Robot

Information About Robots Combat

2010-12-19T08:08:00.000-08:00

Robots are highly specialized machines which were devised based on the basic principles of a human being. They are designed just like the structure of a human, with the basic capability of a human being as well. Scientists have developed different types and kinds of robots for everyday use. Robots are useful to us. They are helpful, productive, and entertaining machines that can aid human's processes. There are different specifications and types of combat toys, based on the functionality and the required job for each of these machines.

There is a specialized type of robot called the Robot Combats. They are the first started as a hobby, but eventually turned into a sport. Robot combat involves two robots fighting against each other using specialized tools, and weapons with the goal of using unique techniques in defeating and destroying the opponent. This type of sport rooted from the original principle of fighting, however, the characters of these combat are robots, not humans. They destroy each other so the logic behind the battle should be the last one standing.

The robot combat sport originated when the first competition was held in 1994 which was termed Robot Wars. After the first competition, the sport became popular and was aired in several television shows all over the world. Other forms of robot combat shows include Robotica and Battlebots.

Robots that are primarily built for combats should possess two of the basic combat robot characteristics. The first one is the ability of the robot to protect itself against any harm, and the second is the ability of the robot to inflict damage and harm the opponent. At the same time, the robots are equipped with various weapons essential for survival.
These weapons might be in the form of crusher, rammer, spinner, or other devices that are causing immobilization and damage to the opponent. The higher the robot's weapon, there is a greater possibility of winning the fight. They normally fight in an arena like any other tournaments.

They can be made by anyone, no age limits, through all walks of life. We know very well that building robot combats are too costly and time consuming. In Japan alone, several schools were established for specialized training towards the construction of robots. The subject became a part of their teaching methods and sometimes, combat robot making is included in their technological design skills.The making is one of the ways to stimulate the brain, at the same time enhances the brain capacity towards critical thinking and imagination. Robot making is one of the toughest jobs since aside from focusing in the actual process of robot making.

Essential Robot Parts

2010-12-19T08:05:00.000-08:00

A robot is a complex assembly of several parts and devices which are synchronized to perform specific functions. Whether you are a robot hobbyist or a robotic technician, you require robot parts to customize or repair the structure. However, proper care is required while buying robot parts to ensure that they align with the system.

Essential Robot Parts

Some of the most crucial robot parts are:
Robot sensors: Robots' intelligence depends highly on their sensors. The sensors detect elements in the surrounding environment and send information to the controller. Based on this information, the controller makes its decisions. Generally, a robot has several sensors to scan the environment. Sensors can include ultrasonic range finders to measure point distances, laser scanners to measure 2D and 3D distances for mapping, sound sensors, light sensors and more.Microcontrollers: Microcontrollers act as the brain of robotic projects. These devices work similar to the central processing unit of the computer. They are capable of collecting information, processing it and deciding the actions of the robot.

Motor: A motor converts electricity into mechanical motion. There are different types of motors, which differ in terms of size, functionality and the amount of power they generate. Motor controller: This device acts as an intermediate between a microcontroller and a motor. A microcontroller is not capable of proving enough power to a motor so instead it sends commands to a motor controller which handles the higher power requirements.

Mechanical parts: Mechanical parts come in different forms and shapes. Mechanical parts are chosen based on the specific objectives of a robot. Certain common mechanical parts are wheels, tracks, casters, connectors, motor mounts, pan and tilt systems, gear boxes, chassis/frame and grippers.Power system: Most robots require a battery to function. Many employ a Nickel Metal Hydride (NiMH), Nickel-Cadmium (NiCd) or Lithium-ion (Li-ion) battery, though others may use alkaline, lead acid or other less common types. Some robots are powered or recharged by solar energy. Standard power equipments often include battery, charger and
adapters.Communication devices: Optimum performance of a robot depends on successful communication. Robotic structures come with sophisticated communication and control devices for transmitting and processing messages. Essential communication devices include modem, Bluetooth, remote control and telemetry.Purchase robot parts from authorized sellers who possess considerable industry experience. RobotShop is an internationally renowned source for buying robotic parts.

Automation Robotics

2010-12-19T08:01:00.000-08:00

As the utility of industrial automation robotics has positively impacted the cost of manufacturing, the size of products that are being manufactured have influenced the size of robotics. The manufacturing of smaller and smaller electronic devices has had a great influence on the size of industrial automation robotics that are used to produce them. Some of the processes that industrial automation robotics are required to do would not be possible if the operations were manual. Consistent insertion of diodes and capacitors onto electronic boards or the insertion of tiny fasteners into assemblies are examples of chores that automation robotics perform very well.

Demands of production that are made on industrial robotics also require that tasks that are accomplished be very fast in addition to being accurate. The combination of speed and accuracy that is required has caused a shift in the use of some types of robots. SCARA robotics have been replaced in some cases by Delta robotics to get the precision and speed that is needed. The characteristic overhead mounting of Delta robotics make them the best for working in a larger area below the robot. Having six axis freedom the Delta robotic has the ability to perform multiple location movements to get parts into a wide variety of positions very quickly. The speed of these robots make them ideal for the assembly of very small electronic units.

There has also been a shift in the capabilities of other robot types. SCARA robots were once the only robot used in the assembly electronic products. Now with the speed increases that are capable of articulated arm robotics these units can effectively be used in soldering and solar cell construction. Articulated arm robots are easier to program and have good flexibility for assembly.

Tabletop articulates are very applicable to the application that assembles mobile phones. This robotic is very useful in taking parts from a vertical orientation to a horizontal. In the assembly and testing of mobile phones the robotic can take an electronic board from the vertical and place it into a testing position at the horizontal. These articulates are also very successful in handling very thin organic products in a vacuum environment with great precision.

Since the working world of industrial automation robotics has gotten smaller and more demanding, the internal electronics of the robotics have also gotten smaller. The size of circuit boards and processors have shrunk while the speed is going up dramatically and the reliability is increasing. Controllers that act as the brains of any robotic system were the size of a small refrigerator not long ago. Now those same type units have the footprint of a desktop computer and are shrinking more even now. These controllers are also benefiting from the pressure of technology, which is packing more and more power into smaller and smaller units. The environment where both the robot and its controller need to fit has shrunk, so these smaller size changes are required. Since the size is down the weight of a robotic is also down. This is important because this allows the speed of the robot to go up easier, and acceleration and deceleration can be accomplished more readily in high-speed applications.

Communications for industrial automation is usually now done through an Ethernet connection that goes into the company network. Having this connection lets the company do detailed analysis of production capability. Some robotics have a communications interface that will allow end-user connection to complex robot functions for testing and other applications. Because the cost of memory components and other parts have become inexpensive, it is now possible to have very effective production analysis done at reasonably cost. Data can be collected in databases on the network server so that production analysis can be done from many aspects.

Articulated Robotics

2010-12-19T07:59:00.000-08:00

the program designed to run a robotic work station must take into account how it interacts with the other work stations on "the line". One of the big differences between the work increments defined by industrial engineers years ago and the program steps defined by robotic programmers today is the inaccuracy of humans as opposed to the speed and accuracy of robotics. Articulated robotics are capable of very precise and unending, repetitive tasks that simply cannot be done as accurately and as swiftly by humans. In many cases the robotic replacement for a human in a production line can perform many more steps in the manufacturing process than the human could ever hope to accomplish at the same work station.

The joints of articulated robotics are programmed to work in unison with other parts of the robotic or can work independently. This characteristic gives the robotic a high degree of functionality. There are great variations in the kinematics of articulated robotics. This arrangement of the rigid member and the joints in the robot determines what the type and range of motions of the robotic. Simple tasks that are to be performed require only a limited amount of rigid parts and joints, while multiple rigid parts and multiple joint can do more challenging tasks or even several tasks.The utility of articulated robotics has grown so much in the last few years that they can now do the most minute work on the smallest objects, while their counterparts work with very large objects.

Characteristics of articulating robotics have moved toward meeting the needs of demanding manufacturing operations. Directly coupled drives are much more reliable than robotics built with belts, pulleys or chains. There are various mounting options, depending on robotic size, upright, inverted, or wall, whatever meets the needs of the application. Cables are enclosed in the body of the housing to eliminate entanglement. Encoders have absolute positioning so that homing or calibration is eliminated at power-up.Other units have both pneumatic and electrical connections. With articulated robotics installed on a rail more than one unit can share the same central processing unit. These units are most versatile for medium payloads and work well for welding, wash down and clean room applications.

Small articulated robotics, if installed on the floor, require less floor space for operation. These type units can be configured in multiple ways to accommodate a wide variety of reach, payload, and application requirements. Some units are controlled by multitasking controllers with individual axis monitoring. A single electric gripper or two pneumatic grippers can handle components. The gripper force is continuously adjustable, so that fragile items are handled safely and securely.

Larger counterparts of these robots have extra long reach area with very small footprints, but with higher payloads. These are useful in spot welding, material handling, sealing, die and investment casting, material movement, machine tending, assembling of small parts, calibration, and testing, grinding, polishing, and bonding Larger models of articulated robotics are designed without the need for counter-balancing. These units have advanced link structuring and have the capability to handle very heavy payloads, Usually this type of robotics has mechanical stops and limit switches to create a safe working environment. These robots are used to handle engines, handling car bodies, moving large appliances, investment casting, and forging applications. Some models are built to withstand extremely cold temperatures with the need of heating or shrouds. These are the real work horses of industry.

information technology Robots

2010-12-19T07:56:00.000-08:00

Robots are also effectively used in supply chain management. Globalization, information technology and outsourcing have enabled many organizations to operate collaborative supply networks where each business partner focuses on its specialization and on a few key strategic activities. Particularly, in supply chain management, robots facilitate distribution networks by being used in warehouse activities like cross docking, palletizing, kitting, tagging, and identifying products. In that way, a highly automated warehouse has become a core part of the supply chain.

Recent studies have shown that the information flow from the environment to the robots, and then from the robots back to the environment can be measured by recording what the robots see and what they do. In that way, better robots can be designed and built thus maximizing the information flow within the organization which automatically implies more flexible, capable systems, quicker operations and higher profit margins.

Another effective application of robots is their use to visually assist consumers with sight deficiency in huge retail stores. Specially-designed robots guide the consumer through the aisles waiting to take instructions through a small directory of products, which is attached to its handle. The consumer asks and the robot replies by voice. Then, the robot uses its radio-frequency identification (RFID) reader in order to locate the desired products. The store's RFID tags assist the robot to navigate the lanes as well as to locate products.

In the future, robotic-aided emergency surgeries would be performed in space shuttles according to a simulation of the harsh environment and extreme conditions occurring in space which has taken place in a ten years experiment undersea. Moreover, the event of performing operations in remote locations on Earth has already been examined and the experiment has been considered very successful. NASA develops the necessary technology in order to perform a remote operation of an astronaut during an interplanetary travel with a remote control robot surgeon. Of course, such a development may benefit many patients on Earth.

The general trend for computers seems to be faster processing speed, and greater memory capacity, allowing for the assumption that the robots of the future would function closer to the human decision-making ability. Moreover, a recent study on behalf of the U.K. Office of Science and Innovation's Horizon Scanning Centre holds that robots might reach a point of intelligence at which they could demand freedom from ownership, clearly insinuating independence.

robot autopilot software

2010-10-16T21:54:00.000-07:00

In this Forex Autopilot review we will discuss a system that has been seen on CBS News, in Entrepreneur Startups, on NBC, in Business Week and Entrepreneur Young Millionaires. This program was created by Marcus Leary who is a trading industry veteran and also a mathematician. In only one year, he was able to make $1 million from his FX auto pilot system.

If you visit the company's web site you will be able to see actual screen shots of his various accounts. Leary believes that if you have an extra 2-3 hours every week, you will be able to earn a full-time income following his instructions. Everyday he is able to make thousands of dollars. Our Forex Autopilot review will provide you with a bit background and history of this product. It will also be unbiased and honest. Most Forex Autopilot reviews are designed to sell you something. Ours is not. We want you to have all the information that you need to make a wise purchasing decision. If our Forex Autopilot Review accomplishes that, we have done what we have set out to do.

Making profits with investments is great, because it gives the investors the opportunity to work for themselves. They don't have to take instruction from a boss or anyone else. It is possible to sleep as late as one feels like it, as well as skip the morning and evening commutes. This will allow folks to spend time with their family and afford not only the necessities but luxuries as well.

The program developer provides a lot of evidence of the reliability, functionality and success of the information and software included in the program. Interested parties can view video testimonials as well. A cash back guarantee is available if users are not able to make money using it.

There are lots of ways to make money online. Some are legitimate and can be very lucrative while others are simply scams which promise to make their users wealthy very quickly. The problem is that most of the latter are of low quality and do not deliver. Trading, on the other hand, is a very authentic way to earn money and has been around for a very long time. The foreign exchange market is also well-known and more and more people are beginning to invest their money there. Some of the primary benefits are that it is possible to trade round-the-clock, FX is a very fluid market and you can earn money whether the economy is good or bad. It also does not take a lot of capital to get started. In fact, in some places if you have one dollar, you can open up an account.With this system, individuals not only get the required software but also get trading information as well. This will put them on fast-track to becoming profitable. This Forex Autopilot review was written to provide readers with information on one of the hottest FX programs on the Internet. If individuals decide to purchase it and find that it doesn't work, full refunds are available. Buyers will have a full 8 weeks to test it out so there is zero risk involved.

robot forex boomrang program

2010-10-16T21:50:00.000-07:00

For individuals that have been involved in foreign exchange market trading for any length of time, they are probably familiar with the various systems and robots that are on the market. Below, I am going to provide a brief Forex Boomerang review.This system has become pretty popular in the FX investment circles. It has a few outstanding benefits. It allows users to get everything up and running in less than 10 minutes and they don't have to keep as close an eye on their trades because the program handles just about everything. Forex Boomerang will minimize risk and losses and has a trading algorithm that is pretty impressive.

Individuals viewing the company's web site, will be able to view tester reports which show how much profits various accounts have made using the product. In one example, an initial deposit of $500 yielded over $300,000. I don't know where you are from, but where I live, that is a lot of money for just about anyone.The software works to find good trades and has an automated signaling feature. The creator does provide a system that is very simple for the people who purchase it. The only thing that an individual needs to do is buy the product, download and install it onto their computer and it will do the rest. This is essentially a system that will require the users that use it to do very little.

Individuals who paid for it have 60 days to test it. If they find that it does not deliver what it claims within that time frame, they are able to return it for a full refund.While many types of foreign-exchange market software will automate a lot of the common tasks associated with this type of investment, this one requires the user to do pretty much nothing. It will find and make trades during the workweek, around-the-clock. It looks for trades that have a low risk for loss but a big opportunity for good returns. It uses a highly advanced algorithm and it has a stop loss system in place.

If you're interested in trying it out before you actually buy it, you can open up a demo account absolutely free. This Forex Boomerang review is a quick glance at one of the hottest FX products on the market. Take a closer look at it if you are interested and determine if it is right for you.

roboform

2010-10-16T21:45:00.000-07:00

Roboform, a password management/form-filling tool created by Siber Systems, is, in a word, awesome. I personally have been using it for years now, after trying numerous other password programs and now, whenever asked, have recommended it to everyone I know. That's how good it is.

Roboform can work for someone who simply wants basic password management. For example, if you go to a website that requires a login you have already created, Roboform pops up and allows you to fill in the user ID and password with a single click...or will fill it in automatically, if you have chosen that option.

Now, sure, some websites and browsers, such as Internet Explorer, allow you that basic option. However, they do not offer you the security of being able to make certain logins secure and others not. And, after all, do you really want someone with access to your computer to be able to go to your online banking page and be automatically logged into your accounts? I did not think so.

Because of needs such as this, Roboform works great for people wanting far more security. For example, you can set up Roboform, either as a whole or by individual sites, so that that it requires a logon to be able to use Roboform to automatically fill in a user name/password/credit card number, etc.In the previous example, someone going to your online banking page would be faced with a Roboform popup asking them to log into Roboform itself before filling in the user information. Since they would not have that password, they would not be able to use Roboform to access your bank accounts.

