Historical Background and Design of Robotics

Robotics History				'Unimation' which stood for universal automation and so
				the first commercial company to make robots was
				formed. Devol wrote the necessary patents. Their first
�				robot nicknamed the 'Unimate'. As a result, Engelberger
- First use of the word 'Robot'				has been called the 'father of robotics.'

- First use of the word 'Robotics'				The first Unimate was installed at a General Motors
				plant to work with heated die-casting machines. In fact
- Three Laws of Robotics				most Unimates were sold to extract die castings from
				die casting machines and to perform spot welding on
- The First Robot 'Unimate'				auto bodies, both tasks being particularly hateful jobs
				for people.
- Modern Industrial Robots
				Both applications were commercially successful, i.e., the
- Benefits of Robots				robots worked reliably and saved money by replacing
				people. An industry was spawned and a variety of
				other tasks were also performed by robots, such as
Definition of a 'Robot'				loading and unloading machine tools.

According to the Robot Institute of America (1979) a				Ultimately Westinghouse acquired Unimation and the
robot is:				entrepreneurs' dream of wealth was achieved.
"A reprogrammable, multifunctional manipulator				Unimation is still in production today, with robots for
designed to move material, parts, tools, or specialized				sale.
devices through various programmed motions for the
performance of a variety of tasks".				The robot idea was hyped to the skies and became
				high fashion in the Boardroom. Presidents of large
A more inspiring definition can be found in Webster.				corporations bought them, for about $100,000 each,
According to Webster a robot is:				just to put into laboratories to "see what they could
"An automatic device that performs functions normally				do;" in fact these sales constituted a large part of the
ascribed to humans or a machine in the form of a				robot market. Some companies even reduced their
human."				ROI (Return On Investment criteria for investment) for
				robots to encourage their use.

First use of the word 'Robot'
				Modern Industrial Robots
The acclaimed Czech playwright Karel Capek
(1890-1938) made the first use of the word				The image of the "electronic brain" as the principal part
‘robot’, from the Czech word for forced labor				of the robot was pervasive. Computer scientists were
or serf. Capek was reportedly several times a				put in charge of robot departments of robot
candidate for the Nobel prize for his works and very				customers and of factories of robot makers. Many of
influential and prolific as a writer and playwright.				these people knew little about machinery or
				manufacturing but assumed that they did.
The use of the word Robot was introduced into his
play R.U.R. (Rossum's Universal Robots) which opened				(There is a common delusion of electrical engineers
in Prague in January 1921.				that mechanical phenomena are simple because they
				are visible. Variable friction, the effects of burrs,
In R.U.R., Capek poses a paradise, where the				minimum and redundant constraints, nonlinearities,
machines initially bring so many benefits but in the end				variations in work pieces, accommodation to hostile
bring an equal amount of blight in the form of				environments and hostile people, etc. are like the
unemployment and social unrest.				"Purloined Letter" in Poe's story, right in front of the
				eye, yet unseen.) They also had little training in the
The play was an enormous success and productions				industrial engineer's realm of material handling,
soon opened throughout Europe and the U.S. R.U.R's				manufacturing processes, manufacturing economics
theme, in part, was the dehumanization of man in a				and human behavior in factories.
technological civilization.
				As a result, many of the experimental tasks in those
You may find it surprising that the robots were not				laboratories were made to fit their robot's capabilities
mechanical in nature but were created through				but had little to do with the real tasks of the factory.
chemical means. In fact, in an essay written in 1935,
Capek strongly fought that this idea was at all possible				Modern industrial arms have increased in capability and
and, writing in the third person, said:				performance through controller and language
				development, improved mechanisms, sensing, and drive
"It is with horror, frankly, that he rejects all responsibility				systems. In the early to mid 80's the robot industry
for the idea that metal contraptions could ever replace				grew very fast primarily due to large investments by
human beings, and that by means of wires they could				the automotive industry.
awaken something like life, love, or rebellion. He would
deem this dark prospect to be either an				The quick leap into the factory of the future turned into
overestimation of machines, or a grave offence				a plunge when the integration and economic viability of
against life."				these efforts proved disastrous. The robot industry
[The Author of Robots Defends Himself - Karl Capek,				has only recently recovered to mid-80's revenue levels.
Lidove noviny, June 9, 1935, translation: Bean Comrada]
				In the meantime there has been an enormous
There is some evidence that the word robot was				shakeout in the robot industry. In the US, for example,
actually coined by Karl's brother Josef, a writer in his				only one US company, Adept, remains in the
own right. In a short letter, Capek writes that he asked				production industrial robot arm business. Most of the
Josef what he should call the artificial workers in his				rest went under, consolidated, or were sold to
new play.				European and Japanese companies.

