Robotics: Universal Robots: The History and Workings of Robotics

Just name a boring or dangerous job; somewhere, a robot is probably doing it.


Robotic Arm arranging chocolates in boxes. Photo courtesy of Adept Technology, Inc.

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.


	(10.2MB) John Dulchinos Engineer and VP of Sales for Adept Technology, Inc. explains how robots are used in the chocolate industry. [Need help?]

Ninety percent of robots work in factories, and more than half are at work making automobiles. Car factories are so highly automated that most of the human workers are there mainly to supervise or maintain the robots and other machines. Robots assemble car body panels and weld them together, finish and paint the car bodies, and stack and move partially completed cars.

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?


	Learn about the Mini-Andros II Hazardous-Duty Mobile Robot.

Bomb Buster

The Mini-Andros is used by bomb squads across the country to locate and dispose of bombs. Roughly three feet long, the Mini-Andros looks something like a small armored tank, with eight wheels on four "legs" that can be extended for climbing stairs. Its moveable arm can lift objects weighing up to 15 pounds and place them in bomb-proof boxes. Detachable accessories enable the Mini-Andros to break windows, see in the dark, and to defuse or detonate bombs directly, either by blasting them with water, firing at them with a shotgun, or by placing other, smaller bombs nearby.

Robots are being put to a wider variety of manufacturing uses each day. In the computer industry, robots solder tiny wires to semiconductor chips. "Pick and place" robots insert integrated circuits onto printed circuit boards; these are used in all kinds of electronics, from radios to microwaves. 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, robots like the Mini-Andros can be sent to investigate–and defuse–possible bombs. (See sidebar.)

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 released dangerous radioactive material into the air, making rescue and containment work nearly impossible.

Page 2 of 13