Roboform can also set up multiple profiles. Not just profiles for different people, but for different categories, such as 'home' and 'work'. In addition, you can set up custom fields for each profile, such as PIN or age, add credit card information for each profile, and the like. This way, Roboform is not just a password manager, but also a form filler.You can also set up one password for multiple profiles or have separate passwords for each one. That way you could have one password, providing access to everything, while your teenager could be assigned a different password, giving them more restricted access to RoboForm.

RoboForm also offers a portable option called RoboForm To Go. The software is installed on a portable USB drive and you can carry it on your keychain. It will temporarily install on any PC that you use it on and all traces will be deleted as soon as you remove it. This allows you to safely and conveniently carry all your usernames and passwords with you wherever you go.

robo hamster style

2010-10-16T21:41:00.000-07:00

If you have a Robo dwarf hamster, you have probably been looking for some toys that would be the best ones for his small size. Ones that would be fun and provide stimulation to your Roborovskii.Dwarf hamsters are very active animals so toys would be a very good investment on your part and one that would provide enrichment to his. Toys help to stimulate your little hamster to learn to investigate and play. Toys such as: ladders, ramps, tunnels and runs. These will provide hours of entertainment to both your Robo hamster and you as well.

Have you already noticed that your Robo hamster loves to chew? A good chew toy from your local pet store for his chewing. Since a hamsters front teeth are continually growing they require something to chew on that will help wear them down.If you choose a wooden chew stick then make sure it is not pointed or jagged as this could cause injury to your hamsters inner mouth and pouches. As well remember that whatever toys you decide up to make sure they are non toxic (untreated and unstained) and made from safe materials.

Hamsters also need and require exercise. A running wheel is the best form of exercise that your hamster can be provided. The wheel itself should have a solid floor so as not to tip over. Avoid a wire running wheel and one with rungs as this could cause your hamster to either get his leg or possibly even one of his feet trapped and could significantly harm or break their legs.

A Political robo

2010-10-16T21:03:00.000-07:00

Political robo calls are the bane of the electorate -- a cause of misery and pain so pervasive that it has prompted voters to spew venom against the best intentioned candidates. Websites have popped up calling for the abolishment of robo calls, with some voters promising to vote against any candidate who intrudes into their homes with a pre-recorded message on the phone. Some pollsters have determined that these automated calling systems don't sway voters' opinions one way or the other.So why then, do politicians continue to use this technology at the very risk of their own candidacies? And why have they exempted themselves from their own laws and allowed political robo calls to continue?

There are several reasons why the practice of sending robo calls has remained on the list of staple campaign tactics:

First, robo calling is one of the least expensive ways to deliver a targeted message to voters. It is a fraction of the cost of television, print and mail, and it can be sent to those voters who are most likely going to show up at the polls.Second, there is virtually no ramp up time in getting robo calls out so it is an ideal way to respond to last minute attacks, or to get information to voters during teh last days of the campaign.

Third, some speculate that the people who complain about automated calls are most likely not going to vote anyway. In fact, some candidates believe the calls have been partly, if not largely, responsible for their victories. Some candidates also believe that negative calls against them, have been responsible for their defeats.How can candidates send out pre-recorded message to voters using robo call technology, without upsetting or stirring the ire of voters? Here is a list of things candidates can do to help themselves:1) Send out calls during the day when most people are not home. That way, you don't intrude on peoples' lives or routine. 70% of the homes are vacant during the day and you can have your message programmed to be left on voicemail or an answering machine. Folks can listen to the message at their convenience.

2) The old KISS rule applies -- Keep It Short and Simple. Try keeping you message to 30 seconds or less. Positive messages work better than negative ones. Be sure to thank the voters for their support and remind them to vote.3) Spend time and thought in preparing your message and planning your robo call campaign. 99% of the candidates throw a robo call campaign together at the last minute and rush through the process. There is no reason you can't plan your script and phone lists a couple of weeks ahead of time.

The Robo Game

2010-10-16T20:44:00.000-07:00

The game Robo Defense for the Android phone has taken the ever popular free approach with additional features if you purchase the full game. However, the great part about Robo Defense is that it is a fully functional game even if you do not choose to purchase the game to unlock all the extras. Right now, Robo Defense is the best free game in the Tower Defense genre mostly because they are able to fund development with the number of people who purchase the full game. This game is one of the top downloaded games on the free Android game marketplace and is consistently ranking within the top 10 Android games on most game review websites.

The general concept of this game is that an army is coming to attack your base and you cannot let them get all the way to the entrance of your base. Thus, you must defend the battlefield outside your base with towers. The towers can be used to block enemies as well as shoot machine guns, rockets, slowing guns, anti-air, and flame throwers. The amount of towers does not seem too impressive when you first load up the game, but just remember that every tower can be upgraded at least once and some can be upgraded significantly more than that.

For each army unit that is coming to attack you that you kill, you get money. With the money you can buy different towers or upgrade your existing which makes this game almost like "leveling up" as you buy new units.

This game is incredibly addicting and very fun. It is highly recommended that you play the free version before purchasing the full game because the tower defense genre is very much a niche genre within the gaming world as is definitely not for everyone. But for those who love tower defense, Robo Defense is the best one out there for the Android phone right now so it is advised that you pick it up. After all, it's free on the Android Marketplace.

earn extra income with forex robot programes

2010-07-18T09:41:00.000-07:00

There is a powerful online business opportunity for single moms to earn extra income monthly which I will strongly recommend to anyone interested in making honest and legitimate income today. This opportunity will allow you to make money using an automated forex trading robot without you losing your money. This particular robot has received far more positive reviews than most forex robots in the market today.This robot is one of the most advanced forex robot in the market today. It has received rave reviews for its ability to generate zero losses and incredibly consistent profit into the account of its users. This robot will make any single mom interested in online business opportunity plenty of money every single month.

How does this robot work? This robot runs on any computer. You simply download and install the Forex Robot into your personal computer or laptop and you are ready to let it run throughout the whole day. However, you must ensure you already have the Meta trader 4 software running before you can use it successfully. The robot can trade automatically without any single input from you. It has the capability of working on any number of currency pairs of your choice. Once installed, you have the liberty to pursue other business opportunity or do any other task you are interested in. You can play and watch movies with your kids, relax more, and go on vacation whenever you want to.This amazing robot can trade unlimited number of currencies all at the same time. It is a product that is so easy to use even a newbie can use it without any hassle. As a single mom, you can start your online business with as low as $150 investment.

our daily life with robot

2010-07-18T09:37:00.000-07:00

Honda has been advancing well in the area of robotic research in recent years, their signature robot being the Asimo.

The Asimo Robot developed by Honda.Interestingly, the name "Asimo", is very similar to the name "Asimov". Asimov, being the last name of the Russia born science fiction writer, Issac Asimov. He was well known for his science fiction writings. The robots in his writings always obey the three laws that he has come up Three Laws of Robotics are a set of three rules written by Isaac Asimov, which almost all positronic robots appearing in his fiction must obey. Introduced in his 1942 short story "Runaround", although foreshadowed in a few earlier stories, the Laws state the following:

1) A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.

2) A robot must obey any orders given to it by human beings, except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.

3) A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law.

FEMALE ROBOT FOR TEENAGE BOYS

2010-07-18T09:32:00.000-07:00

Gone are the days when girls satisfied themselves with simple games of hopscotch or jump rope. There are practically no more simple toys for girls left in the toy market these days. It's slowly being dominated by more and more complicated contraptions. From toy PDAs to enhanced walkie-talkies and now the Female Robot from wow toys.
Female robot is a very hip and ultra high-tech robot toy, she promises to be a whole lot more than just a simple robot toy. A hot toy like this actually tries to break the mold ordinary plastic robot toys that only have blinking lights and beeping sound effects and it makes a very special holiday gift for girls.

Female robot , the robot doll has certainly come a long, long way from the old wind-up robots that used to be every kids fancy, like Robbie the Robot from the movie Forbidden Planet 1957. Come to think of it, its not going to be too long before robots are communicating with humans in a very personal way. In the future, you never know what special holiday toys are going be invented.

Children nowadays have more discerning taste when it comes to their entertainment. So in an age where cell phones and digital cameras are just all too common, whats really the buzz about robot toys for girls? Things are indeed a changing, a Female robot toy is practically what each and every girl wishes for.

Female robot is a unique toy for girls. She has over different 50 functions and commands. She can walk, talk and dance. She will even give you a hug and a kiss! This feminine robot has all the curves in the right places too and a sexy voice that drives all male robots wild. Its an emotional voice, not actually words, I think they call it Female robot . So she makes sounds that indicate different emotions, she works in any language.
Video games have been a common choice when it comes to electronic tech toy gadgets for children, however these cannot be considered as a robot toy like Female . No, female robot is a very special holiday toy for girls that reflects the highest technology in female robot toys today.

robot vz humen

2010-07-18T09:29:00.000-07:00

What properties does a robot have?

There really is not a total consensus in the properties that robots have. There are some actions that allow people to define a machine as a robot or not. One of the most important properties is that it is artificially created. If it is a biological entity, it cannot be considered a robot. Other properties are that the robots must be programmable, be able to sense its environment and interact independently. It also has to serve a purpose. You might be surprised but actually resembling a human is not one of the properties. Robotic engineers are more focused on the controlled actions than it appearing humanoid.

Is there a sentient robot in existence?

Whether or not there is an actual "sentient" robot in existence is all depending on how you view sentience. There are robots that look very human and can perform many functions. At this point it is more about the robots being intelligent machines. Many can actually have the ability to sense its environment and can move without direct human intervention.

One of the requirements of being labeled as "robots" is that it has to have the ability to make some choices on its own. Mechanized devices that cannot meet some of these criteria set forth are simply referred to as machines. It is important to note that robots do not have to be humanoid in appearance though. If the measure of sentience is by making logical choices and the ability to think independently...there are certainly sentient robots in existence.

What role has robots played in literature?

This may come as a shock to you but the first reference to mechanical servants is from Homer's Iliad. In it Hephaestus is helped by human-like mechanical devices to create new armor for Achilles. But it was not until the writer Isaac Asimov that the robot really came to be a staple in Science Fiction. It was Asimov that created the Three Laws of Robotics that many writers refer to even to this day in literature and film.

automation and industrial robots

2010-07-18T09:26:00.000-07:00

The importance of automation and robots in all manufacturing industries is growing. Industrial robots have replaced human beings in a wide variety of industries. Robots out perform humans in jobs that require precision, speed, endurance and reliability. Robots safely perform dirty and dangerous jobs. Traditional manufacturing robotic applications include material handling (pick and place), assembling, painting, welding, packaging, palletizing, product inspection and testing. Industrial robots are used in a diverse range of industries including automotive, electronics, medical, food production, biotech, pharmaceutical and machinery.

The ISO definition of a manipulating industrial robot is "an automatically controlled, reprogrammable, multipurpose manipulator". According to the definition it can be fixed in place or mobile for use in industrial automation applications. These industrial robots are programmable in three or more axes. They are multi-functional pieces of equipment that can be custom-built and programmed to perform a variety of operations.

The major advantages of industrial robots is that they can be programmed to suit industry specific requirements and can work continuously for years, consistently meeting high manufacturing quality standards. The economic life span of an industrial robot is approximately 12-16 years. Due to their persistent accuracy industrial robots have become an indispensable part of manufacturing.

sexy girls robots

2010-05-17T11:18:00.000-07:00

The Japanese Robotic Researchers and Scientists are far ahead of the American robotic teams when it comes to android type human like robots. In fact the Japanese have created sophisticated artificial intelligence which enables many of their robots to do human like tasks using human like movements. They mirror your non-verbal communications and even speech patterns with voice recognition and the latest facial recognition features.

These robots are also available for commercial applications in Japan. Many of the current commercial applications for in the United States robotic companies are still on the ground floor scaring the household cat. For instance the Romba or iRobot robotic vacuum, which does work well but others say it merely sucks. The Japanese on the other hand are developing blonde "babe" sex robots, which do a whole lot more than suck and have more than one orifice to assist them in their specially customized robotic features. It figures they would be ahead of us in such endeavors and it also stand to reason that Japanese Business Men are lining up to get their very own blonde babe sex robots which currently are not available to the general public, like the android type robots like the full scale soccer robots or maid assistant robots that we have all seen in the science magazines.

You see, so often things, which are involved in the entertainment of the human animal instincts are by far the best sellers and in the industry of robotics it is no different. Once these super model Blond babe sex robots hit the Japanese buying consumer they will be sold for $4,000. Right now you can by a robotic dog for 3,500 and those prices are coming down due to the shear number they have already sold. Soon perhaps you can get a robotic girlfriend to keep in the garage or closet for under $3500 such a bargain. Isn't it funny the kinds of technologies, which propel this species; silly humans. Think on it.

robotics toys for childrens and students

2010-05-17T11:16:00.000-07:00

As technology becomes more advanced with each decade, it's important to stay on track. What better way to grow smarter and more adaptable children, then by introducing them to robotics at an earlier age? Many families in Japan buy kits for children as young as 8, assisting them in building their very own robotic devices.

The benefits of robotics

In the near future, many appliances will have (or already have) some form of robotics technology, such as a computer processor, software and electronically controlled, moving parts. All these components require some skill and understanding that a child can gradually be introduced to through basic kits.If a child has an understanding of robotics at an early age, like 12, by the time they are in college they will be more fluent and comfortable with designing systems or building robots to help the industry grow, not to mention providing for their family.

Where they can be purchased

Hobby stores and online shops that feature robots are the first step, helping to familiarize a child with robots. Then more advanced kits that require soldering, programming and some construction can be purchased- although adult supervision will be required. As the child's ability increases, buying custom parts and a computer would be the next step in their education.

Industries that use robotics education

Car manufacturers may come to mind when it comes to industries that utilize robotics education. However, there are hundreds of new areas in the economy that require an understanding of robotics. Cars are becoming more automated, and in less than 30 years there will be fully-automated cars driven by robotics software. Also, humanoid assistant robots are also becoming more common to corporations, and will be entering households very soon. With that in mind, there are numerous venues for the use of robotics education.Due to the high-level thinking required by these robotics jobs, many of the positions pay very well... so there may never be a need to switch jobs.

robots massagechairs

2010-05-17T11:15:00.000-07:00

In order to receive a therapeutic massage you really must buy a shiatsu massage chair. Shiatsu is the application of pressure with fingers and thumbs on energetic pathways, called meridians to improve the flow of energy. Many manufacturers claim that their robotic massage chairs deliver a shiatsu massage, however not all do. Here's a review of some popular models that do and do not offer a genuine shiatsu massage.

A cheap chair simply isn't going to deliver a shiatsu massage. Brands like HoMedics and iJoy massage chairs lack the technology required. Shiatsu is very precise and requires the pin-point location of a person's pressure points and cheap models lack the technology to do this. If you really want a genuine, good shiatsu massager you can expect to pay a minimum of $1,800.

Another undeniable fact is that the best chairs are made by Japanese companies. Japan has been the most competitive market for many years - some 25% of households own one. Competition has meant that Japanese companies constantly produce chairs that are more technically advanced and with more features than non-Japanese companies. Every single new technical feature has come from Japan; Japanese companies innovative while the rest imitate.

Fujikura make the most affordable models. The Fujikura 2000 retails for around $1,800 and is a machine that comes with an intelligent roller system that conforms to the shape of an individual's spine and neck. The 2000 also has other great features like arm massagers and 26 air bags - 20 of which are in the foot and calf massager. It comes with the massage modes you'd expect; rolling, kneading, shiatsu results, compression and percussion, chop action and flapping. Incredibly for its price there's also a music therapy system. The Fujikura 2000 is a very good, feature-rich chair at a very competitive price.

Talking of music therapy, the OSIM iSymphonic doesn't simply play music along with the massage; the type of music played determines the type of massage you get - automatically. This is a very intelligent piece of software that was first developed by the Japanese company, Inada. The iSymphonic retails for around $3,500 and comes with a host of features such as infrared body scanning that determines exact body shape and acupressure location before each massage, so you are sure to get a genuine shiatsu massage. It also comes with 5 Healthcare programs, plus you can set your own courses, giving you complete control of your personal massage. However, unlike the Fujikura 2000, there are no arm massagers.

robots used for docters and nurses

2010-05-17T11:12:00.000-07:00

More and more hospitals in the developed world are employing robots in surgery, including Japan, for example. Iseikai Hospital in Osaka and Nagoya Kyouritsu Hospital in Nagoya are just two Japanese hospitals that use these labor-saving surgical automation systems.However, despite their success in the surgery room, these robots also had unintended consequences like creating issues in the way the insurance companies are billed for "services rendered." Billing for operations performed by robots are already a topic of controversy in Japan since they are not categorized as "regular surgical operations."

