BRUSH UP YOUR ENGINEERING SKILLS (Robotics, Mechatronics, Automation). Учебное пособие

Text 5: Who Hid Ricky Robot with a Virus

1.Say if it is TRUE, FALSE or MAYBE: a) Sava looks like other teaches.

b) Children do not like Sava’s lessons.

c) A professor from Oxford University developed Sava. d) Sava is controlled through outside camera.

e) Sava is never angry.

f) Many scientists believe that a robot can replace a teacher.

2.Choose the correct variant (a –b – с– none):

Text 5: Who Hid Ricky Robot with a Virus

Read the text and do the tasks:

Ricky lived in a lovely, futuristic house, which had everything you could ever want. Though he didn't help much around the house, Ricky was still as pleased as punch when his parents bought him the latest model of butler robot. As soon as it arrived, off it went; cooking, cleaning, ironing, and – most importantly – gathering up old clothes from Ricky's bedroom floor, which Ricky didn't like having to walk on. On that first day, when Ricky went to sleep, he had left his bedroom in a truly disastrous state. When he woke up the next morning, everything was perfectly clean and tidy.

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In fact, it was actually "too" clean; now Ricky couldn't find his favorite t- shirt, nor his favorite toy. However much he searched, the two items did not reappear, and the same was starting to happen with other things. Ricky cast a suspicious eye on the gleaming butler robot. He hatched a plan to spy on the robot, and began following it around the house. Finally, he caught it red-handed, picking up one of Ricky's toys to hide it.

Off he went, running to his parents, to tell them that the butler was broken and badly programmed. Ricky asked them to have it changed. But his parents told him absolutely not; it was impossible, they were delighted with the new butler, and it cooked like a dream. So Ricky needed to get some kind of proof; maybe take some hidden photos.

He kept on at his parents, about how much good stuff the robot was hiding. This outweighed however good a cook it was, Ricky argued.

One day, the robot was whirring past, and heard the boy's complaints. The robot returned with one of the boy's toys, and some clothes for him.

"Here, sir. I did not know it was bothering you," said the butler, with its metallic voice.

"How could it not, you thief?! You've been nicking my stuff for weeks!" the boy answered, furiously.

"The objects were left on the floor. I therefore calculated that you did not like them. I am programmed to collect all that is not wanted, and at night I send it to places other humans can use it. I am a maximum efficiency machine. Were you unaware?" the robot said, with a certain pride.

Ricky started feeling ashamed. He had spent all his life treating things as though they were useless. He looked after nothing. Yet it was true that many other people would be delighted to treat those things with all the care in the world. And he understood that the robot was neither broken nor misprogrammed, rather, it had been programmed extremely well!

Since then, Ricky decided to become a 'Maximum Efficiency Boy', and he put real care into how he treated his things. He kept them tidy, and made sure he didn't have more than was necessary. And, often, he would buy things, and take them along with his good friend, the robot, to help out those other people who needed them. (14)

1.Answer the questions:

1.Where did Ricky live?

2.What did the parent present Ricky

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Text 6: The Best Robot

3.Was the boy happy?

4.What happened to Ricky” bedroom?

5.What did the robot do with Ricky’s things?

6.Why was Ricky ashamed?

7.What lesson did the robot give Ricky?

2.Find definitions to the following phrases in the text:

1.aspleasedaspunch;

2.truly disastrous state;

3.to get some kind of proof;

4.“You've been nicking my stuff for weeks”;

5.a maximum efficiency machine.

Text 6: The Best Robot

Read the text and do the tasks:

XT-27 wasn't just any robot. His identification plate read "XT-27: The best, most modern robot". He was, indeed, the most up-to-date robot currently available, a product difficult to beat. Of course, this made him feel very proud. So much so, that when he saw other robots in the street, he would look at them with a certain air of superiority; he reserved his enthusiastic greetings for other XT-27s.

"All robots should be like us XT-27s", he thought to himself. He was convinced that no new robot would be able to improve on the XT-27 model, and that the world would be a much better place if all robots were like himself.

One day, he was walking along in Bionic City, when a big yellow door suddenly appeared, about an inch in front of his piezoelectric optical sensors (that's eyes to you and me, but XT-27 liked to use highly technical sounding words for everything).

He had no idea where the door had come from, but thanks to being an XT27, his quick reactions allowed him to avoid walking straight into it. Intrigued, he pulled it open and went through the doorway. The door led to a fantastic city. All the city's inhabitants were XT-27s, and everything he saw there was mindblowing!

Excited at having found his perfect city, he set to exploring the whole place, stopping from time to time to talk to people, telling them what a great thing it was

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to be an XT-27. Finally, he moved into his mouldedfibreglass bubble (a house), on the outskirts of the city. The days passed, but he suddenly realised that there was something about that city that he didn't like. As all the robots were XT-27s, it meant that no one had any reason to feel better or more up-to-date than anyone else, and, in fact, nobody did. No one looked down on others, and, if truth be told, he found that with the passing of time not even he felt special any more.

