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INDUSTRIAL AUTOMATION AND ROBOTICS

CHAPTER 3
Introduction to Robotics

Historical Overview

The word "robot" originated from the Czech

word robota, meaning forced labour. It was
introduced by playwright Karel Capek in 1921.
Robot Maria appeared in the 1927 movie
Metropolis.
The word robotics appeared in Isaac Asimov's
science-fiction story "Runaround" in 1942.

Isaac Asimov

Historical Overview

In 1954, George C. Devol files a patent for

the first programmable robot, which capable of
performing industrial tasks.

In 1961, G.C. Devol with Joseph Engelberger

works for Unimation to develop the first
industrial robot, called Unimate. It used
hydraulic actuators and was programmed in
joint-coordinates.

Historical Overview

In 1962, General Motors installed a Unimate

robot on one of its automobile assembly lines.

In 1969, Victor Scheinman from Stanford

University, designed the robot arm called
Stanford Arm, an all electric, 6-axis
articulated robot.

Stanford Arm
Unimate

Historical Overview

In 1977, Scheinman sold his design to

Unimation, which further developed it with
General Motors, into the PUMA robot.

In 1980s, the robot industry enters into a

maturing period as industry recognizes that
robots are integrated part of automation.

Historical Overview

In 1977, Scheinman sold his design to

Unimation, which further developed it with
General Motors, into the PUMA robot.

In 1980s, the robot industry enters into a

maturing period as industry recognizes that
robots are integrated part of automation.

End

Historical Overview

Basic Robotics
There is no standard definition that can be agreed upon
by all, to describe the meaning of robot. Hence, to pick
which machines can qualify as robots is not so straight
forward practice.
However, there is a common understanding among many
people that a robot must have several essential
characteristics before it can be accepted as robot. The
characteristics are as follows:

Able
Able
Able
Able
Able

to
to
to
to
to

move around in its environment

sense and manipulate its environment
power itself
display some form of intelligent
imitate human or animal behaviour

Basic Robotics
Basically, you may imagine a robot as a mechanical device
that can moves and performs automated (semi- or fully-)
tasks, with electronic control system at its heart.
The robot is controlled by a stored program and is
reprogrammable, meaning that the program can be
changed to fit the requirements of different jobs.
The robot should be multi-functional, meaning that it
able to perform more than one function. The same robot
can be used to perform varying jobs.

Basic Robotics
Robotics is the science and technology of robots,
requiring multi-disciplinary fields, and to name several;

Mechanical engineering
Electrical and electronics engineering
Computer science and computer engineering
Sensory technology
Control theory
Materials science
Mathematics, Physics and Biology

Specific knowledge involves are; Dynamic, Kinematic,

Feedback Control, Sensors and signal conditioning,
Actuators and power electronics, Computer interfacing,
Software and programming.

Basic Robotics
Various types of robots are in use today, and they may
be categorized in a number of ways, for example based
on their number of degree of freedom, types of
structure, types of applications, degree of autonomous,
and etc. However, here we divide them into two main
categories, which reflects their big area of applications;
Industrial

Non-industrial

Mostly manipulator types, and specifically

used in manufacturing operations, that are
automatically controlled, reprogrammable,
multipurpose, programmable, and have in
three or more axes.

Other robots that are not used in

manufacturing plants, exist in sectors
such as agriculture, medical, military,
etc.

Industrial Robots
The Robot Industries Association (RIA formerly Robot
Institute of America) developed the following definition
to help identify machines that can be classified as
industrial robots:
A robot is a reprogrammable, multifunctional manipulator
designed to move material, parts, tools, or specialized
devices through variable programmed motions for the
performance of a variety of tasks.
Based on the ISO/TR/8373-2.3 standard, an industrial
robot is officially defined as:
Automatically controlled, reprogrammable, multipurpose
manipulator programmable in three or more axes, which
may be either, fixed in place or mobile for use in
industrial automation applications.