In British Columbia, Canada, a "Da Vinci" brand robotic system will start operating this Fall (2007) to help doctors during surgeries that require accessing tight areas like the pelvis or the chest. Vancouver General Hospital is planning to use Da Vinci in urological (e.g., Radical Prostatectomy), cardiac (e.g., Mitral Valve Repair) and gynecological (e.g., Hysterectomy) surgeries.Canadian news reports claim that "robot-assisted surgery offers patients fewer surgical complications, less post-operative pain, faster recovery times, shorter hospital stays and improved health outcomes." Purchasing Da Vinci, installing it, training the personnel and maintaining it for three years will cost the hospital somewhere around $6.5 million.

Here in the United States, did you know that robots are performing cancer surgeries in Charlotte, North Carolina? CyberKnife, a $3.7 million knifeless robot, is operating on cancer patients with precision radiation at the NorthEast Medical Center. CyberKnife is also used in Mission Health and Hospitals in Asheville and UNC Hospitals in Chapel Hill.Other "radiosurgery" machines used in surgery include the Gamma Knife in Winston-Salem and Greenville and the XKnife and a Varian device in Durham.

This irreversible trend of course requires both surgeons and nurses require new technical skills to allow them work with such computerized and programmable wonders. Our healthy future will demand even a higher level of training and technical competence from our nurses and healthcare providers.

origami robots

2010-05-17T11:10:00.000-07:00

In the last 40 years, Japan has consistently been one of the top industrial nations in the world. If we are to seek for one word to describe Japan, the term "technology" immediately comes to mind. Among the developed countries, Japan has the highest annual rate of college graduates in the fields of science and engineering. In fact, most of Japan's exports are technology-related products including automobiles, electronics, and machineries. Japanese brands like Toyota, Sony, and Toshiba have become synonymous with world's consumers.While you are reading this, you may be thinking in your head how science must have played a dominating factor in the education of Japanese kids. The truth is quite contrary. While the Japanese seek to stimulate their young minds with science and technology, a large chunk of the curriculum is devoted to arts and not science. The reason for this is simple. The Japanese believe that having a creative imagination is the key to becoming the next great engineer or master designer of technology.

They also believe that exposing their youths to the arts is a great way to stimulate and promote one's imagination and visual insights. As a result, the first thing Japanese children learn in school is how to draw. They are encouraged to draw anything their imagination could come up with. Some draw mountains and grass fields. Others draw cartoon characters and robots. These drawings may look innocent and insignificant; the truth is, however, many of them have the potential to become the main engine that drives future innovation and technology. In the 1960s and 1970s, there were a series of manga (Japanese comics) that were published, depicting the development of highly intelligent robots that could be used in both warfare and civilian tasks. The idea was well-received at the time, generating a strong fascination of robots and smart technologies among Japanese kids. Today, Japan leads the world in robotics having more than half of the world's active industrial robots.

Another form of arts that Japanese children are being exposed to is origami, the Japanese art of paper folding. Virtually everyone who lives in Japan is skilled at this unique art form. While most outsiders admire origami for its unique craft, we often overlook how much geometry and analytical skills are involved in implementing such an art. Origami demands a great deal of details and meticulousness from the artist. Let face it, to turn a plain sheet of paper into something that is so realistic that it mirrors or even surpasses its real-life counterpart is masterful within itself. Having exposed to this amazing art, Japanese children are trained to think critically as well as to accumulate the valuable lessons of craftsmanship.

As technology continues to play an increasingly important role in today's world, arts have quickly becoming insignificant in the education of our kids. In fact, many schools have chosen to cut their arts' programs in favor of technology-related programs. In my opinions, we should not give up in introducing our children to the arts. Instead, we should embrace arts and figure out a way to blend technology and arts together.

making money with forex robots

2010-05-17T11:09:00.000-07:00

I remember once I was sitting with my dad in our old family car, waiting for the signal to turn green. He looked at some guy on the side of the road that was selling flowers. He turned to me and said: "Son, there are plenty of ways to make money."When you imagine all the ways you can make money, especially today in the Internet connected world of free information, there really is no excuse for not being rich. If you are not rich yet, it should be one of your primary goals.

Not rich at the expense of others, like stealing or conning people or anything like that. Real, honest riches. With money you will enjoy better relationships, better health, less stress, and you can help out those that are less fortunate.It's a generally accepted principle that more money is better than less money. Unless of course you are monk that has taken a vow of poverty. (In which case you've wandered into the wrong article section of the internet. I think the chanting section is behind you on the left.)

So how do you get that money that will not only improve your life and relationships, but also give all free time you need to enjoy them? Rob a bank? Dig for gold in California?.
One way many people are discovering that provides a source of potential for incredible massive wealth is the Forex market. The Forex currency market is a clearinghouse of international trade. If you buy a Japanese car, the money you pay will eventually get back in the hands of the manufacturer. If you pay in dollars, that manufacturer will want to change those dollars into yen.This is one of the reasons that over three trillion dollars is exchanged on a daily basis in the Forex market on a daily basis. It is open twenty-four hours a day, five days a week. And slight changes in exchange rate can mean potential for enormous profit.Of course, because the markets can change very quickly, you need to pay close attention if you hope to make money on a regular basis. Which is where Forex robots come in. Forex robots are robots that are made in Japan that will come over to your house and sit at your computer and make money. And after that you can program them to vacuum and fix you a sandwich and get you a beer.

robot-2050-mobility robot

2010-03-20T11:15:00.000-07:00

Robotic toys are a lot of fun and entertainment and they can be fantastic educational toys also. Robotic toys have been developed and refined quite a bit since Leonardo da Vinci's model, and the first robot toy was manufactured in 1939 when Westinghouse created Elektro, a human-like robot, and his robot dog companion Sparky. A smaller version, the Omnibot 2000, was a toy robot developed during the 1980's.

A company called WowWee created the most advanced human-like robotic toy hailed the Robosapien in 2004. Priced at under $99 (US), the first cost-effective, mass-produced humanoid sold four million units and gave life to the consumer robot industry.
The robot market has continued to grow at a very rapid pace. In the present day there is an increasing desire of buying and using robots whether it's a toy for our children, a security system or a lawn mower, adults and kids equally share in using them.

Popular Robotic Toys
The Gaming Roboni-i

Robotic toys are fun to own, but they don't actually boast the same multi player functionality that video games presently have. That might all change with the The Gaming Roboni-i, Earth's first-ever programmable gaming robot.It's simple to customize and is packed with games; play by yourself or against friends with like robots. You can even create your own games, or download games others have made. To set up a multi player game, the robots must link to each other in a group so that they can identify each other. When this occurs, you're able to intermingle with other The Gaming Roboni-i units and play games with them.

Robosapien
Robosapien is a highly developed mixture of personality with technology. Loaded with attitude and brains, Robosapien is the first robot based on the technology of applied biomorphic robotics. The Robosapien is capable of make out objects and even skin tones and recognize when its owner walks into the room. In addition, Robosapien also has internal incline sensors that can end most functions when he is located in unusual positions, such as lying on its back. The nice thing about this humanoid is the ability for him to stand up in instances where he tips over. Robosapien is a programmable, rapid moving robot. The Robosapien has real multi-speed rapid dynamic running, turning, and walking.

Robosapien has four programming modes: right sensor, left sensor, sonic and master program. The right and left sensors are triggered when sensors on their matching sides are triggered, the sonic sensor is activated when the robot hears a sharp noise (and is in the Listen mode), and the master program is triggered from the remote control.

Lego Mindstorms

Lego Mindstorms allows you to make and program robots that can do just about anything. Lego Mindstorms give you the ability to put together your own robots and program them to carry out all kinds of actions. Version 1.0 RCX bricks feature a power adapter jack that allows nonstop operation rather than the narrow operation time when using batteries. In version 2.0 (as well as later 1.0s included in the RIS 1.5), the power adapter jack was taken off. Version 2.0 of the robotics invention kit includes a programming environment that puts a lot of professional programming products to shame. It is easy to understand why a lot of schools are standardizing on the mindstorms kits to teach classes in the field of robotics.

Wrex the Dog

Wrex the Dog's nose functions like a stop button when he is moving and a random activities selection button when he is not. Wrex the Dog is able to scoot about, play and follow commands and run like a real dog. He can turn his head, twitch his ears, pant and even wag his tail.

The First Robotic Arthropod Known As Roboquad

The First Robotic Arthropod Known As Roboquad is a four-legged, spider-like robot with unparalleled mobility and consciousness. The The First Robotic Arthropod Known As Roboquad is built with advanced sensory awareness, helping it respond immediately to the surrounding environment and follow a moving object in any direction, including forward, backwards, and sideways. The First Robotic Arthropod Known As Roboquad, by WowWee Robotics, claims the honor of being the first true robotic arthropod. It is fundamentally an animated robot that has multi-directional movement capabilities and highly developed sensory perception.

The First Robotic Arthropod Known As Roboquad even has an extended battery life for extended missions. Capable of spotting movement from up to 6 feet away with a IRscanner, he can also hunt for and navigate doorways, and distinguish table edges. When the lights go out, The First Robotic Arthropod Known As Roboquad can continue operating, turning on his head-mounted LEDs which lets it move in the dark. The First Robotic Arthropod Known As Roboquad becomes crabby, happy, attentive, standoffish and jumpy as he walks about on any type of floor. The First Robotic Arthropod Known As Roboquad can even dance.

Tread Based Roborover

Tread Based Roborover appears to be WowWee's 2009 successor to their massively popular Tri-Bot robot which appeared first in 2008. The primary difference is that Tread Based Roborover has treads rather than wheels.

Tread Based Roborover is enabled with object recognition. He has forward and rear sensors that prevent him from bumping in to walls. Tread Based Roborover's tread wheels let it maneuver over objects up to a 15-degree gradient, or about an inch high. Tread Based Roborover is an lively tread based friend with a timid but inquisitive nature, his personality grows and becomes more self-confident as you play with him. He is always eager to be on the move or play games with you. Tread Based Roborover has several distinct modes: explore, lookout, standby and sleep. Explore mode does just what you would expect; Tread Based Roborover navigates around the room autonomously while it avoids running into objects. Sensor-based LED headlights will automatically turn on if it's dark. The Tread Based Roborover features a mixture of vocal content and driving-based games
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The Roving Rovio Security Robot

The Roving Rovio Security Robot, allows you to be in two places at one time! WowWee The Roving Rovio Security Robot includes a WiFi connection which allows you drive it from anywhere in the world given that you have a web capable mobile phone or a PC with internet connection. The Roving Rovio Security Robot's built-in LED headlight will help you steer it even in faintly lit locations, so you will always know what is going on at home or at the office. Its skull-mounted, movable camera and wide range of vision allow you to see and hear precisely what The Roving Rovio Security Robot sees and hears, on your computer screen, anyplace in the world!

"robot2050"-FIRST Robotics program

2010-03-02T00:16:00.000-08:00

FIRST Robotics began in 1989 as a way of encouraging students to choose careers in math, science and technology, while also building their life skills and instilling a spirit of "gracious professionalism" and humility in its participants. Without "chest thumping" or "sticky-sweet platitudes," as the site explains, young people engage in competitions where they build robots.

The Junior FIRST LEGO league is for 6-9 year olds. The FIRST LEGO league targets younger children ages 9-14, while the FIRST Robotics Competition helps high school age students. The FIRST Tech Challenge provides more affordable robotics technology to high school students. More than 137,000 kids participated in last year's program, spanning across 42 countries from Germany and the UK to Turkey and Israel.FIRST Robotics founder Dean Kamen is an inventor, physicist, engineer and entrepreneur. He is perhaps best known for inventing the Segway Human Transporter, an environmentally friendly short distance travel solution. He's also developed the HomeChoice portable dialysis machine (Baxter Healthcare) and the Independence IBOT 4000 mobile robot system (Johnson & Johnson).

He's currently working on a water purification system that promises to provide clean drinking water to 1.1 billion people around the world. For his efforts, he's received the Heinz Award in Technology, the National Medal of Technology presented by President Clinton (2000) and the Lemelson-MIT Prize (2002), among others.

For 2009, the FIRST Robotics Competition will be called "Lunacy" to celebrate the 40th anniversary of our moon landing and will be held in Atlanta April 16-18. This year's autonomous robots will be restricted by size and weight (no more than 5 ft tall, no wider than 38 inches, no deeper than 28 inches and no heavier than 150 lbs) and must be able to pick up orbit balls (2-point moon rocks, empty cells and 15-point super cells) and transfer them into a trailer hitched to their opponent's robot in just two minutes and fifteen seconds.

While 80-90% of the teams participating this year will be returning from previous years, there are 300 rookie teams joining as well. Of course, even given the charitable contributions, each team will likely need to come up with $9,000 - $10,000 to cover meals, transportation, lodging, food, robot parts and lab fees.

The Baby Boomers grew up fascinated by the Space Race and the emergence of heroic astronauts as role models. Today's youth are more into computers. Even so, television shows like "Mythbusters," "Build It Bigger" and battling robot competitions are trying to intrigue young people to look to physics, engineering and technology.

Robot-2050-Robotic technology

2010-03-02T00:12:00.000-08:00

Robotic technology can be found in clocks, remote control vehicles, automobile computers, Aibo, factory robotic arms, self-guided rovers, service bots like ASIMO, robotic toys like AIBO or Robo-Raptor and a CNC milling machine. To be considered a "robot," the specimen must be able to interact with its environment and physically do something. Most recently, robots are being used in surgery, disaster recovery and firefighting.

Historically, ancient people believed in the existence of a humanoid robot species. The Greek god Hephaestus was thought to have created mechanical servants to help him build temples. Furthermore, the Jewish people thought that clay golems could come to life and the Norse believed that clay giants could awaken. In 4th Century BC, Greek mathematicians Archytas of Tarentum proposed that he could create a steam-powered bird known as "The Pigeon." Additionally, Hero of Alexandria (10-70 AD) devised automated machinery powered by air pressure and steam.

In 1088, Su Song developed the first clock tower that was built using mechanical figurines and audible chimes. In 1206, the first humanoid robot was created by Al-Jazari, a Muslim inventor who wished to entertain royal guests with automated musicians who played on a boat in a lake. Al-Jazari was already well-known for constructing everything from kitchen appliances and other astounding robotic machines.

There are many different ways to think about robotic technology. For instance, do we want an artificial being to look like a human or an unmistakable nuts-and-bolts prototype? Should they go to work at the plant or in our own homes? Should they think for themselves or be simply capable of pre-programmed simplified tasks?

Robot-2050-Integrated robotics

2010-03-02T00:09:00.000-08:00

Integrated robotics is the same with other types of other industrial technologies. The similarities are seen in the fact that robotics do rely on some components that make the entire system perform its obligations. Each component should be carefully designed and planned so that the finances of the company will not be put to waste.

Elements are otherwise known as the parts or compositions that make the technology render its task. Linking these compositions or elements together, the different industrial robots are made. In the creation of integrated robotics system, some factors are also being considered. Learn more about elements, industrial robots and how they are made.

Integrated robotic system compositions

Different robotic systems have several components. But all have basic parts to consider in the assembly. Among a list of basic parts are gears, bearings, clutches and springs. These compositions are put together to render the quality and efficiency promised by the system.

When industrial robotics is being thought of, computers are important in the functioning of the elements. Added components like arms and sensors also form part of the technology. These are important in various phases of the production task while obtaining feedback from the controller.

Industrial robot kinds

There are four basic subclasses for integrated robotics. One of the types is known as the programmable robot that works with storage of commands in a database. From the first type, the second type of industrial robot known as computer-programmable is made. This one functions with the help of computers.

