III. Answer the following questions.

1. What does automation reduce?

2. Can processes and systems be automated?

3. What do engineers strive to do?

4. What do specialised hardened computers do?

5. What are HMI and CHI?

4) Robots

The word “robot” was first used in 1922 by Czech playwright Karel Capek in his hit science-fiction play R.U.R. (Possum’s Universal Robots). (Capek combined the Czech words “robota”, meaning obligatory work, and “robotnik”, meaning serf.) In Mr. Capek’s play, the robots were artificial creatures that gained control over human beings and eventually destroyed them. Then in 1936, the term automation (short for automatic operation) was coined by Delmar Harder, a plant manager at General Motors. A robot is a computer-controlled machine that can sense and react to input and can perform tasks with little or no human supervision. Robots in the factory are replacing hard automation, that is, dedicated equipment that can perform only a single operation under a carefully controlled set circumstances. Hard-automation equipment is very specialized and, therefore, not adaptable to a wide variety of tasks. Robots, on the other hand, have computer programs that can change. They can be programmed to perform a wide variety of tasks such as first assembling parts for one model of car, and then assembling different parts for another car model.

Robots are beginning to play a major role in automated materials handling. One such device, called a bin-picking robot, combines a vision system and a touch-sensitive gripper. A vision system uses a television camera with image-processing software. The robot is trained to recognize objects by presenting samples to the camera that are then stored and used for matching when the robot is in use.

Such systems are useful in applications where parts are stored randomly.

Examples of bin picking include loading machine tools, assembling products, sorting parts of similar size or shape, and loading or unloading materials from storage.

Programmable robots can perform a wide variety of assembly tasks and, therefore, are more flexible and adaptable. Inspection robots can go where it is impractical for people to go. For example, mobile robots are used to inspect radioactive areas of nuclear power plants.

I. Copy the underlined words and word-combinations, translate them into Ukrainian and learn them.

II. Give a short summary of the text in English in written or oral form.

III. Answer the following questions.

1. When and who was the word “robot” first used?

2. What is a robot?

3. What are the advantages of using robots?

4. What functions does a bin-picking robot combine?

5. What tasks do programmable/inspection robots perform?

Test yourself:

1. Choose the right variant.

1. The scientific and technological progress will continue in engineering along two main headlines

a) automation and mechanization.

b) automation and raising the reliability and extending the service life of machines.

c) automation and robotics.

d) autonmation and designing.

2. Automation is

a) the use of control systems and information technologies to reduce the need for human work in the production of goods and services.

b) a word coined in the 1940s to describe processes by which machines do tasks previously performed by people.

c) the use of methods for controlling industrial processes automatically, esp. by electronically controlled systems, often reducing manpower.

d) all of the mentioned above.

3. The main advantages of automation are:

a) replacing human operators in tasks that involve hard physical or monotonous work.

b) replacing humans in tasks done in dangerous environments.

c) performing tasks that are beyond human capabilities of size, weight, speed, endurance, etc.

d) reduces operation time and work handling time significantly.

e) all of the mentioned above.

4. The main disadvantages of automation are:

a) unemployment rate increases due to machines replacing humans and putting those humans out of their jobs.

b) current technology is unable to automate all the desired tasks.

c) an automated system may have limited level of intelligence, hence it is most likely susceptible to commit error.

d) the research and development cost of automating a process may exceed the cost saved by the automation itself.

e) the automation of a new product or plant requires a huge initial investment in comparison with the unit cost of the product, although the cost of automation is spread in many product batches of things.

f) all of the mentioned above.

5. Robot is

a) a mechanical device that sometimes resembles a human and is capable of performing a variety of often complex human tasks on command or by being programmed in advance.

b) a machine or device that operates automatically or by remote control.

c) a person who works mechanically without original thought, especially one who responds automatically to the commands of others.

d) all of the mentioned above.