Industrial Robots
The worldwide manufacturing sector continues to
established as the main users of robots. The total unit
sales of world industrial robot for the year 2008 was
113,345 units, with a value of about US$6.2 billion. It
is projected that for the period between 2010 and 2012,
there will be an increase of about 15% per year.
For the year 2008, Japan maintains as the country with
largest installation of new robots, with about 33,100
installations. North America is second with 16,200
installations, and third is Germany with 15,200
installations.
36% of the industrial robots were installed for the
automotive manufacturing. Electrical/electronics industry
account for about 11.8%. Chemical, rubber and plastics
industry account for 11%. Other biggest users are metal
products, machinery and food industries.

Industrial Robots
The market share for industrial robots based on the
types of robots are as follows;
Articulated

60%

robot with rotary joints (e.g. a legged robot or an

industrial robot). Articulated robots can range from
simple two-jointed structures to systems with 10 or
more interacting joints.
Gantry (Cartesian)

22%

an industrial robot whose three principal axes of control

are linear (i.e. they move in a straight line rather than
rotate) and are at right angles to each other. The
simplest application is used in milling and drawing
machines where a pen or router translates across an x-y
plane

Industrial Robots
The market share for industrial robots based on the
types of robots are as follows;
SCARA
13%
stands for Selective Compliant Assembly Robot Arm or
Selective Compliant Articulated Robot Arm. The arm is
slightly compliant in the X-Y direction but rigid in the Z
direction, hence the term: Selective Compliant. This is
advantageous for many types of assembly operations, i.e.,
inserting a round pin in a round hole without binding.
Cylindrical

4%

the motion of this robot is basically up and down at the

main part of the body and circular at the base. The
motion is perform by extending a cylinder that is built
into the arm.

Industrial Robots
Area of application

Welding
Spray painting
Assembly
Palletizing and material handling
Finishing
Inspection and testing

Industrial Robots
Welding
The most popular industrial applications for robots,
especially in the automotive industry.
Types of welding: Spot and Arc welding.

Industrial Robots
Spray painting
It can provide consistency (uniform & quality),
repeatability, & less waste (cutting cost).

Industrial Robots
Assembly
Tasks are tedious and repetitive in nature
Mechanical parts (small parts less than 1 kg)
Electronic parts (auto insertion on PCB, wafer
handling, soldering, harddisk assembly)

Industrial Robots
Palletizing and material handling
Loading & unloading material onto pallets
For casting, molding, forging, stamping, machine
tool, etc.

Industrial Robots
Finishing
Grinding and polishing

Industrial Robots
Inspection & testing (measurement)
Visual inspection, Ultrasonic inspection, X-ray
inspection

Industrial Robots
Inspection & testing (measurement)
Automated visual inspection

Car industry

Welding Inspection

For automobile manufacturing

Ceramic filters inspection, colour

measurement on dash board
components

Service Robots
The use of robots in other areas has been growing, and
this non-industrial robots are grouped into a category
called Service Robots. But difficult to define because the
multitude of forms and structure of the robot as well as
the application areas.
A provisional definition by IFR (International Federation
of Robotics) describe a service robot as:
A service robot is a robot which operates semi- or fully
autonomously to perform services useful to the well-being of
humans and equipment, excluding manufacturing operations.

With this definition, manipulating industrial robots could

also be regarded as service robots, provided they are
installed in non-manufacturing operations. Service robots
may or may not be fitted with a manipulator arm
structure, and often that, the service robots are mobile.

Service Robots
The nature of applications for service robots are varied
and they are used in unstructured and dynamic
environments, such as construction, forestry, agriculture,
mining, subsea, highways, search and rescue, military,
space, etc. The robots perform non-repetitive tasks and
objective sensing as well as self-navigation in random
environments.
20,000 units are being used in defense, rescue and
security applications, which accounted for more than 30%
of total service robots for professional use sold up until
2008.
Other sectors for service robots are milking (23%),
cleaning (9%), medical and underwater (8%), construction
and demolition (7%), mobile platforms for general use
(6%), logistic systems (5%).