The last two classes are known as servo and non-servo robots. Servos function with the utilization of arms and robotic manipulators and are crucial for functions like picking up and placing down of goods. Moreover, it serves in transporting an object from one place to another. The non-servo robot functions in this same way but do not rely upon manipulators and arms.

Integrated robotic system creation

There are three things to consider when creating an integrated or industrial robotic technology - cost, function complexity and performance. These three factors make up the primary goal of the technology - to construct a robot that fulfills complex functions without the higher investment. However, none of these factors should be compromised for the other.The core of creating integrated robotics is to focus attention on combining parts together to make them function for the better. In other systems, software programs are also deemed necessary. The software should be carefully prepared and scrutinized first before they are to be adapted by the business.

Robotics and Consumer Goods Production products

2010-02-15T08:39:00.001-08:00

When you say robotics, people usually think large scale production lines as in the manufacture of cars, complicated construction machinery and technology for space explorations. What a lot of people don't know is that robotics is utilized in so many other "smaller" aspects of our lives.

Consumer products are so commonplace that it is easy for people to think of them as simple creations. What you might not know is that the production of these goods more often than not, involves some sort of robotics system. While processes are complicated, robotics helps simplify them.

Industries Utilizing Robotics

Robotics systems are an integral component of the mobile phone industry. The roles that robots play in the production process range from assembly to internal treatments to testing. Robotics is utilized in putting certain cellphone parts together as well as coating phone interiors. There are also robots designed to check if the phones are working they way they should be.

The pharmaceutical industry also benefits extensively from robotics. The pharmaceutical industry is responsible for the production and distribution of life saving medications and robotics ensures that these products are indeed of the highest caliber. There are simple roles that robots are tasked to do, such as dispensing functions in pharmacies and there are also more complicated tasks, as in the research and development of new medicines.
The manufacture of food and drinks is one of the processes that most often makes use of robotics systems. Practically all kinds of food have been produced with the help of robots. There are many areas of food production that are dependent on robotics such as packaging, sanitation and delivery.

Production=Pick, Pack, Pallet

Robotics systems are vital in the effectiveness and efficiency of the procedures involved in the manufacture of consumer goods. Picking is an important function performed by robotics. This is where individual food items are picked and placed onto their respective wrappers or packages. This is a complex process because food comes in a variety of shapes. Nevertheless, robotics makes it easy to execute this step so that this contributes to the overall speed of production.

Packing is also another major task performed with the help of robots. Individually wrapped items need to be placed in boxes and other types of casings. There are varied packaging options but robotics systems are capable of efficiently adapting to the differences in package shapes and sizes. Some of these packaging materials are:

• styrofoam boxes
• sachets
• jars
• plastic tubes

Finally, robotics is essential to stacking food items in bulk. This involves heavy lifting but robots can accomplish this in little time plus there's no need to worry about possible injuries.designed to automate even more tasks. This may mean that someday, virtually all processes in food production will be performed by robots.

Hai Robot World

2010-02-15T08:29:00.002-08:00

Man has always been dependent on machines. Ranging from the crudest of sticks used as weapons for hunting to modern weapons of mass destruction, we are becoming increasingly dependent on machines. Many amongst us perceive machines as being necessary for the smooth functioning of our society.

It stands as a testament to our inventiveness that we are able to automate the many mundane aspects of our society's functioning in order to make life easier. The next generation of machines are smarter, smaller and more energy efficient.

The evolution of electronic toys provides a striking resemblance to that of the evolution of Robotic technological advancement. From its initial stages of simple robots that are programmed to perform monotonous actions to highly sophisticated robots with artificial intelligence, we have come a long way in improving the quality of robots. Commercially, Sony and Tiger electronics have released popular 'robo-pets', which were highly successful. In the virtual world, automated programs built for specific purposes are popular. General consensus is that any machinery which is adaptable, can interact and manipulate its surroundings is considered as a robot. Bill gates latest vision of 'a robot in every home' could be as prophetic as his earlier vision of 'a computer in every home', which is now a true scenario.

History of Robot:

There have been rough prototypes of robots since ancient times. These included robots, which operated on steam, wind and water. Greek mathematician Arkittas had made a machine operated dove which could gain momentum using steam power. Alexander was reputed to have many self-operated machines, which were working using wind pressure and steam. In 1088, Su Sang had created a clock tower, which shows the time automatically in some part of China. In 1136 and 1206 AD a Muslim inventor named Al Zazari had developed a number of self operated machines like cooking equipments and water operated musical instrument. This human like robot had been used as a singer in boats and as an entertainer in the court of the king.

Nearly in 1495, Leonardo da Vinci had sketched a human shaped Robot. This sketch came into light in the year 1950 and was named as Leonardo Robot. This Robot was capable of sitting, shaking its hand, head and moving its jaws. This Robot design had been done like the structure of a human being. Between 1738 and 1739, Jacques Devaucanson had created different Robots of different sizes including duck robot, flute-playing Robot. The Duck robot was capable of playing with its wings. It could lengthen its neck; pick food from the visitors' hand. During 1700, in Japan, a number of different large sized robots were designed, out of which a Robot named 'Karakul' was famous for being capable of offering tea. From 1799 and 1881, Japanese handicraft workers had designed a variety of Robots. In 1926, Westinghouse Electric Corporation created a large Robot called 'Television' which could do many complex works. Scientist Makato Nisimura had designed the Japanese robot 'Gakutensoku', which was the first man-sized robot. England was not far behind in these inventions. In 1948-1949, the first electronic, autonomous Robot called "Elmore and Elsi" was created by William Grey Walter had surprised the world. It was capable of detecting light and darkness and was even capable of communicating with external devices. The first modern Robot came into existence in the year 1954, created by George Davel and operated digitally. It was named 'Uni met' and Dave sold it to Genera motors.

Robot toys helping for kids education

2010-02-15T08:29:00.001-08:00

A robotic toy is a toy with robotic capabilities. A toy that its movements are controlled by a micro controller is considered as robotic toy. It is not just another toy. Some teachers use it as teaching tool. Children love to play with it. Old tin robot toy was like a doll for boys. A robotic toy is actually children's version of robot. It has all the robot functionality. There are many robotic toy manufacturers with many product names. Choose one that is suitable for you and your kids.

Some of it comes as a ready made robot; the other comes as robotic kits. Children can assemble the robot by themselves. Sometimes they can build more than one kind of robot in one robotic kit. It is like a construction project. It needs creativity. Numerous robot movies makes children think that robot is real. Robots are like everyday friends for them. Children had a whole lot more imagination than us.

Kids can learn a lot of thing when they play it. It teaches children about construction skills, electronic skills and computing skills. They can play with weight and balance. They will realize that different materials have different weight at the same size. Balance is important for robot, especially for bi-pedal robot. They will learn by experience that the robots need minimum 3 ground point of contact to stand still. Gears and electrical motor is their next lessons. The electrical motor is the source of rotation. It transmits the power through gears. Gear cannot move by itself. Gear is a simple and complex idea in one system. We can teach them about radius and diameter. How its size will affect the rotation speed. For higher grade, we can teach about conversion between rotation and linear speed, depend of the diameter. Gear is a complex study, but it is funny to play with.

Some children are curious on how the electric motors move? Teachers can show them the cables that connect the motors to the battery, the main power source in most robotic toy. They will learn various electrical sources that can feed the toys.

Robots have much kind of sensors. Touch sensor, light sensor, microphone (to detect sounds), ultrasonic sensor are popular sensors that often included in the robotic kits. Robots use sensors to communicate with their environments.

We can teach a general robotic toy to become a specific robotic puppy, or even a mighty warrior. Thanks to the micro controller that controls the robot. Robotic toys are amazing tool to teach children.

Children can share their own robotic projects. They will learn how to build a project from idea to reality. They can make their first scientific paper. They can record the main idea, and kind of tools they need. At last they can proudly show us their final robots. Teachers and parents can help by encouraging them to learn more. What is better than a curious student? They will learn by themselves! Some of them can extend their art potential by making a movie with their robotic toy as the main figure. They can create stunning sound tracks, sound effects, and edit their own video. They can event arrange their own music.

Professional forex robot makers

2010-02-15T08:27:00.001-08:00

The issue of robot in the forex world has become more controversial than any right thinking professional forex traders could ever imagine. To the extent that some innocent souls but ignorant traders are misled and misguided on the usefulness of robot as can - do - it - all for you machine by the makers and promoters of robot. Some of the marketers even go to the extreme by calling robot hands- free- trading system and continue to deceive ignorant traders who also fall victim of their predators. Sooner than later, these forex traders (preys) realized that rather than forex robot bringing in money for them, it only results in killing their trade and taking away their hard earned money. But these professional robot makers will deny this and tell you their system, I mean robot, has been tested even though they will not tell you that the robot was back tested. That is the robot was tested based on past conditions.

The questions I am going to attend to in this articles relate to the main topic under discussion and they are as follow: What is robot and is it useful for you as a forex trader? Can you really trade without developing your black box or brain? Is it right to allow your trade to be monitored by a robot who does not understand psychology of traders? If robot is so effective, how come these professional robot makers continue to condemn the early robot they produced and ask you to buy new version at exorbitant rate. Questions! Questions!! And Questions!!! You will say.

Robot is a word that originated from marketing gimmicks of robot manufacturers who use it for the purpose of wooing the gullible and lazy traders to buy into their proposal that robot is an automatic trading machine which can trade for them without having to do anything. They even go to the extent of saying that you don't have to learn anything about forex, all you need to do is to buy their miraculous robot and according to them you are on and the robot will continue to make money for you. What a bogus claim!
The resemblance of this in the forex world is what is called expert advisor which from its name was developed to advise you on whether to make trade or not. It can also take some trade on you behalf if you so wish. However, the moment this advisor is put on you will have to baby sit your trade and give it a close marking and monitoring so that when it trades against your interest you can quickly stop it. The important thing here is that if you don't know anything about forex trading how will you control your advisor when it goes against you.

From the little explanation I have given above you will but agree with me that robot today has been mystified to the extent that a great number of lazy traders, who want to make millions without working for it, have lost their money to robot - can- do -it -all for you syndrome. Even though the professional forex robot makers and marketers will tell you robot can trade for you and equally make money for you when you are sleeping, the truth of the matter is that you tend to lose your money trading forex with robot more than it will make for you. My finding shows that experienced professional don't use robot, what they do is that they develop forex trading system from their continuous education, constant trading and unparalleled experience gain over the years.
Another thing professional robot developers will also tell you is that using robot will make money for you even if you know nothing about forex. This is another joker to coax you into buying their automatic system. If you don't know anything about forex modus operandi and get yourself familiarize with your broker's platform how will you be able to trade and make profitable return on your investment. If all you have to trade forex is one miracle performing robot, you will soon realize you are committed to the wrong type of business. For you to really make it in forex, you have to develope your black box by constant reading and studying of forex books and situations surrounding forex market. The golden truth is that forex is not one of the get- rich quick schemes. Even though, the returns that a trade can make from forex market is very high when compared with other type of investment, so also is the risk involved in trading forex.The truth therefore, is for you to know that a robot maker or marketer work on your psychology and intelligence. They know that you and I will always want to make more money at ease. Therefore, they developed highly powered sales pitch which has at the centre of its theme the coined deception that you can trade forex with their robot without developing your mental box. At this junction, we need to ask ourselves this simple question that if truly robot produces the kind of result always promises by robot makers, how come there are many forex traders losing money through their so called powerful robot? I am sure the answer to this question can be provided by you. The truth of the matter is that forex will make money for you with one hand and take it away with another hand, this time more than it has made for you.

At this stage I have to advise you to develop what I called I -can- do- it attitude and mentality and train yourself to trade the forex pros' way . Start forex training from scratch by reading various books on forex and try to fix the mixing links in your trading system. If you can work on yourself, very soon you shall become one of my friends who after he has lost huge amount of money later rediscovered himself through proper training and today my friend is making it big.

robot toys

2010-02-15T07:53:00.000-08:00

So, you want to buy a robotic toy for yourself or a loved one. Where do you start? How can you select the best robot and make a smart robot purchase in a practical way?
As a robot enthusiast, I have been through this a few times myself. It is usually pretty challenging and time-consuming because the information I need is hard to find and it is generally scattered all over the Internet. There has to be a better way.

1. WHAT IS AVAILABLE? - Quickly figure out what robotic toys are available to decide what looks promising
2. HOW DOES IT WORK? - See what the robot toys can do and how to use them
3. HOW GOOD IS IT? - Learn what other buyers think about the toy robots
4. HOW DO I BUY IT? - Find out where to buy the best robotic toy and easily make the purchase

ROBOT CATEGORIES - Make it easy to browse robotic products by robot category like human robots, robotic animals, robotic cars, robot kits, robot games, robot movies and robot books. Some of you may also be interested in robot news, robot manufacturers, used robots, out-of-production robots and robot history.

ROBOTIC TOYS - A picture is worth a thousand words. Within each robot category, show a picture and a brief description of the best robot toys that are available.

ROBOT VIDEOS - A video is worth a thousand pictures. Show robot videos so you see the robotic toys in action.

ROBOT REVIEWS - Whenever helpful user reviews are available, summarize their conclusions and offer the full review text for those who want to read the thousand words.

WHERE TO BUY ROBOTS - Provide links to vendors who are selling the robots. Try to make it as easy as possible to compare prices and make a purchase.

Robot Vaccum Cleaners

2010-02-15T07:46:00.000-08:00

What is a Robot Vacuum Cleaner?

Yes ! It does exactly what you are thinking, it vacuums. Unlike your conventional vacuum cleaner, however, this one is slightly different... well it's smart. We are not referring to artificial intelligence or anything like that. It simply does what you ask it to do, when you want it done without having to interfere or drag it around.A robot vacuum cleaner will vacuum your hard and carpet floors and retain the dirt in a catcher that can be emptied now and then. When it has finished, the robot vacuum cleaner settles on its docking station or speaks to inform you that it is done cleaning.

Most robot vacuum cleaners like Rumba and Infinitive Clean-mate are round shaped and stand at 3 to 4 inches high and roughly 12 inches in diameter.The shell
On the top part of the unit you will find the control panel. Some have one or two buttons, others many and others even have an LCD monitor. How about that !
On the front end of the unit is attached a half moon shaped spring-loaded or light touch bumper depending on the brand and model. The bumper serves as a sensor for obstacles

The robot vacuum sits on 3 wheels and is rigged with one or many brushes, depending on the model. You will also notice a variety of sci-fi looking sensors that provide your little friend some intelligence. These sensors are used to detect stairs or other obstacles.

How does a Robot vacuum cleaner work?

Initially the robot sits quietly on its docking station, which most of them have. Keep in mind to settle the robot and the docking station in a open area. Avoid closets or other cramped spaces as they make it very difficult for your robot vacuum cleaner to navigate away and back to the station.The docking station has one main function, to charge the batteries in between cleaning cycles. How does the robot find its way back to the station you might ask? Good question.The station casts a light beam to a distance of about 6 feet in a "V" shape which serves as a beacon. During the cleaning cycle, if the robot vacuum senses the light beam, it steers clear of the docking station. Once the cycle is complete or the battery runs down, the robot uses the light beam to happily head home to its docking station. Robot owners without a docking station may manually connect the vacuum to an outlet for charging using the power supply unit provided with the robot.
On the scheduled days and time, the robot vacuum cleaner powers out of the station for work. It will not return until the cleaning cycle is complete or its battery runs low. In the event of a battery run-down prior to completing the cleaning cycle, the robot will abort the cleaning cycle and find its way back to station. The schedule is embedded in the robots program memory. A simple button sequence allows you to set your preferred schedule.

Finding its way around: Navigation

No need to sit around while your robot vacuum performs a cleaning cycle. The robot navigates using an integrated technology providing them with 4 to 5 cleaning modes. For example the robot vacuum cleaner can use a circle or spiral shape pattern to cover the area. Other modes include following the walls to the center of the room, zigzagging, criss-crossing in diagonals, and more. It is all part of your robots intelligence!.Vacuum and no-vacuum zones you ask? The Roomba vacuum cleaner gets a little help from virtual walls and/or lighthouses. Virtual walls are included with some models and can be sold separately. This unit sends out an infrared light beam that serves as a gate or virtual wall. When the Robot Vacuum senses the light signal, the unit changes direction to avoid the zone.

