocessors for off-line robot programming. See Simulation