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The term 'robot' comes from a Czech word, robota, meaning "forced labor." The word robot first appeared in a 1920 play by Czech writer Karel Capek, R.U.R.: Rossum's Universal Robots. In the play, the robots eventually overthrow their human creators. The idea of robotics began as far back as the eighth century, in the Iliad. Hephaestus, the Greek god of fire, was said to have handmaidens mechanically active and made from gold. However, the first true account of robotics comes from the golden tree of Baghdad. Kept in a palace during the ninth and tenth centuries, it featured birds singing on branches while they flapped their wings. Early water clocks were also examples of early robotics. They were often fitted with astrological signs, giving a dual purpose to the inventions. Definition : A robot is a machine designed to execute one or more tasks repeatedly, with speed and precision. There are as many different types of robots as there are tasks for them to perform. Types of robots : A robot can be controlled by a human operator, sometimes from a great distance. But most robots are controlled by computer, and fall into either of two categories: autonomous robots and insect robots. 1) An autonomous robot acts as a stand-alone system, complete with its own computer (called the controller). 2) Insect robots work in fleets ranging in number from a few to thousands, with all fleet members under the supervision of a single controller. The term insect arises from the similarity of the system to a colony of insects, where the individuals are simple but the fleet as a whole can be sophisticated. Robots are sometimes grouped according to the time frame in which they were first widely used. First-generation robots date from the 1970s and consist of stationary, nonprogrammable, electromechanical devices without sensors. Second-generation robots were developed in the 1980s and can contain sensors and programmable controllers. Third-generation robots were developed between approximately 1990 and the present. These machines can be stationary or mobile, autonomous or insect type, with sophisticated programming, speech recognition and/or synthesis, and other advanced features. Fourth-generation robots are in the research-and-development phase, and include features such as artificial intelligence, self-replication, self assembly, and nanoscale size (physical dimensions on the order of nanometers, or units of 10-9 meter). Some advanced robots are called androids because of their superficial resemblance to human beings. Androids are mobile, usually moving around on wheels or a track drive (robots legs are unstable and difficult to engineer). The android is not necessarily the end point of robot evolution. Some of the most esoteric and powerful robots do not look or behave anything like humans. The ultimate in robotic intelligence and sophistication might take on forms yet to be imagined. Asimov suggested three principles to guide the behavior of robots and smart machines. Asimov's Three Laws of Robotics, as they are called, have survived to the present: 1. Robots must never harm human beings. 2. Robots must follow instructions from humans without violating rule 1. 3. Robots must protect themselves without violating the other rules. Author works for OMICS Publishing Group, which is built upon the principles of Open Access and is determined to provide free and unrestricted access of research articles to scientists around the world for the advancement of science and technology.
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Robotics, Open access, nano technology, artificial intelligence,
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