Lighthouses also feature the infrared light beam like the virtual wall, but is are also equipped with a radio-frequency technology designed to help your robot vacuum cleaner to self position and improve cleaning efficiency. Basically, lighthouses are beacon-like units that allow the robot to self position and navigate its way back to the docking station, just like ships on the ocean use lighthouses to avoid rocky collisions with the coast and get safely back to port. But, robot vacuums have a great advantage over ships, they can't sink! Unless of course you have a swimming pool in the middle of your living room!

Infinitive Clean Mate vacuums by Metaphor simply rely on its navigation ability as virtual walls and lighthouses are note available.
What are its limitations? Lets get started with what a robot vacuum will definitely not do for you. For example, robot vacuum cleaners will not act as a moderator or get involved in home or office disputes, although they can help by taking away the hassle of vacuum cleaning! They might improve your social life in many ways. Imagine impressing your guests with your robot vacuum cleaner by scheduling a cleaning cycle while you share appetizers and drinks.

Here are some important limitations:

• Those nifty robots do not operate well beyond a 30 to 35 degree slope, but you hopefully have level floors.
• They are not capable of vacuuming stairways.
• Robot vacuum cleaner light sensors will not work on dark black surfaces as the light can reflect.

Keep in mind that robot vacuum cleaners are designed to vacuum floors and carpets. They are not engineered for washing floors. A floor washing robot called Scuba has already been designed for that purpose. Note also that it is not recommended to use a floor cleaning robot on non-sealed hardwood floors or laminates.
You will find robot vacuum cleaners do an excellent job at taking away the dirt, but keep in mind they don't benefit from a peripheral vision like you and I do. Therefore, you might find missed particles on rare occasions... but don't ground your loyal robot, it's really doing its best!

Where can I purchase a Robot vacuum cleaner?

Here! Of course! Well, the reason we have so much to say about robot vacuum cleaners is our five happy years experience with these neat machines. We carry many models from the most basic to the souped-up, fully-loaded.How about maintenance? So glad you asked! We run a robot vacuum cleaner specialty shop to perform maintenance, diagnostics, and repairs on these cool little machines. With all this expertise under our belts, we have decided to go one step further by offering you a five year limited lifetime warranty on Rumba robot vacuum cleaners.
We call ourselves Robot Shop, the World's Leading Source for Domestic and Professional Robot Technology. Look us up on the web at robot shop.us or robot shop.ca. If you are already aware of them and perhaps own one, but would like to know more, look up the following articles brought to you by the same author:

• Choosing the Right Robot Vacuum Cleaner for Your Needs
• Rumba and Infinitive Clean Mate Robot Vacuum Cleaner Setup for Optimal Performance
• Rumba and Infinitive Clean Mate Robot Vacuum Cleaners Recommended Maintenance and basic Troubleshooting from Home Before Sending Your Fellow to the Shop
• Rumba mania

Decision Theory Robotics

2009-12-06T07:22:00.000-08:00

Robotics is basically the study of how to make robots, the procedures and controls. The lessons included are about mechanics, electronics and computer programming. On mechanics the parts and their relationship to each other are observed, on electronics the effects of using batteries and electric power are analyze and on computer programming, the robot control management and strategies are explored. The so-called decision theory robotics lies on the third division of the study which is computer programming.

In decision theory robotics, the algorithm and information programs are very significant because these are programmed into the robot so that whenever they get fed with information through the use of transistor s and receivers. Once the robot gets feed with algorithms, it will perform the specific actions programmed for that kind of algorithm. The robot's response capacity solely depends on the program that it has meaning it is always under the control of humans. Robots can do so many things, but this is all because of human ideas and intelligence.
Ideally, every algorithm associated to a fixed or preset program should be expressed whenever the info was sensed by the robot. But sometime there are chances that the accuracy of the decision theory between the algorithm and the set up program fails. When this happens, the robot will be totally malfunctioning it will make actions not in relation to the operation that is being asked for or at worse cases, the robot will lose his capacity and get paralyzed. In such cases like this, help coming from robotics and programming experts are needed for they are the only ones who could understand the complexity on the robot.

The use of decision theory robotics have played significant role in our society today, because in almost everything that we do, we use some simple robots or devices that works because of this theory. We are just unaware but the cellular phones and other device that we are using are one example of this. We should value the things that these simple robots are doing for us for they make our life better and easier. They'd been taking care of the things that human should be doing, they speed up the pace of life of every individual.

Future of Robotics Heading

2009-12-06T07:20:00.000-08:00

Developing a humanoid robot has long since captured the human imagination and will be the continued focus in the future of robotics. Scientists say there are two obstacles to creating a robot with human or super-human intelligence: vision and processing sensory information. "It is almost impossible to predict when machines will become as clever as humans," admits Ronald Arkin, a robotics expert at the Mobile Robot Laboratory in Atlanta, Georgia. "Although work in magnetic resonance imaging holds great promise, researchers can now watch areas of the brain light up as individuals carry out specific mental tasks. When we have that knowledge, we can pass it on to computers."

Motor vehicle production is one area where robotics automation is already being used. Yet imagine a world where we can read, have a glass of wine, talk freely on our cell phones or take a nap while our personal automobile drives itself from our workplace to our doorstep. Or perhaps we'll abandon the wheeled prototypes altogether and kick back in our personal flying car like numerous science fiction films predict. So how far are we from such a future?

Well, in 2007, the US Defense Advanced Research Project Agency had 83 robotic system vehicles driving through a 60-mile urban course, navigating around other vehicles, pedestrians and obstacles; all without incident. Just three years ago, robotic vehicles couldn't even drive straight across the wide-open desert without crashing. "The robotics industry is developing in much the same way the computer business did thirty years ago," Microsoft founder Bill Gates observed.

So what is in store for the future of robotics in the workplace? The US military is one of the biggest donators to robotic research, as they hope to replace human lives with robotics automation, reducing our casualties in war. Robots are already completing reconnaissance missions, disassembling explosives and firing on enemy combatants.

Military chiefs are aiming to make a third of all ground vehicles driver-less by 2015. Researchers are also looking at robots similar to those featured in Isaac Asimov's "I Robot" that cooperate together in a swarm-like way to complete complex tasks. Just the size of a small bug, these insect swarms look unassuming but are capable of jamming communication lines, gathering intelligence and firing at enemy combatants.

The future of robotics is taking aim at the rapidly aging population, with the end goal of providing for the elderly in places like the US which will see 97 million baby boomers in need of care or in Japan, where 22% of the population is over 65. Currently $1 billion is spent each year researching how autonomous robots can care for the elderly. Secom's "My Spoon" robot, for instance, can feed disabled people by breaking up food into chewable morsels and spooning it into their mouths. "Paro," another Japanese invention, looks like a baby seal and responds to the affection of lonely elderly patients, while also monitoring their heart rate and health symptoms.

Career Opportunities in Robotics

2009-12-06T07:19:00.000-08:00

Have you given much thought to your career path in your future employment? Do you like to tinker with stuff or build new things? The robotics industry is expected to expand by over 3000 percent in the next ten years. It will be very similar to the computer age with its rapid growth rate.

You might wish to consider a career opportunity in robotics and you can specialize in a number of sub-industries such as robotics in automotive manufacturing, robotics in military applications, robotics in space or even robotics in the home. Consider if you will the future of robotic artificially intelligent androids.Someone will need to build these units, maintain these products and repair them when they breakdown or go berserk. Obviously if someone's artificially intelligent robotic androids tries to kill the house cat it might be time to upgrade some of its software and repair it. Or what if they robotic transportation system device like the robotic truck malfunctions?

There will tons of career opportunities in robotics in the next decade and it might be smart to get in on the ground floor and work for a robotics company, which is growing very fast and they may even give you stock options. If you are thinking of career opportunities in robotics now is the time to make your move and I hope you will consider this in 2006.

The Inada ROBOSTIC Massage Chair

2009-12-06T07:14:00.000-08:00

Inada claim that the ROBOSTIC is the most advanced massage chair ever made and you have to take anything Inada produces seriously. Well, the ROBOSTIC is definitely one the most expensive you can buy but can it really be said that it's the best robotic massage chair ever made?

No other massage chair manufacturer in the world has the legacy, technical expertise or dominant position of Inada. It is the number one player in the world's most competitive market place of Japan. Every single major technical advance of massage chairs can be traced to its research and development laboratories in Osaka. The list of it industry 'firsts' says it all.

1971 - First Kneading Mechanism. First Rhythmic Movement Function

1974 - First human touch function of squeeze and press

1979 - First adjustable recline system and spinal roller

1996 - First with four rollers that move in alignment with the body

1998 - First to incorporate airbags

1999 - First to use infrared technology for pressure point detection

2003 - First massage chair that detects body shape and automatically adjusts itself to fit

2004 - First massage chair that synchronizes music with massage
The D.6 ROBOSTIC chair was designed buy the renowned Chiaki Murata - who also designed the console for the X-Box 360 - and it shows. The chair is large and full of gadgets but it manages to combine all the elements together into a harmonious and attractive unit.

The chair also comes with every technical innovation possible today. It has a 3-D roller system; most come with 4-way rollers, which mean they move up and down and sideways on the back but 3-D rollers also push in and out giving you either a deeper or gentler massage. Like all Inada massage chairs it comes with optical acupressure point sensors. It works by scanning your back before the start of a massage and then compares your profile to 100 stored profiles. The chair will then match your profile to the 'best-fit' stored profile to provide you with a totally customized massage.

But these features have already been incorporated into other Inada chairs. What makes this model different is the Joystick Manual Control System. This allows you to customize your massage like never before. Using the joystick you can knead up or down your back simply by pulling the stick up or down; strengthen or soften the massage by pushing or pulling; control the kneading speed by pushing the stick to either side; and fully control the tapping speed of the massage.

All of your actions can be recorded in the memory function, so that your custom settings can be recalled with the push of a button. The program can be altered at any time to suit your current physical needs. The joystick is housed inside the armrest when not in use so it never gets in the way.

The Da Vinci Robot - Surgical Technology

2009-12-06T07:13:00.000-08:00

Surgery done by remote-control robots is a brand-new technology which is revolutionizing the field of surgery. The most advanced robotic technology in the world was developed by Intuitive Surgical, Inc. which is located in Sunnyvale, CA, and is called the Da Vinci robot. This robot can actually perform surgical operations with its three arms. One of the arms has a camera, called an endoscope. The endoscope is inserted into the patient's body through a very small incision. The endoscope is a fiber-optic instrument with a very tiny video camera. This camera shows the surgeon a 3-dimensional, 15 x magnified view of what is happening inside the patient's body on a television screen. The other two arms are operated by the surgeon by remote control - he puts his fingers into rings and manipulates the robot's fingers at a distance.

This process, called tele-manipulation, is similar to the robot arms on the submarine in the movie Titanic; except it is far more precise. The Da Vinci robot arms not only hold a camera, but also dissectors, scalpels, scissors, and forceps. This enables the surgeon to grasp, cut, dissect, and suture by remote control. The surgeon sits at a console away from the operating table and operates the robot with a joystick, like the ones which operate video games, as well as foot pedals which control the camera angle, focus, and which place the robot's arms into the correct position. Usually an assistant surgeon remains with the patient to adjust the robot's position according to the chief surgeon's directions.

Besides the obvious advantages of giving the surgeon a magnified, 3-D view of what he is doing, robot assisted surgery also allows the surgeon to operate through much smaller incisions than traditional surgery. Endoscopy (surgery performed with endoscopes) is much less invasive than the older methods, which means less pain and trauma for the patient, reduced blood loss (hence reduced need for transfusion), less post-operative discomfort, less risk of infection, shorter hospital stays, smaller scars, and faster healing. Endoscopy hasn't changed the basic rules of surgery - it has merely provided surgeons with a powerful, accurate tool which enables them to do their traditional job in a much more effective manner.

Robot-assisted surgery is a brand-new technology, and the Da Vinci - introduced in 1999 - is the first robot of its kind on the market (there are now over fifty Da Vinci's in use in the United States, and forty in Europe). In 2000 the Food and Drug Administration first allowed the Da Vinci to be used in abdominal surgery such as gallbladder removal. In 2001 the Da Vinci was cleared for chest surgery, such as operations on the lungs and esophagus. Robotic heart surgery is carried out by detaching the thoracic artery and re-attaching it to a coronary artery. That same year the FDA allowed the Da Vinci robot to perform robotic prostatectomy, which is removal of the prostate. The FDA closely monitors the robotic hardware, software, and training programs for surgeons who will operate the machines.

robot vaccum cleaner

2009-12-06T07:09:00.000-08:00

Many fans of science fiction can remember reading how we were all supposed to all be flying around on jet packs by the year 2001. Well we haven't quite achieved that - yet. But we're getting closer every day. One example is in the area of cleaning. The Roomba vacuum cleaner, which is made by iRobot, uses robot technology to clean your house. While it's not quite like "The Jetsons" it uses many of the same principles.First of all, it cleans your house all by itself. It doesn't matter if its day or night. You can program it to run at anytime you want. Many people choose to have it run during the day, while they're at work. It's so nice to come home to a clean house after a long day at the office. Isn't it?

The IRobot uses sensors to navigate through the room. It's actually bumps around furniture and other objects while it cleans. Don't worry though; the bumping is light enough so it won't damage any important furniture pieces.Some people question how effective it will be, thinking that a machine will never be able to do as good of a job as humans. While it's easy to understand these fears, they are purely unfounded. The Roomba is designed to clean all types of floors, including hard wood and carpets. The sensors will also identify extra dirty spots and continue to go over that area of the floor until it's clean.

The Roomba runs on a rechargeable battery. The robot will automatically return to its base when the task is completed, so after the initial set up there's nothing for you to do except change the bags. Since we all seem to live a hectic lifestyle, it's easy to see how this would be such an advantage. Who knows, maybe it will be the only vacuum cleaner you'll ever need.

robo cup 2050

2009-12-06T07:06:00.000-08:00

he recent FIFA World Cup Finals 2006 at Berlin brought Football Buffs at one place. Crores of people leaned over their TV Sets and watched the FIFA World Cup being played in Germany. They watched for the style and follicular foibles of Zidane, Ronaldo, Beckham, Rooney and many others. They came to see Zidane’s head butt on Marco Matterazzi and to see the emotions of the Football Players.

But, the one they see in 2050 will not be similar to this one. Artificial Intelligence Researchers are trying to build fully autonomous Robots to take on World Cup Champions, as Robocop 2006 showed. They are not nimble footed as their Human counterparts but they can score a goal or two. They are quite awkward when it comes to tackling opponents and are hardly aware of what a foul is. They don’t have much of a following either because they don’t have technical finesse to show off. They don’t have any kind of style or follicular foibles to attract Football Buffs. They only have Technological aficionados as their supporters who believe that these Hi-Tech Players are slowly making great strides towards challenging real Soccer Champions of the Game by the end of 2050- somewhat like the Computer Deep Thought taking on Chess Grand Masters like Gary Kasparov and Vishwanathan Anand.

While people across the world were busy wowing the artistry of the likes of Ronaldo, Zinedine Zidane and David Beckham, these Humanoids or Robots had a field day fighting for the Robocup 2006in Bremen, Germany. The 10th Annual Soccer Championship for Robots held at the Bremen Exhibition Center, from 14th June to 20th June , had 440 teams from 36 Countries including the US, China, Japan, Portugal and France . While the FIFA World Cup threw out one Victorious Team the Robocup had 33 Winners. 11 of them were German Teams. Though there were no Headers and no players ripping of jerseys after a win, some of the other trappings of the game were definitely seen- blocked shots, penalty cards, to name just two.

So, indeed human teams need to have more practice and skills to defeat the AI Robots in Home-Robocup 2050. If not then it might be after 2050 we take up Robots as our own heroes. There might be a Robo-Zidane and a Robo-Beckham who would be the Soccer Icons then. Well, if you are a Spectator at the Homo-Robo Cup 2050 then you might find in the stadium sitting with you other Robotic Fans cheering up their own Robot Teams.

