Introduction to Robotics & Artificial Intelligence

Robotics and artificial intelligence are at the frontiers of technology. These relatively new branches of science have developed at a breath-taking rate.

Less than a century ago the word "robot" was unheard of and the idea of "thinking machines" was considered as fanciful even in science fiction. Today, the achievements in these fields stand testimony to the power of science.

Robotics aims at the development and use of machines capable of independent and autonomous action. Robotic machines increasingly resemble humans and have the potential to perform several critical tasks as well as, and in some cases, better than humans. It has always been mankind's dream to play the role of a Creator and in no other field has this dream come closer to realization.

Robots are being used in industries, laboratories, hospitals and homes. With the exponential growth in this exciting field, there is no doubt that we are poised on the brink of a robo-revolution.

Artificial intelligence (AI) is considered by many as the ultimate challenge for technology. The neurobiological basis of intelligence has for long been a mystery. Exciting progress has been made in unraveling this mystery in last few years and this has of course provided an impetus to the nascent field of AI.

In fact, the computational approach to AI has provided a useful framework for the study of the functioning of the brain. The field of AI is proving to be a unique platform where technology and neurobiology have come together in a mutually beneficial manner. The development of neural networks and parallel processing has tremendously increased computational power, which can find widespread use.

AI has become an integral part of robots and lies at the heart of their "thinking" capacity. Apart from robotics, AI finds use in tasks which require vast computational resources such as weather forecasting, speech recognition and language protocols and space technology to mention only a few. Even something seemingly trivial like a game of chess has been an area of application of AI. In fact chess is a prototype problem requiring intelligent analysis and has been the litmus test for many AI enabled software.

Definition of Robotics and Robots

Robotics is the field of science concerned with robots. A robot may be defined as a reprogrammable, multifunctional manipulator designed to move material, parts, tools, or specialized devices through various programmed motions for the performance of a variety of tasks.

The Webster's dictionary describes a robot as an automatic device that performs functions normally ascribed to humans or a machine in the form of a human.

History of Robots :

The word 'robot' was coined by the Czech playwright Karel Capek (pronounced "chop'ek") from the Czech word for forced labor or serf. The use of the word Robot was introduced into his play R.U.R. (Rossum's Universal Robots) which opened in Prague in January 1921. The play was an enormous success and productions soon opened throughout Europe and the US. R.U.R's theme, in part, was the dehumanization of man in a technological civilization.

There is some evidence that the word robot was actually coined by Karl's brother Josef, a writer in his own right. In a short letter, Capek writes that he asked Josef what he should call the artifical workers in his new play. Karel suggests Labori, which he thinks too 'bookish' and his brother mutters "then call them Robots" and turns back to his work, and so from a curt response we have the word robot.

The term 'robotics' was coined and first used by the Russian-born American scientist and writer Isaac Asimov (born Jan. 2, 1920, died Apr. 6, 1992). Asimov wrote prodigiously on a wide variety of subjects. He was best known for his many works of science fiction.

The most famous include I Robot (1950), The Foundation Trilogy (1951-52), Foundation's Edge (1982), and The Gods Themselves (1972), which won both the Hugo and Nebula awards. The word 'robotics' was first used in "Turnaround", a short story published in 1942. "I, Robot", a collection of several of these stories, was published in 1950. Asimov also proposed his three "Laws of Robotics", and he later added a 'zeroth law'.

Law Zero:

A robot may not injure humanity, or, through inaction, allow humanity to come to harm.

Law One:

A robot may not injure a human being, or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm, unless this would violate a higher order law.

Law Two:

A robot must obey orders given it by human beings, except where such orders would conflict with a higher order law.

Law Three:

A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with a higher order law.

These "Laws of robotics" though of fictional origin, their incorporation remains the ultimate goal of those involved in the development of intelligent, autonomous robots.

Possibly, the earliest ancestor of today's industrial robot devices is the Clepsydra, or water clock, which improved upon the hourglass by employing a siphon principle to automatically recycle itself. Ctesibius of Alexandria, a reputed physicist and inventor of ancient Greece is said to have constructed one such clock at around 250 BC.

Weight driven pendulum clocks were used in Europe in the middle ages. The spring driven clock was invented in the 18^th Century, which also witnessed the introduction of rudimentary forms of automatic machinery in the textile industry.

The Industrial Revolution stimulated the invention of elementary robot mechanisms to perfect the production of power itself. The later 19th and early 20th centuries saw a rapid proliferation of powerful machinery in industrial operations. These at first required a person to position both the work and the machine, and later only the work. Automatic cycle repeating machines (automatic washers), self-measuring and adjusting machines (textile colour-blending equipment), and machines with a degree of self-programming (automatic elevators) soon followed.

The first industrial modern robots were the Unimates developed by George Devol and Joe Engelberger in the late 50's and early 60's. The first patents were by Devol for parts transfer machines. Engelberger formed Unimation and was the first to market robots. As a result, Engelberger has been called the "father of robotics". Modern industrial arms have increased in capability and performance through controller and language development, improved mechanisms, sensing, and drive systems.

In the early to mid 80's the robot industry grew very at a rapid pace primarily due to large investments by the automotive industry. The quick leap into the factory of the future turned into a plunge when the integration and economic viability of these efforts proved disastrous. The robot industry has only recently recovered to mid-80's revenue levels. In the meantime there has been an enormous shakeout in the robot industry.

In the US, for example, only one US company, Adept, remains in the production industrial robot arm business. Most of the rest went under, consolidated, or were sold to European and Japanese companies.

In the research community the first automata were probably Grey Walter's machina (1940's) and the John's Hopkins Beast. Teleoperated or remote controlled devices had been built even earlier with at least the first radio controlled vehicles built by Nikola Tesla in the 1890's. Tesla is better known as the inventor of the induction motor, AC power transmission, and numerous other electrical devices.

Tesla had also envisioned smart mechanisms that were as capable as humans. SRI's Shakey navigated highly structured indoor environments in the late 60's and Moravec's Stanford Cart was the first to attempt natural outdoor scenes in the late 70's. From that time there has been a proliferation of work in autonomous driving machines that cruise at highway speeds and navigate outdoor terrains in commercial applications.