Service Robots
Service robots may further be divided into 2 sub-groups,
one for professional use and second for personal and
domestic use.
The areas for service robots for professional use are:

Field robotics
Professional cleaning
Inspection and maintenance systems
Construction and demolition
Logistic systems
Medical robotics
Defense, rescue & security applications
Underwater systems
Mobile platforms in general use
Robot arms in general use

Service Robots
The areas for service robots for personal and domestic
use are:
Domestic tasks (including vacuum cleaning and lawnmowing)
Entertainment robots (including toy robots and hobby
systems)
Handicap assistance
Automated personal transportation
Home security and surveillance
Humanoid robots

Service Robots
Field Robots
Precision farming using autonomous field operations.

Vegetables harvesting

Autonomous tractor with a

centered mower

Milking robot

Service Robots
Cleaning Robots
Street cleaning, Window cleaning, Underwater (pool)
cleaning, Office cleaning.
Under water Cleaning
(Urakami)

Street cleaning (Figla)

Window Cleaning
(Gecko, SERBOT AG)

Pool Cleaning (Verro

600, iRobot)

Service Robots
Inspection and maintenance systems
Compact Magnetic
Wheeled Inspection
Robot with High
Mobility (Magnebike,
ETH ZURICHALSTOM)

Robot inspect wind

turbines

Eddy current test robot for cooling water

pipelines, using video and laser
(Inspector 6000, INSPECTOR SYSTEMS)

Service Robots
Construction and demolition
Most construction jobs are repetitious, laborintensive, and dangerous, which perfectly suited for
robot automation.
From laying brick, to handling delicate windows and
insulation. Some robots have even been used to
build prefabricated walls, and can vertically
dispense concrete.

Excavator (Brokk)

Remote operation Demolition

robot using radio control

Service Robots
Logistic systems
Moving materials, goods and people.
At present less than 15% of the end-to-end
distribution process has been considered for
automation.
There is a large demand for the development and
integration of robot-systems within logistics with
the aim being to make the processes of logistics
more efficient and the work easier.

Service Robots
Medical Robotics
Shared-control robotic systems assist surgeons
performing surgery. The surgeon does most of the
work, while the robotic system monitors the
surgeons performance and provide active support.
Pharmacy automation

Prepares a robotic surgery

system for heart surgery

Surgeon using a Photomedix electro-mechanical

manipulator

Service Robots
Defense, rescue & security applications
Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) Surveillance &
reconnaissance, navigation
Unmanned Ground Vehicles (UGV) Surveillance &
reconnaissance
Bomb detection and disposal
Search and rescue

Rescue Robot (T-52, TmSuk)

Bomb disposal

Service Robots
Underwater systems
Deep water remotely operated vehicle (ROV).
Applied in offshore oil & gas industry to assist in
the development of offshore oil fields.
Inspection of subsea structures, pipeline and
platforms. Locate shipwrecks and recover material
from the sea floor.
Used widely by the science community to study the
ocean.

Service Robots
Space Exploration
Deep water remotely operated vehicle (ROV).
Applied in offshore oil & gas industry to assist in
the development of offshore oil fields.
Inspection of subsea structures, pipeline and
platforms. Locate shipwrecks and recover material
from the sea floor.
Used widely by the science community to study the
ocean.

Service Robots
Robot arms in general use
Used in other than the industrial manufacturing
sector.

Educational

Agriculture, Grapevine Pruner

(3-D vision technology)

Service Robots
Domestic tasks
Vacuum Cleaning
Lawn Mowing

LG RoboKing
(V-R4000)

ECO-G158

The
Future

Service Robots
Entertainment robots
Toy robots, hobby, and games.

Service Robots
Handicap Assistance
iBot 4000
Wheelchair

Powered assistive Limb/suits

Legged human carrier

Elevating Wheelchair

Service Robots
Automated personal transportation

Toyota

Segway
Honda

Service Robots
Home security and surveillance
Internet-enabled, Mobile phone-controlled, GPSenabled, in-home care & security.