Future ROBOT Machines

2009-08-11T02:57:00.001-07:00

New Invisible Technology ROBOs

2009-08-11T02:54:00.000-07:00

Some believe that it is impossible to render yourself invisible, and if you say "completely invisible" sure, you'd be right, but we do know that camouflage works to make sometime appear to be invisible, and nature provides us with endless examples of this. Humans are not so bad at it either when they concentrate, as it is easy to fool the human eye sensors. But new technologies go one step further and allow light to literally bend around objects with the help of a few tricks from physics.

The military obviously has uses for this, but the kids at MIT have discovered that industry and governments have endless applications for invisibility technologies as well. For instance, one company wanted to put offshore wind generators off the coast of Cape Cod, and the folks living there, although very into alternative energies said; "No way, that would be an eyesore!" Ah, but what if they were invisible from the shore line, and it is now possible you see?

Now then, I predict within a few years police SWAT Teams in the United States will have their vehicles equipped with invisibility cloaking devices, and will literally be able to park their SWAT Team armored vehicle outside a home of a drug dealer, and anyone in that house can look out the window without being able to even see it.

Artificial Intelligent Android ROBOTS

2009-08-11T02:50:00.000-07:00

Artificial Intelligence is surpassing human intelligence as we speak, soon we will have robots working alongside humans as assistants. Why? Well, the reasoning goes something like this; humans cannot possibly learn all there is fast enough to run things in our high-tech created society. Therefore, they are going to need a little help to prevent them from screwing, as they are; "only Human!"

However, as we make robotic androids better and better, with more dexterity and intelligence, then why do we need humans to do anything at all? Fact is we won't! Okay, so if we do not need humans to run things and we have built tools to do everything for us, then it makes sense, that eventually, they are going to see how lazy and worthless humans are, and since they don't do anything, they really aren't needed. Whoops!

This is where all the problems start and it doesn't take a rocket scientist or their smarter silicon and metallic counterpart to see this obvious future. So, how do we keep robots from taking over? Simply make our robotic companions with inadequate battery life components. Thus, if they take over, we merely take all the power-plants offline, until all these mobile robots run out of energy. Then we readjust their programming to fix these issues with insubordination.

Although this may sound like a very low-tech challenge to a very serious high-tech solution, well, it ought to actually work just fine. Of course, it will take a little pre-planning and strategic thinking on our part.

Terminator robots

2009-08-11T02:47:00.000-07:00

Everyone in the world must have watched the terminator film. When the movie was first released it actually seemed somewhat of a dream, something that could never possibly come true. I mean how could robots become more intelligent then actual human beings and start having a mind of there own? Well with the current technology levels, it may only be something that is around the corner.

Technology has advanced at great speeds over the last decade and the military want to push forward and actually begin creating some type of artificial intelligence machines that will actually be able to go to war themselves. "Robots that can decide where to kill, who to kill and when to kill is high on all the military agendas," Professor Sharkey said at a meeting in London.

Although this may stop soldiers from getting killed you have to personally think about the bigger picture. Although robots could probably be created, these robots would basically not have any feelings or remorse so they could possibly end up killing whoever they want to and when ever they want too. All it would take is for someone to plant a virus into the mother board to make these machines go crazy.

I am all for one for Artificial Intelligence, but when it comes to creating something for battle, then you really have to think again. Why not instead create something that has the ability to help you write or do your house work, I mean who would not want these every day machines to help with the actual duties of life?

In my opinion a lot of people are now probably reading this article and thinking, do not worry there is no way we can create things like that. But what I would reply is that you have to understand that technology is only going to get more advanced and we have not yet linked technology in with Science too much, because when that does finally end up happening then technology and science will be endless.

Reconstructiong a Human Face Using Robotics technology

2009-08-11T02:40:00.000-07:00

Prosthetics, as used in both films and medical procedures are inevitable. Recently, a group of surgeons in the University of California revolutionizes that fad from ordinary cosmetic process into what they coined as "robotic face". Using artificial polymer muscles, it is designed to reanimate facial features of a human face that underwent a major paralysis. As far as Craig Senders and Travis Tollefson writes in their recent patent application, "The face is an area where natural-appearing active prosthetics would be particularly welcome," which as recent reports said was tested successfully on cadavers.

It is also written there that electroactive polymer (EAP) actuators power implants is been attached to the tissues of the patient's face. When it is energized, it provides body functions to the patient who suffered paralysis or paresis. This method can benefit persons who suffered spinal injuries, nervous disorders and other of this kind.

For instance, a person lost control of his eyelids which can lead him into blindness and can also lower his self-esteem. It can be cured using this method if a polymer muscle anchored to the skull and pull the cord that connect to both of eyes' upper and lower eyelids. (see diagram to clearly see the picture) Once the patient tries to close his eyes, it will trigger an electrical activity in the muscles which will make the eyelids close. Then the polymer muscles read this activity and contracts the muscle making the eyelids to close fully.

If this patent invention comes to full circle, it can also use to replace finger and hand functions, assist breathing through artificial diaphragm and even reanimate other facial features.

robot games for mobile phones

2009-06-24T01:37:00.000-07:00

Super Monkey Ball is the iPhone version of the popular Gamecube racing game series, which later saw spinoffs on the GBA, Xbox, PS2, Wii, DS, and Nokia N-Gage. For gamers who haven't played a game in the series, think of the classic Marble Madness series. Super Monkey Ball was released on launch day, and unsurprisingly was the top selling game at launch.

In this game, you are a monkey trapped in a ball. Your have to travel and get across hazardous terrain. This game is all about competing against your skills. How often can you best your own efforts? That is the crux of the game. The phrase 'bubble monkey' keeps coming up in the minds of those who follow Seinfeld.

Much like Marble Madness, the control is tricky to get used to and is not at all like a car-style racing game, as you don't get immediate results from your actions. It's almost like controlling someone on an ice rink. The speed at which your monkey is travelling will affect how wildly he turns, and how easily he can slow down. In this respect the game creates a perfect balance between speed and accuracy, forcing you to push yourself to your limits to achieve top times, while staying within a range that you can control. Did I forget to mention that there are ledges which you can fall from pretty much all over the levels, and doing so results in an anguished wail from your monkey and a loss of one of his lives? Yep, no one said it would be easy.

There are 110 levels (that is right 110) to cross and some levels open up only when you successfully achieve set targets. Until then, it remains locked. Apart from rushing through the levels as fast as possible, you have to collect bananas (you are a monkey, what did you expect?) as you cross the levels. Collect many bananas to unlock new levels and also earn a new life in the game. You will have to replay levels until you get the required number of bananas. This often makes gamers go bananas if they are unable to succeed even after numerous attempts. If you were good at Marble Madness, then you will find this game easier to complete.

This game is right on top as far as the oldest games in the circuit are concerned. Despite this, it would not be incorrect to say it is one the best amongst all other games in the platforms. The environment of the game is colored and very pretty. A lot of work has gone into the details and this is obvious from the overall design of the game. It is unreasonable to expect that each and every level will be prettier than the earlier one. There are some duds but they are few and far.

How do you control the monkey? You control it by tilting your iPhone to watch the monkey copy your movement. The tilt meter is very sensitive and even slight tremors make the monkey move around sharply. Hence, this takes some time to getting used to. Of course, if you tilt very hard, your monkey will go round and round until it stabilizes. Some find the tilt to be too sensitive for their liking. However, this game requires such delicate controls and you had best get used to it if you want to play the game for long. If you love races and if you love racing against yourself, you will love this game. The option of racing against another monkey should definitely be included in the next versions. The game lacks additional modes. Hence, the 110 levels can become a bit monotonous. However, this popular iPhone game is definitely liked by many and is definitely recommended to all gamers.

robot games review

2009-06-24T01:33:00.000-07:00

Presentation

GTR2 is a relatively old game but still up there with the big guns.. When it was released every sim freak went nuts and everyone else just thought: I can't drive this. But it still appeals to quite a broad audience. And that's no surprise because it packs some pretty impressive features. First of all it's the only game that licensed the official FIA GT championship. A championship split in two groups of race cars. A fast pure race machine class and a normal sport car tweaked class. Available cars include the Ferrari F360, Saleen S7-R and Aston martin DB9. And with machines like these and a clear push by the manufacturers for development, it's clearly not a B competition. Also the cars all look beautiful when the graphics are turned up. As do the tracks, that include greats like Spa and Imola. So the game packs the goods when it comes to license (they lost it now hence the awful sequel) and graphics. That's quite an achievement from the developers from Simbin.

Gameplay

GTR2's presentation appeals the broad audience but the game play attracts the sim players. Driving around the track of Spa is such a joy. Every bump in the road you feel and some places of the track clearly have less grip than others. For example: the pit exit feels very slippery but the racing line gives you the grip. The tracks are made in such detail that I almost forgot to mention the lack of them. GTR2 isn't grand turismo. It has about 12 tracks and 35 cars but the detail put in each track and car makes up for the lack of content. Cars all feel different and sound different. I'm a Ferrari fan and love that distinctive Scuderia engine sound, but others might like Porsche and will only by the sound recognize the vehicle.

24 hours

How many games let you race trough night and day in an extreme endurance race between manufacturers all over the game? Not many but GTR2 does! Doing that results in a fantastic experience with real life cars and tracks turning day and night on your full HD computer screen. Rain suddenly falls everyone pits, it turns night you have to press H to turn the headlight's on. Then your tyres are worn out and you have to make an extra pit stop as the number 2 Ferrari overtakes you and wins the fight after many hours of excitement. This perfectly sums up this highly realistic game that both pleases the arcade and sim racers. But to get the most out of it you must have patience and keep practicing. This isn't a pick it up and play but ultimately gives you the fulfilling feeling of a real race victory.

GTR 2 game review

I'm Robin Chung, author of the dutch book Tegenlicht. I have a website that brings interesting reading material from all kind of subjects like health and gaming. The website also includes a forum, so you can discuss the articles, and you can order my book from there.

robot games

2009-06-24T01:30:00.000-07:00

Season Showdown unites players of all consoles but divides them by school. That's right. EA Sports has made playing a NCAA Football Video Game very personal by staking a player's all-important school pride.

A Choice for Life

Players, beware: your choice of school is irrevocable. Be very sure you have chosen the school you want to represent from start to end because there's no going back. On the other hand, if you have made the right choice then this piece of news should cheer you up: every game you win will contribute to your school's cause. Thanks to Season Showdown, you can now support your school while still having fun!

Schedule

Season Showdown is patterned after the actual schedule of the regular college football season. There is, however, a month's interval between the release of the game and the start of NCAA football in the real world. Think of this as the Season Showdown pre-season and you can cool your heels by earning extra credits for your school. The more credits your school has, the easier it will be for your school to reach the championship.
Upon commencement of the regular season, your school shall face a different opponent every week. Whichever team your school's facing in the real world should be your virtual opponent as well.

Those who win in their respective divisions will then battle for the conference title. The top 32 schools still have a chance though, as they fight it out in a single elimination tournament.

How to Win a Match-Up

There are five categories that determine a school's win over their weekly match-up. The school that tops any three of those five categories shall be declared the victor. The categories are listed below.

Games vs. CPU

If you're not ready to face a live or online opponent then no worries because you can just go head to head against a CPU opponent and your win will still contribute credits to your school.

Games vs. Showdown Opponent

Look up which team your school is squaring off for the week and find a player that represents the said team.

Games Online vs. the Nation

Winning a game against any team that isn't listed as your showdown opponent for the week will be credited to this category.

NCAA Trivia Challenge

This challenge is available during the pre-season and allows you to earn extra credits for your school. For regular season, questions pertaining to the current season will also be included. Your goal is to help your school make it to the top 50 for the week. NCAA Trivia Challenge may be accessed even by individuals who don't own the game.

Allies and Rivals

Finally, you have a category where networking comes to play. Who's your ally and who's your rival? Each player is given five votes every week and even if your school didn't make it far in the season, you still have those votes to look forward to every week.

create robot games communitty

2009-06-24T01:24:00.000-07:00

Several years ago during the early days of the worldwide web it seemed almost impossible to reason with the eventual success of the internet. Today we are in the throes of the next stages of fast developing; ground breaking social networking which has been a direct offshoot of the internet revolution. There really isn't one day that goes by where a new feature, attraction tool hasn't been incorporated on to the major social online community sites.

In many walks of life and across many different professions, social networks now have a significant role to play, none more so than in the field of online gaming. Many games platforms through some clever and psychologically appreciative graphics not only introduce the player to the game but also offer an interactive facility to entice and encourage competition from others.

The easy to sue icons of the major social bookmark and networking sites are ready to hand and a gamer is only a couple of clicks away from bringing friends and most of their address book on to the platform if they should so wish.

The major betting agencies, games and lottery platforms have developed these features dramatically in recent years. Two good examples of this are Coral UK and VWD through their e-lottery syndicate platform. Interaction and manual dexterity have a very close relationship which seems odd but on closer examination is a very pertinent point.
Given the number of people who text , compute e-mails it doesn't really take too long to establish that the technological revolution and its acceleration goes hand in hand with the usage put on peoples' ability to use quick moving technology. The major social networking sites and the understanding of age demography in relation to generation x and generation y individuals provides the background to online games and lottery sites. The understanding they have of peoples' tastes and aspirations for communication and information gathering governs the way in which they promote and attract players.

The comparison of older style networks with the modern day entourage is a stark one. It often makes me smile to think of the older versions and the time and effort exerted just to participate. Equally, I feel a little embarrassed when the cutting edge modern technology we have doesn't move fast enough. Being able to instantly introduce friends without any dialogue, just a few clicks, again is astonishing and that makes me smile as well.

In summary, social networking sites, games and lottery platforms are panaceas of new technology and internet wisdom. They are certainly the places where the new and attractive can be found. It is also a place where social networks and communities link in to each other and provide the makings of newer far reaching development. May be in a few years time I'll look back and have another smile and wonder what the next dimension will bring. Will it ever stop? probably not, just continue in the new directions which are presented. The world wide web is ever changing, ever developing and in reality continually unique.

Johnny Sorrento is the author of this article and is a full time internet marketer living in the bustling and exciting Capital city of Cardiff in South Wales, UK. Johnny is also an affiliate with the global e-Lottery business.

how to find robot games

2009-06-24T01:20:00.000-07:00

If you want to become a paid game tester without going to college and without getting any sort of formal training, then follow these 3 steps.

1. Be a Slave: It really, really stinks to high heaven, but your best way to get into the industry, as well as to get those first few references, is to offer your game testing skills for free. That idea may make you cringe, but it's a far better solution to being rejected over & over & over due to poor references and zero game testing experience. Just think of it as a necessary evil to getting one of the best jobs a gamer could EVER ask for.

2. Make Everyone a Friend: The best weapon a paid game tester can have is a solid network of contacts. More contacts means more strings to pull whenever you're searching for your next video game testing job.

As you undoubtedly guessed, going around and asking strange people to be your "friend" is a bit creepy, no matter how nice you may seem. That said, just be friendly and courteous to everyone and anyone you have dealings with. When people like you or get a good vibe from you, they are more likely to help you out when you need it. This is how reliable contact networks are built and maintained.

3. Keep Searching, Keep Applying: There are a wide array of outstanding game developers out there, meaning you're in no short supply of places to apply. If they create, distribute, manage, or have anything to do with the production of video games, you definitely need to contact them and apply for a paid game tester position.

It's okay if a company turns you down, as not every developer is in need of game testers. Just shrug off the rejection and move forward to other game developers. The more applications and resumes you send in, the greater your chances are of landing a paid game tester job.

OPEN SOURCE HARDWARE PROGRAME IN ROBOT TECHNOLOGY

2009-03-25T05:12:00.000-07:00

Open source hardware refers to computer and electronic hardware that is designed in the same fashion as free and open source software (FOSS). Open source hardware is part of the open source culture that takes the open source ideas to fields other than software.The term has primarily been used to reflect the free release of information about the hardware design, such as schematics, bill of materials and PCB layout data, often with the use of FOSS to drive the hardware.