Karel suggests Labori, which he thinks too 'bookish' and				In the research community the first automata were
his brother mutters "then call them Robots" and turns				probably Grey Walter's machina (1940's) and the
back to his work, and so from a curt response we				John's Hopkins beast. Teleoperated or remote
have the word robot.				controlled devices had been built even earlier with at
				least the first radio controlled vehicles built by Nikola
				Tesla in the 1890's.
First use of the word 'Robotics'
				Tesla is better known as the inventor of the induction
The word 'robotics' was first used in Runaround, a				motor, AC power transmission, and numerous other
short story published in 1942, by Isaac Asimov (born				electrical devices. Tesla had also envisioned smart
Jan. 2, 1920, died Apr. 6, 1992). I, Robot, a collection of				mechanisms that were as capable as humans.
several of these stories, was published in 1950.
				An excellent biography of Tesla is Margaret Cheney's
One of the first robots Asimov wrote about was a				Tesla, Man Out of Time, Published by Prentice-Hall,
robotherapist. A modern counterpart to Asimov's				c1981.
fictional character is Eliza. Eliza was born in 1966 by a
Massachusetts Institute of Technology Professor				SRI's Shakey navigated highly structured indoor
Joseph Weizenbaum who wrote Eliza -- a computer				environments in the late 60's and Moravec's Stanford
program for the study of natural language				Cart was the first to attempt natural outdoor scenes in
communication between man and machine.				the late 70's.

She was initially programmed with 240 lines of code to				From that time there has been a proliferation of work
simulate a psychotherapist by answering questions				in autonomous driving machines that cruise at highway
with questions.				speeds and navigate outdoor terrains in commercial
				applications.

Three Laws of Robotics				Fully functioning androids (robots that look like human
				beings) are many years away due to the many
Asimov also proposed his three "Laws of Robotics",				problems that must be solved. However, real, working,
and he later added a 'zeroth law'.				sophisticated robots are in use today and they are
				revolutionizing the workplace.
Law Zero: A robot may not injure humanity, or, through
inaction, allow humanity to come to harm.				These robots do not resemble the romantic android
Law One: A robot may not injure a human being, or,				concept of robots. They are industrial manipulators and
through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm,				are really computer controlled "arms and hands".
unless this would violate a higher order law.				Industrial robots are so different to the popular image
Law Two: A robot must obey orders given it by				that it would be easy for the average person not to
human beings, except where such orders would				recognize one.
conflict with a higher order law.
Law Three: A robot must protect its own existence
as long as such protection does not conflict with a				Benefits
higher order law.
				Robots offer specific benefits to workers, industries
				and countries. If introduced correctly, industrial robots
The First Robot: 'Unimate'				can improve the quality of life by freeing workers from
				dirty, boring, dangerous and heavy labor. it is true that
After the technology explosion during World War II, in				robots can cause unemployment by replacing human
1956, a historic meeting occurs between George C.				workers but robots also create jobs: robot technicians,
Devol, a successful inventor and entrepreneur, and				salesmen, engineers, programmers and supervisors.
engineer Joseph F. Engelberger, over cocktails the two
discuss the writings of Isaac Asimov.				The benefits of robots to industry include improved
				management control and productivity and consistently
Together they made a serious and commercially				high quality products. Industrial robots can work
successful effort to develop a real, working robot.				tirelessly night and day on an assembly line without an
They persuaded Norman Schafler of Condec				loss in performance.
Corporation in Danbury that they had the basis of a
commercial success.				Consequently, they can greatly reduce the costs of
				manufactured goods.
Engelberger started a manufacturing company

Clawar

Historical Background and Design of Robotics