Internet-enabled Mobile
phone-controlled robot
for in-home care &
security (Fujitsu, MARON1)

Rovio, mobile
webcam

Monitor 1 mile area using

GPS (Securo)

Service Robots
Humanoid Robots
Imitates humans (humanoid) & animals bio-mechanics

Mobile Robots

Mobile Robots

MiRoC

Mobile Robots

Robocon

Mobile Robots

SmartCar

Mobile Robots

Robot Architecture

A robot architecture primarily refers to both

the software and hardware structure of the
robot.

Examples of a robots hardware structure are;

Fixed base or mobile base

2- or more axis
Wheeled or legged or flying mobile
With or without manipulator arm, etc.

Examples of a robots software structure are;

C language on 8-bit or 16-bit platform

Software polling or interrupt
Opened-loop or Closed-loop control
PID or fuzzy logic scheme
Single-tasking or multi-tasking, etc.

Robot Architecture

A physically functional robot is based on

proper integration of the hardware and
software structures.

Robots may have physical appearances and

functionalities that are very different from
one another, but their architectures are
formed from some common elements;

Controller
Sensors
Actuators
Software
User interface
Power system
Base and linkages

Robot Architecture

Controller is central to the robots control system,

which process the program with aim to control the
robots motion
Sensors measure some parameters from the environment
& these data are fed back to the controller for analysis
Actuators produce movement for the robot in the
form of navigation and manipulation
The program commands robot to do various functions
such as; Navigation, Manipulation, Sensing,
Communication, Data processing
To sent and receive input from
user to controller
Primary source of power that supplies
energy to the control systems,
actuators & sensors.
Provides base and physical structure in
the forms of manipulator, wrist & endeffector

Controller
Sensors
Actuators
Software
User interface
Power system
Base and linkages

Robot Architecture
The Technology Fields

Controller
Sensors
Actuators
Software
User interface
Power system
Base and linkages

Electrical and Electronics

(hardware)

Software
Electrical Power (Hardware)
Mechanical structure
(Hardware)

Robot Architecture

Controller
Sensors
Actuators
Software
User interface
Power system
Base and linkages

User Interface

Software

Sensors

Controller

Power
Source

Power
Conversion

Actuators

Base & linkages

The blocks representing a basic

robots architecture

Robot Architecture

Controller
Sensors
Actuators
Software
User interface
Power system
Base and linkages
A mobile robot

Robot Architecture

Controller
Sensors
Actuators
Software
User interface
Power system
Base and linkages

Hydraulic-electrical
Power Unit

Controller
(Software and user
interface)

Actuators at
every axis

Base

An industrial robot
arm

Robot Architecture

Having common elements for their

architectures, robots may be categorised
based on their types of base structure. Two
types of structures can be established.

Fixed base
manipulator robot

The base is fixed to the floor and the

manipulator can moves around in
the workspace within the reach from
the base to perform tasks.

Mobile base
robot

The base has a form of

locomotion for the robot to
move around in the environment
to perform tasks.

Robot Architecture

Different types of fixed base manipulator

robots:

Spherical
Cartesian

Articulated

Cylindrica
l

Robot Architecture

Different types of mobile base robots:

Wheeled

Legged

Robot Architecture

Different types of mobile base robots:

Aerial (Flying)

Submersible (in/on water)

Robot Architecture

The primary function of a robot is to perform

appropriate movements according to its
required application. A robot can execute two
types of motions:

Manipulation: movement of a manipulator to do

specific tasks in its environment.
Navigation: movement of a mobile base robot in
its environment.

Manipulation
Navigation

Robot Architecture

The primary function of a robot is to perform

appropriate movements according to its
required application. A robot can execute two
types of motions:

Manipulation: movement of a manipulator to do

specific tasks in its environment.
Navigation: movement of a mobile base robot in
its environment.
A manipulator and a mobile platform can merge
together into a single robot.
Manipulation

Navigation

Robot Architecture

The robots movements are controlled by the

internal controller, directed through the
software programmed into it. The controller
could store several different programs and can
be modified if necessary.