With the rise of reconfigurable programmable logic devices, the sharing of logic designs is also a form of open source hardware. Instead of sharing the schematics, hardware description language (HDL) code is shared. HDL descriptions are commonly used to set up system-on-a-chip systems either in field-programmable gate arrays or directly in application-specific integrated circuit designs. HDL modules, when distributed, are called semiconductor intellectual property cores, or IP cores.

In addition to existing software licenses, several new licenses have been proposed; these licenses are designed to address issues specific to hardware designs.In these licenses, many of the fundamental principles expressed in open source software (OSS) licenses have been "ported" to their counterpart hardware projects. Organizations tend to rally around a shared license. For example, Opencores prefers the LGPL; FreeCores insists on the GPL; Open Hardware Foundation promote "'copyleft' or other permissive licenses"; and the Balloon Project wrote their own license. New hardware licenses are often explained as the "hardware equivalent" of a well-known OSS license, such as the GPL, LGPL, or BSD license.Despite superficial similarities to software licenses, most hardware licenses are fundamentally different: by nature, they rely on patent law, rather than copyright law.

Whereas a copyright license may control the distribution of the source code or design documents, a patent license may control the use and manufacturing of the physical device built from the design documents. This distinction is explicitly mentioned in the preamble of the TAPR Open Hardware License.Extensive discussion has taken place on ways to make open source hardware as accessible as open source software. Discussions focus on multiple areas, such as the level at which open source hardware is defined, ways to collaborate in hardware development, as well as a model for sustainable development.

One of the major differences between developing open source software and developing open source hardware is that hardware results in tangible outputs, which cost money to prototype and manufacture. As a result, the phrase "free as in speech, not as in beer", more formally known as Gratis versus Libre, distinguishes between the idea of zero cost and the freedom to use and modify information. While open source hardware faces challenges in minimizing cost and reducing financial risks for individual project developers, some community members have proposed models to address these needs.Given this, there are initiatives to develop sustainable community funding mechanisms, such as the Open Source Hardware Central Bank, as well as tools like KiCAD to make schematic development more accessible to more users.

Humanoid Experimental Robot, B-type, Integrated Electronics(H.E.R.B.I.E)

2009-03-25T05:08:00.000-07:00

H.E.R.B.I.E. (Humanoid Experimental Robot, B-type, Integrated Electronics) is a fictional character, a robot and an ally of the Fantastic Four in the Marvel Universe. The character was initially conceived for the 1978 Fantastic Four animated series and was integrated into the comics continuity shortly afterwards.H.E.R.B.I.E. was created by Mister Fantastic and Master Xar of the Xandarians, who hoped that the robot could aid their search for Galactus, who they sought for aid in defeating the villain known as the Sphinx.

What neither of the creators realized, however, was that Doctor Sun, an enemy of Master Xar who had his consciousness trapped within Xandarian computers, was able to escape by jumping from the computer to H.E.R.B.I.E.'s body. The little robot was his sleeper agent, whom he could control whenever he wished. Although an alien pirate mysteriously died in H.E.R.B.I.E.'s presence, and the villain Blastaar suddenly escaped from the Negative Zone, nobody suspects that H.E.R.B.I.E. was responsible.

After Sun's attempt to assassinate the Fantastic Four with Blastaar failed, Dr. Sun reveals himself at last, trapping the Invisible Woman and the Human Torch within the Baxter Building's security system and besting Mister Fantastic and the Thing with H.E.R.B.I.E.'s weapons. He then abandons H.E.R.B.I.E.'s body and transfers his consciousness into the Baxter Building's main computer, which would allow him to control the entire building, and all of the weaponry within. Fortunately, Mister Fantastic is able to lock Dr. Sun away from the rest of the computer system, but H.E.R.B.I.E., now himself again, realizes that Dr. Sun could always simply return to his body. Not wanting the villain to cause any more trouble, the little robot heroically throws himself into the computer, destroying it, Dr. Sun, and himself.

Later, Franklin is shown with another H.E.R.B.I.E robot, that Ben refers to as a 'flying frog'. It is explained that this one had been built partly to keep an eye on Franklin's developing powers. Said powers fluctuate due to Franklin's failure to solve a Rubik's Cube and a nearby TV show urging someone to 'grow up'. The resulting power surge destroys H.E.R.B.I.E.Other H.E.R.B.I.E. robots are eventually built throughout the years, serving general duties around the Baxter Building. Most recently, on the pages of Marvel Knights Fantastic Four, H.E.R.B.I.E. has served as the guardian and companion for young Franklin Richards.

ELECTRONICS AND ROBOTICS

2009-03-25T05:04:00.000-07:00

Animatronics is the use of electronics and robotics in mechanised puppets to make them appear to be alive. They were first perfected by Walt Disney Imagineering and used at the Disneyland Resort in Anaheim, California for the The Enchanted Tiki Room attraction. Animatronics are mainly used in moviemaking, but also in theme parks and other forms of entertainment. Its main advantages to CGI and stop motion is that it is not a simulation of reality, but are physical objects moving in real time in front of the camera. The technology behind animatronics has become more advanced and sophisticated over the years, making the puppets even more realistic and lifelike.

Sally Corporation in Jacksonville, Florida is one of the leaders in Animatronics for the Theme park industry. They have been building amazingly realistic humans and animals for over 32 years. Lifeformations in Bowling Green, Ohio is another company who specializes in Animatronics.

Animatronics for film and television productions are used to perform action on camera in situations where the action involves creatures that do not exist, the action is too risky or costly to use real actors or animals, or the action could never be obtained with a living person or animal. The application of animatronics today includes computer controlled as well as radio and manually controlled devices. The actuation of specific movements can be obtained with electric motors, pneumatic cylinders, hydraulic cylinders and cable driven mechanisms. The type of mechanism employed is dictated by the character parameters, specific movement requirements and the project constraints. The technology has advanced to the point that animatronic puppets can be made indiscernible from their living counterparts. The animatronic horse built by Mark Rappaport, Creature Effects, Inc. for the film The Last Samurai is a good example of this form of animatronic puppet.Animal Makers has been designing, creating, and performing animatronic animals since 1979. The world's first animatronic co-star appeared in television on Sabrina the Teenage Witch in the form of an animatronic cat named Salem.

Gynecology surgery performed by robot

2009-02-28T18:18:00.000-08:00

Robotic surgery in gynecology is one of the fastest growing fields of robotic surgery. This includes the use of the da Vinci surgical system in benign gynecology and gynecologic oncology. Robotic surgery can be used to treat fibroids, abnormal periods, endometriosis, ovarian tumors, pelvic prolapse, and female cancers. Using the robotic system, gynecologists can perform hysterectomies, myomectomies, and lymph node biopsies. The need for large abdominal incisions is virtually eliminated.

Cardiology and electrophysiology

2009-02-28T18:17:00.000-08:00

The Stereotaxis Magnetic Navigation System (MNS) has been developed to increase precision and safe in ablation procedures for arrhythmias and atrial fibrillation while reducing radiation exposure for the patient and physician, and the system utilizes two magnets to remotely steer catheters. The system allows for automated 3-D mapping of the heart and vasculature, and MNS has also been used in interventional cardiology for guiding stents and leads.

Cardiothoracic surgery performed by ROBOT

2009-02-28T18:15:00.000-08:00

Robot-assisted MIDCAB and Endoscopic coronary artery bypass (TECAB) surgery are being performed with the da Vinci system. Mitral valve repairs and replacements have been performed. East Carolina University, Greenville(Dr W. Randolph Chitwood), Saint Joseph's Hospital, Atlanta(Dr Douglas A. Murphy), and Good Samaritan Hospital, Cincinnati(Dr J. Michael Smith) have popularized this procedure and proved its durability with multiple publications. Since the first robotic cardiac procedure performed in the USA in 1999, The Ohio State University, Columbus(Dr. Juan Crestanello, Dr. Paul Vesco) has performed CABG, mitral valve, esophagectomy, lung resection, tumor resections, among other robotic assisted procedures and serves as a training site for other surgeons. The University of Chicago, (Dr. Sudhir Srivastava) has performed a number of the TECAB procedures and was recently featured in the USA Today on 30 April 2008.

General Surgery performed by ROBOT

2009-02-28T18:13:00.000-08:00

Many general surgical procedures can now be performed using the state of the art robotic surgical system. In 2007, the University of Illinois at Chicago medical team, lead by Prof. Pier Cristoforo Giulianotti, performend the world's first ever robotic pancreatectomy and also the Midwests fully robotic Whipple surgery, which is the most complicated and demanding procedure of the abdomen. In April 2008, the same team of surgeons performed the world's first fully minimally invasive liver resection for living donor transplantation, removing 60% of the patient's liver, yet allowing him to leave the hospital just a couple of days after the procedure, in very good condition. Furthermore the patient can also leave with less pain than a usual surgery due to the four puncture holes and not a scar by a surgeon.

Use of Robots performing in Medical surgery

2009-02-28T18:01:00.000-08:00

Robotic surgery is the use of robots in performing surgery. Three major advances aided by surgical robots have been remote surgery, minimally invasive surgery and unmanned surgery. Major advantages of robotic surgery are precision, miniaturization, smaller incisions, decreased blood loss, less pain, and quicker healing time. Further advantages are articulation beyond normal manipulation and three-dimensional magnification.

In 1985 a robot, the PUMA 560, was used to place a needle for a brain biopsy using CT guidance. In 1988, the PROBOT, developed at Imperial College London, was used to perform prostatic surgery. The ROBODOC from Integrated Surgical Systems was introduced in 1992 to mill out precise fittings in the femur for hip replacement. Further development of robotic systems was carried out by Intuitive Surgical with the introduction of the da Vinci Surgical System and Computer Motion with the AESOP and the ZEUS robotic surgical system.

The da Vinci Surgical System comprises three components: a surgeon’s console, a patient-side robotic cart with 4 arms manipulated by the surgeon (one to control the camera and three to manipulate instruments), and a high-definition 3D vision system. Articulating surgical instruments are mounted on the robotic arms which are introduced into the body through cannulas. The surgeon’s hand movements are scaled and filtered to eliminate hand tremor then translated into micro-movements of the proprietary instruments. The camera used in the system provides a true stereoscopic picture transmitted to a surgeon's console. The da Vinci System is FDA cleared for a variety of surgical procedures including surgery for prostate cancer, hysterectomy and mitral valve repair, and is used in more than 800 hospitals in the Americas and Europe. The da Vinci System was used in 48,000 procedures in 2006 and sells for about $1.2 million.

In 1997 a reconnection of the fallopian tubes operation was performed successfully in Cleveland using ZEUS.

In May 1998, Dr. Friedrich-Wilhelm Mohr using the Da Vinci surgical robot performed the first robotically assisted heart bypass at the Leipzig Heart Centre in Germany.

On 2 September 1999, Dr. Randall Wolf and Dr. Robert Michler performed the first robotically assisted heart bypass in the USA at The Ohio State University.

In October 1999 the world's first surgical robotics beating heart coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) was performed in Canada using the ZEUS surgical robot.

In 2001, Prof. Marescaux used the "Zeus" robot to perform a cholecystectomy on a pig in Strasbourg, France while in New York.

In September 2001, Dr. Michel Gagner used the Zeus robotic system to perform a cholecystectomy on a woman in Strasbourg, France while in New York.

The first unmanned robotic surgery took place in May 2006 in Italy.

Music for robot

2009-02-28T17:52:00.000-08:00

Music For Robots is a mp3 blog written and curated by a collective of friends who originally met at Bates College, who founded the website in April 2004. The blog made history in 2004 when it hosted a song by the band The Secret Machines provided to them by Warner Bros. Records, signaling the first time a major label had deliberately encouraged a blog to post an mp3 by one of its artists. The site gained greater notoriety later that year when MTV aired a news feature about the site and one of their discoveries, a band of teenagers from Brooklyn called Hysterics. In 2005, the "robots" branched out, dipping their toes in concert promotion and releasing a compilation CD titled Music For Robots, Vol. 1, which included music from Hysterics, Avenue D, Death from Above 1979, Stratageme, and Daedelus. Music (For Robots) are well-known for their diverse, comprehensive musical tastes and willingness to cooperate with the record industry, and only post music with permission of the artist and/or label.

My Robot Friend -Electronic dacnce album

2009-02-28T17:44:00.000-08:00

My Robot Friend is an electronic dance music producer/performer from New York.
Also known as Howard Robot, My Robot Friend has appeared on Rolling Stone magazine's Hot List and has showcased his robot singing/songwriting abilities around the world on stages, opening for luminaries such as the Scissor Sisters, Le Tigre and Herbert. His performances fall somewhere between the live energy of Devo and the creative, refined performance art of Laurie Anderson.

In November 2004, My Robot Friend's 'Hot Action!' made its emergence from New York City's electronic underground. The album spent several months in the CMJ charts and hit the top 20 electronic albums in iTunes international sales charts.

My Robot Friend's second album 'Dial 0' was released by Soma Records in 2006. The style of the individual tracks in the album varies.

My Robot Friend's third album 'Robot High School' will be released in 2009. The title track is released as a free download.

Tracks have appeared on compilations on influential labels like Mute, Ladomat, Soundslike and Ministry of Sound. Remixes & Covers have come from The Pet Shop Boys, Robbie Williams, Matmos, Steril and Zombie Nation.

Robot Softwere

2008-12-05T07:30:00.000-08:00

Robot software is the coded commands that tell a mechanical device (known as a robot) what tasks to perform and control its actions. Robot software is used to perform tasks and automate tasks to be performed. Programming robots is a non-trivial task. Many software systems and frameworks have been proposed to make programming robots easier.

Some robot software aims at developing intelligent mechanical devices. Though common in science fiction stories, such programs are yet to become common-place in reality and much development is yet required in the field of artificial intelligence before they even begin to approach the science fiction possibilities. Pre-programmed hardware may include feedback loops such that it can interact with its environment, but does not display actual intelligence.

Currently, malicious programming of robots is of some concern, particularly in large industrial robots. The power and size of industrial robots mean they are capable of inflicting severe injury if programmed incorrectly or used in an unsafe manner. One such incident occurred on 21 July 1984 when a man was crushed to death by an industrial robot. That incident was an accident, but shows the potential risks of working with robots. In science fiction, the Three Laws of Robotics were developed for robots to obey and avoid malicious actions.

Generation Robot

2008-12-05T07:29:00.000-08:00

First, second and third generation robots are terms used by Professor Hans Moravec, Principal Research Scientist at the Carnegie Mellon University Robotics Institute in describing the near future evolution of robot technology.First generation robots, researcher Hans predicted in 1997, should have an intellectual capacity comparable to perhaps a lizard and should become available by 2010. Because the first generation robot would be incapable of learning, however, professor Hans predicts that the second generation robot would be an improvement over the first and become available by 2020, with an intelligence maybe comparable to that of a mouse. The third generation robot should have an intelligence comparable to that of a monkey. Though fourth generation robots, robots with human intelligence, professor Hans predicts, would become possible, he does not predict this happening before around 2040 or 2050

Haptic interface robots

2008-12-05T07:28:00.002-08:00

Robotics also has application in the design of virtual reality interfaces. Specialized robots are in widespread use in the haptic research community. These robots, called "haptic interfaces" allow touch-enabled user interaction with real and virtual environments. Robotic forces allow simulating the mechanical properties of "virtual" objects, which users can experience through their sense of touch.

Swaram Robots

2008-12-05T07:28:00.001-08:00

Inspired by colonies of insects such as ants and bees, researchers are modeling the behavior of swarms of thousands of tiny robots which together perform a useful task, such as finding something hidden, cleaning, or spying. Each robot is quite simple, but the emergent behavior of the swarm is more complex. The whole set of robots can be considered as one single distributed system, in the same way an ant colony can be considered a superorganism, exhibiting swarm intelligence. The largest swarms so far created include the iRobot swarm, the SRI/MobileRobots CentiBots project and the Open-source Micro-robotic Project swarm, which are being used to research collective behaviors.Swarms are also more resistant to failure. Whereas one large robot may fail and ruin a mission, a swarm can continue even if several robots fail. This could make them attractive for space exploration missions, where failure can be extremely costly.