Other functions can be programmed and

processed by the controller are such as;

Sensing the environment

Processing data and making decision
Communication between user or other devices

Robot Architecture

Controller is central to the robots control

system, which processes the program to perform
the desired tasks.

The program controls the actuators to produce

output action (motion) on the robot, in the form
of navigation and manipulation.

Input
(Desired
Tasks)

Program
Controller

Navigation and/or
Manipulation
Actuators

Plant

Output
(Motion)

Robot Architecture

Sensors are used to measure the performances

of the output, and also to measure some
parameters from the environment. These data
are fed back to the controller for analysis and
decision making.

Input
(Desired
Tasks)

Program
Controller

Navigation and/or
Manipulation
Actuators

Sensors
Position, orientation,
obstacles, speed, light, etc.

Plant

Output
(Motion)

Robot Architecture

Controller may receive input from user or

operator through a user interface.

The controller is equipped with input and output

ports to send signal to actuators and receive
signal from sensors or user.

User Interface Program

Input
(Desired
Controller
Tasks)

Navigation and/or
Manipulation
Actuators

Sensors
Position, orientation,
obstacles, speed, light, etc.

Plant

Output
(Motion)

Robot Architecture

The types of controller to choose will depends

largely on the functions and nature of the robot
tasks. Some are more complex than the others.

A complex motion control scheme demands for

high performance processors to process them, or
a basic motion can be controlled by a low end
basic processors.

Besides embedded controller, PLC and PC can be

used as controllers for robots.

Robot Mechanism

A robot structure is located relative to the

ground by a fixed or mobile base.

A fixed base manipulator consists of several

rigid parts that are connected in series and can
move through space. The rigid parts are called
links. A robot can has many links.

Two links are connected

together by a joint, or
also known as axis of
motion. Actuators are
placed at the joints to
allow relative motion of
two links.

Link 3
Link 2
Link 1

Joint 3 (Axis 3)
Joint 2 (Axis 2)

Joint 1 (Axis 1)

Robot Mechanism
Link 4
Link 5

Link 3

Link 2
Link 1

Base (fixed)
Example with an
articulated robot
arm

Link 3
Link 2
Link 1

Joint 3 (Axis 3)
Joint 2 (Axis 2)

Joint 1 (Axis 1)

Robot Mechanism

A mobile base robot contains links and joints

between the base and the locomotion medium
(e.g. wheels, legs, propeller, etc).
Similarly, actuators may be placed at the joints
to allow relative motion (mobility) of the base.
Joint 1
Wheeled Mobile
Robot
Base (mobile)
Joint 3
Joint 2

Robot Mechanism

The joints in a robot are normally restricted to

one degree of freedom. That means, each axis
equals one degree of freedom.
There are 2 basic types of joints: Revolute and
Prismatic joints.
Most electric motors could produce revolute
motion.

Revolute Joint: Produces a

rotational motion along the axis
with some angular velocity

Robot Mechanism

The joints in a robot are normally restricted to

one degree of freedom. That means, each axis
equals one degree of freedom.
There are 2 basic types of joints: Revolute and
Prismatic joints.
Hydraulic and pneumatic actuators naturally
produce linear motion, but there are also
electric motors that can generate linear motion.

Prismatic Joint: Produces a

linear or sliding motion
along a joint axis with
some linear velocity

Robot Mechanism

The degree to which the joints can move

(revolute and prismatic) in any direction is called
the degree of freedom (DOF).
It refers to the number of different ways in
which a robot manipulator arm can move to
position and orientate the end-effector.
For a typical manipulator arm robot, the number
of joints equals the number of degrees of
freedom. Each joint position is usually defined
with a single variable.
A robotics system with several bodies (links)
would have a combined DOF that is the sum of
the DOFs of the bodies, less the internal
constraints they may have on relative motion

End