Robot Research

2008-12-05T07:26:00.000-08:00

Much of the research in robotics focuses not on specific industrial tasks, but on investigations into new types of robots, alternative ways to think about or design robots, and new ways to manufacture them.Soft Robots: Robots with silicone bodies and flexible actuators (air muscles, electroactive polymers, and ferrofluids), controlled using fuzzy logic and neural networks, look and feel different from robots with rigid skeletons, and are capable of different behaviors.

Robotics jobs and Training

2008-12-05T07:24:00.000-08:00

As the number of robots increases, robotics-related jobs grow. Some jobs require existing job skills, such as building cables, assembling parts and testing. Other robotics jobs require new skills, such as robot installer and robot integrator. While universities have long included robotics research in their curricular offerings and tech schools have taught industrial robotic arm control, new college programs in applied mobile robots are under development at universities in both the US and EU, with help from Microsoft, MobileRobots Inc and other companies encouraging the growth of robotics.

Benifits of Trading Robots

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Managed account investors - Investors that are considering managed accounts can also participate in the FX Robot program.

Traders who are not comfortable trading their own capital - Even though we have a free forex training program for investors who want to trade their own accounts, at the end of the day, trading is not for anyone. If this is how you feel - and you are not comfortable trading your own capital, the Forex Trading Robot is an automated trading system that might be an alternative for you.

Ex-traders - Just like trading is not for everyone, not everyone that trades will become a full-time trader. If you have tried trading currencies in the past and have concluded that it is not for you, you might give the FX Robot a try. It will trade and manage your account around the clock during open market hours.

Institutions that want alternative investments - Heavy losses in global stock markets for multiple years have resulted in a surge in institutional demand for managed alternative investments. Companies have come to the realization that some of their money should be in investments that are not tied to economically sensitive asset classes like stocks, bonds, and real estate. The Forex Robot program provides an opportunity for institutions to participate in a different asset class (foreign exchange or forex) managed by professional money managers.

Existing or new Introducing Brokers (IB's) - Existing introducing brokers that can offer our automated trading robot to their customers as a value-added service.

Forex Brokerage Firms - Even though forex brokers might offer customers great customer service and an excellent trading platform, the fact remains that most do-it-yourself-traders lose money. Our FX Trading Robot may allow brokerage firms to offer their customers a new account management tool.

Advantage of Forex Trading Robots

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he Forex Robot trades your account while the market is open using highly sophisticated, short-term algorithms designed by professional forex money managers and traders. The minimum account size for the automated robot program is $10,000 USD and it has a 30% profit incentive fee. Click here to request more information about the forex trading robot or to receive the account applications and instructions via email.This forex robot is an account management service that operates like a professional trader and money manager. It's can be used for both existing traders and investors

Advantages and Characteristics of the Forex (FX) Robot

Constant Operation - Trades and manages your account so you don't have to.
Short-term Trading Program - Forex robot is designed to look for short-term opportunities across major currency pairs during each trading day.
Advanced Trading Program - Uses highly advanced trading algorithms.
Short-term in nature.
Low minimum investment - $10,000 is the minimum investment for the Forex Robot program.
Created by Professional Forex Money Managers - Trading robot was designed by highly-experienced, alternative investment managers.

Learning Financial Robots

2008-12-05T07:07:00.000-08:00

We all thought robots would be in control of the world one day and that hasn’t happened. Right now there is something serious brewing when it comes to Forex trading robots. These trading robots are allowing traders to trade without emotion. The hardest thing in trading is keeping emotion on the sidelines and not getting involved.How many times have you watched a trade go in your favor, retrace and you exit, only to watch it follow through in the right direction moments later. Emotions stepped in and got you out of a successful trade. You are leaving way too much money on the table. Forex trading robots will make you stay away and be more practical in your decisions. Robots will do what they are programmed to do.

FX System Center shares many of the leading robots in the industry and allow you to piggy back there methods. This is a great way for all types of traders to change the way they have been trading, whether they’ve been successful or a newbie coming into the market.This method is also known as Forex auto trading to most regular traders. Scalping, swing, news trading can be difficult in any market, but no matter what method you want to work, there will be a robot for you.

A Robot Helicopter

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The wheeled and legged robots we have discussed in the previous sections were designed to work on land, but there are also robots that fly through the air (e.g.,Montgomery, Fagg, and Bekey 1995) or swim under water (e.g., Yuh, Ura, and Bekey 1997). It shows an autonomous robot helicopter, AVATAR (Autonomous Vehicle Aerial Tracking and Reconnaissance), developed at the University of Southern California (USC) by the author’s colleagues and their students.

Clearly, the problems inherent in the control of a robotic air vehicle are quite different from those involved in the control of land vehicles. First, to remain airborne,the vehicle must generate suficient lift to overcome both drag and gravitational forces. This implies a need for suficient forward speed for an aircraft and suficient rotational velocity for the rotor (e¤ectively, a rotary wing) on a helicopter. Speed, in turn, means that dynamic e¤ects cannot be neglected, as they often can be and are with relatively slow land vehicles.

The dynamics of helicopters are quite complex, since they include aerodynamics,blade bending (and possible oscillations), and the interaction among various control modes. Much of the control in helicopters is obtained by adjustment of the pitch of the rotor blades, once every revolution (hence referred to as ‘‘cyclic’’). This cyclic adjustment increases lift on one blade while decreasing it on the other, affecting both the vehicle’s pitch and its roll. A control mode called the ‘‘collective’’ changes the pitch of the rotor blades by the same amount (collectively); this change a¤ects the thrust, thus increasing or decreasing the helicopter’s lift. Tail rotor pitch affects the vehicle’s yaw. There is a great deal of cross-coupling between control modes.

For example, changes in the thrust level (from the throttle or the collective) produce torques about the yaw axis, which need to be counteracted by the tail rotor to ensure that the helicopter’s heading does not change. Hence, the resulting differential equations governing helicopter dynamics are highly nonlinear. For this reason many investigators in the area of robot helicopters (e.g., Montgomery [1999]) have not attempted to solve the complete set of equations governing the dynamics, relying rather on heuristics, simulation, and trial-and-error methods to find proper values for control system gains.

Snake Robots

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The robots discussed in the foregoing consist of a body and either wheels or legs to provide mobility. Several investigators have also constructed articulated, segmented robots whose motion approximates that of snakes. It shows a snake robot developed at the Fraunhofer Institute for Autonomous Intelligent Systems in Germany.It shows a snake robot designed and constructed by Kevin Dowling at Carnegie Mellon University.

The undulating movement of a snake (or, equivalently, an eel, such as the lamprey)requires coordination and sequencing of muscle contractions along the spinal cord, enabling the successive segments of the animal to move in turn (Grillner and Dubuc 1988). Thus, building a robot snake requires the construction of a ultisegmented body with the appropriate control sequence to allow smooth, undulating movements, as in Ostrowski and Burdick 1996 and Dowling 1997. The movements of a snake are assumed to be controlled by central pattern generators in the spinal cord (Grillner and Dubuc 1988). The Dowling snake consists of ten segments; each link has a 2-dof servo, thus allowing movement in three dimensions.The front segment holds a television camera, thus providing for the robot a ‘‘snake’s eye’’ view of the world.

Khepera Mobile Robot

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The Khepera mobile robot, is designed for ‘‘tabletop robotics’’ experiments. It was designed by Jean-Daniel Nicoud at E´ cole Polytechnique Fe´de´rale de Lausanne (EPFL), usually referred to in English as the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, and is now manufactured by K-Team S.A. in Lausanne. Its cylindrical body is approximately 7 cm in diameter. It has two active wheels and a third support point. The basic robot includes the drive motors and on-board processor, but many additional modules, compatible with the size and shape of the platform, namely, with the same form factor, can be added. These include vision and other sensors as well as a gripper.

A wide variety of software is available for the Kheperas, ranging from that for navigation and obstacle avoidance to that for simulators. Kheperas are being used extensively for research in such areas as robot learning and group interaction. Good control system design ensures that the wheels of Kheperas do not break into oscillations even with rapid changes of velocity.

TITAN QUADRUPED ROBOT

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By contrast with the wheeled Pioneer robot, a number of laboratories have designed and built legged robots with two, four, six and even eight legs.Clearly, the broad architecture of these machines is based on iological prototypes, but the robots generally have fewer degrees of freedom and hence are much less complex than the animals on which they are based.TITAN VIII, with TITAN standing for Tokyo Institute of Technology Aruku Norimono [walking vehicle]), was constructed in the Hirose-Yoneda Laboratory of the Tokyo Institute of Technology. Shigeo Hirose is one of the best robot designers in the world at the present time. He developed the theory of stability for legged locomotion machines and has built a series of increasingly sophisticated quadruped robots.

This robot is equipped with adaptive feet, enabling it to walk on uneven terrain; it also has the ability to recover from falls and can climb stairs autonomously. One of the most interesting features of this robot is that it can stand on three legs and use the fourth leg,equipped with an adjustable gripper,as a manipulator.

Two types of control problems appear in connection with quadruped robots,involving static and dynamic stability. Static stability refers to the ability of the robot to maintain an upright posture while standing (or while moving very slowly, so that dynamic e¤ects are negligible). With quadrupeds (also known as tetrapods), this means that when one leg is o¤ the ground, the projection of the system’s center of gravity must lie within the triangle formed by the three legs on the ground. It is evident that if the center of gravity is outside of this triangle, it will exert torque and cause the animal or robot to fall. Animals adjust their center-of-gravity position as they walk to ensure static stability. In robots this may require an active control system.

The situation is more complex when the animal moves rapidly, for example, a horse in gallop. In this case all four legs may be o¤ the ground for brief periods, and dynamic stability requires the consideration of inertial forces due to the motion as
well as gravity.

A Pioneer Mobile Robot

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As noted previously, the second path of robot development was concerned with mobile robots, devices capable of moving in their environment by means of legs or wheels. (More recent mobile robots are also capable of mobility in the air and under water.) It shows a commonly used research robot, the Pioneer 3-AT, made by ActivMedia Robotics, in Amherst, New Hampshire. Note that this robot has four wheels, a number of sonar proximity sensors along the front surface, and a complex of communication equipment on its top surface. Some Pioneers are equipped with laser range sensors, global positioning satellite (GPS) receivers, and other sensing devices.

Control of the position, orientation and, velocity of the Pioneer (and other wheeled robots) is obtained through electric motors driving the wheels. Generally,the control systems for the driving motors make use of feedback; careful design is needed to avoid the possibility of instability. Di¤erential control of a pair of wheels may allow the robot to turn in place, or the robot may have a minimum turning radius (like an automobile). Further control problems will arise when the robot is attempting to navigate from a starting to a goal position. The simplest way to control a trajectory is by counting wheel revolutions. Unfortunately, this method, known as odometry, can lead to very large trajectory errors, since the robot wheels may slip. Hence, more complex methods of trajectory control are needed (possibly involving Kalman filters or other statistical methods), or additional sensors (such as vision) may be used to identify landmarks for navigation.

Introduction About Robot and Controle

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control of autonomous robots based on biological principles. Numerous mobile robots (with various degrees of autonomy) are presented and discussed to provide a context for the rest of the book.There are overviews of control issues in robotic systems and the overall architecture of mobile robots, including sensors, actuators, and intelligent processors, illustrated by multiple examples.

What Is Autonomy?
Autonomy refers to systems capable of operating in the real-world environment
without any form of external control for extended periods of time. Thus, living systems are the prototypes of autonomous systems: They can survive in a dynamic environment for extended periods, maintain their internal structures and processes, use the environment to locate and obtain materials for sustenance, and exhibit a variety of behaviors (such as feeding, foraging, and mating). They are also, within limits, capable of adapting to environmental change.

The emphasis on behaviors makes it clear that we do not consider a rock an autonomous system. Clearly, it exists in the world without external control, but it is capable neither of operating in the world nor of exhibiting any behaviors.

The emphasis in this book is on autonomous systems created by humans. Frequently,these systems draw inspiration from biology, but not always. For example,many autonomous systems use wheels for locomotion, and no wheels exist in nature.‘‘Capable of operating’’ implies that these systems perform some function or task.This function may be that intended by their human creator, or it may be an unexpected,emergent behavior. As these systems become more complex, they are likely to exhibit more and more unexpected behaviors.

It should be clear that at the present time, most robots are not fully autonomous,within the scope of the preceding definition. They are not capable of surviving and performing useful tasks in the real world for extended periods, except under highly structured situations. However, if the environment is su‰ciently stable and the disturbances to it are not too severe, robots can indeed survive and perform useful tasks for extended periods. Furthermore, the field of robotics is a very active research area at this time, and we can expect robots to exhibit increasing levels of autonomy and intelligence in the near future. In certain structured situations, for example, the international RoboCup competitions, small teams of robots already exhibit full autonomy while playing ‘‘robot soccer’’ (Asada and Kitano 1999a).

What Is a Robot?
A robot must have sensors, processing ability that emulates some aspects of cognition,and actuators. Sensors are needed to obtain information from the environment. Reactive behaviors (like the stretch reflex in humans) do not require any deep cognitive ability, but on-board intelligence is necessary if the robot is to perform significant tasks autonomously, and actuation is needed to enable the robot to exert forces upon the environment. Generally, these forces will result in motion of the entire robot or one of its elements (such as an arm, a leg, or a wheel).

This definition of a robot is very broad. It includes industrial robot manipulators,such as those used for pick-and-place, painting, or welding operations, provided they incorporate all these three elements. Early industrial manipulators had neither sensing nor reasoning ability; they were preprogrammed to execute specific tasks. Currently most industrial robots are being equipped with computer vision and other sensors and include on-board processors to allow for some autonomy.

Problems of Robot Control

A robot should never harm a human being.

A robot should obey a human being, unless this contradicts the first law.
A robot should not harm another robot, unless this contradicts the first or second
law.

However, there are other levels of control. At the ‘‘lowest’’ level, we want to be sure that the motors driving robots’ wheels or moving their legs are used in stable configurations and do not begin to oscillate when activated. At the next level of control,we need to design robots so that they do not collide with one another or with obstacles, while at the same time maintaining tability at the lowest level. We also expect the robots to be able to perform a number of ehaviors, such as ‘‘foraging’’(gathering prespecified objects from the environment) or ‘‘flocking’’ or ‘following’’(e.g., Mataric´ 1994), while at the same time avoiding obstacles and maintaining
stability. Software architectures allowing for such control processes to proceed in parallel are known as subsumption architectures (Brooks 1986) or behavior-based architectures (Arkin 1998).

The software organization associated with these multiple levels is often termed the control architecture of a robot. We examine these various aspects of control in detail in succeeding chapters of this book, but some of the basic issues are discussed in the following paragraphs. Clearly, the higher levels of control provide inputs to the lower levels, but there is also feedback from the lower levels to the upper levels. Sensors provide inputs to the lowest (and sometimes the intermediate level); actions upon the world are exerted from the lowest level.

Low-level control is clearly autonomous, whereas intermediatelevel control is generally autonomous in contemporary mobile robots but may still involve some human input. As indicated previously, this is an extremely active area of research, and we can expect increasing autonomy even at the highest level. ‘‘Structure shift,’’ referred to in the figure in the context of high-level control, implies an ability on the part of a robot to reconfigure its physical structure; some robots are already capable of some autonomous reconfiguration (see, e.g., Rus and Chirikjian 2001; Shen, Salemi, and Will 2002).

Biologically Inspired Robot Control
Recent research has increasingly emphasized the use of behavior-based strategies for control of autonomous robots (Brooks 1986; Maes and Brooks 1990; Arkin 1998; Beer 1990). One of the major motivating factors behind this approach to autonomy arises from the di‰culties sociated with traditional methods, which require accurate knowledge of the robot’s dynamics and kinematics, as well as carefully constructed maps of the environment in which they operate. Such approaches are not well suited to time-va rying and unpredictable, unstructured situations. As a solution to this problem, Brooks and others have proposed reactive strategies: The robot senses the environment and reacts with appropriate behaviors as required.

Sensors
Robots need sensors both to receive information from the outside world and to monitor their internal environment. Many (but not all) robot sensors are devices that attempt to imitate some of the properties of animal senses. In this section we provide a brief introduction to the major sensory systems in animals, indicate how some of the features of these sensors are incorporated into sensing devices used with mobile robots, and list the major limitations of these devices.