On top of that, things became very boring. Everyone could do things equally well, which made it impossible for anyone to stand out from the crowd. Whenever he did anything which he thought brilliant, it turned out that the other robots had done exactly the same thing and at the same time.

So XT-27 started to miss those varied little robots in his previous world. Each one had had its good and bad points, but that made them different and fun. He realised that he would much prefer to meet a clumsy-but-fun TP-4, and spend a while chatting with it, than see yet another XT-27.

So he started searching for that big yellow door. It took him several days to find it, but finally he did. Just like before, it was standing in the middle of a normal street. He put his hand on the door and looked behind him, as if saying farewell to the city that had at first seemed so perfect. Then, he gave the door a joyful push...

When he woke up, the XT-27 was on the ground, and some people were helping him to his feet. He looked around, and there was no yellow door at all. Instead there was an enormous shiny yellow robot. The XT-27 had bumped into it so violently that the jolt had made his circuits malfunction. The XT-27, surprised at not having managed to avoid the collision, looked carefully at that for- midable-looking robot. He had never seen one like it. It seemed perfect in every way. It was taller and more powerful than any other, and its identification plate read: "XT-28, the best, most modern robot".

So they had done it. The seemingly impossible had happened. The XT-27s were no longer the best robots of all. Even so, our friend didn't feel the slightest sadness. Seconds earlier, when dreaming about the perfect city, he had learnt that he was very happy to be different, and that it was great to have hundreds of different robots; each one with its very own good and bad points. (15)

1. Answer the questions:

1.Why did the robot feel proud?

2.What did the robot see one day?

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Text 7: Robot Birds

3.The robot walked straight into the door, didn’t he/it?

4.What city did the robot see?

5.Did the robot feel happy in the fantastic city?

6.Did he like other robots?

7.Why did he miss his friends?

8.Did he find the magic yellow door?

2.Give definitions to the following phrases:

1.a certain air of superiority;

2.to exploring the place;

3.things became very boring;

4.to spend a while chatting with somebody;

5.to say farewell;

6.the seemingly impossible had happened;

7.good and bad points.

Text 7: Robot Birds

Read the text and do the task:

Liverpool city council want to clear the city of fat pigeons. They say that that people are feeding the birds, which makes them fat. The pigeons get bigger because their normal diet would consist of seeds and insects, not high-fat junk food they are eating in the city centre.The council want people to know that everyone who feeds the pigeons is responsible for the streets being so crowded with these birds. They hope to encourage the birds to move away from the city centre and into parks and open spaces.Ten robotic birds have been brought into the city centre to scare the pigeons away and visitors are asked not to give the pigeons any food. The mechanical birds - known as 'robops' - will sit on the roofs of buildings. They can be moved around to different locations. They look like a peregrine falcon, which is a bird that kills pigeons. They even make noises and flap their wings to scare the pigeons. They hope that the pigeons will go away before the city becomes the European Capital of Culture in two years. (16)

Say if it is TRUE, FALSE or DOESN’T SAY:

1.Pigeons are fatter in Liverpool than in other cities.

2.Pigeons get fat because they eat seeds and insects.

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3.According to the council, everyone is to blame for the numbers of pi-

geons.

4.They want the pigeons to move out of the city centre.

5.Visitors shouldn't feed the pigeons.

6.The robotic birds can move around the city centre.

7.Liverpool is the European Capital of Culture.

Text 8: Describing robots (1)

Describe the types of robots choosing the correct word:

There are two (basic, basis) types of industrial robots from the control standpoint. They are... . Some robots work in the (angle, angular) coordinate system. There are also robots working in the (cylinder, cylindrical) (sphere, spherical) and cartesian systems. Drive is a (type, typical) feature of robots. Robots can be driven by. (pneumatic, pneumatical) (hydraulically, hydraulic) and (mechanics, electro-mechanical) drives. (26)

Text 9: Describing robots (2)

Characterize the robot. Insert the proper word:

If the robot helps us to know where things are we deal with the robot's (visible, vision). If a part comes into contact with a workpiece and we want to know it we deal with the robot's (tactility, tactile) sensing. Visual feedback is used to control a robot in (real, reality) time. The vision and (manipulation, manipulator) subsystems interact with each other in (predictable, unpredictable) ways. Very important characteristics of robots are: speed of response, stability and (accurate, accuracy). Visual (analyze, analysis) of a scene is made in two phases. (26)

Text 10: Robots

Read the passage given below and answer the questions:

1. Robots are already being used in areas where replacing humans sounded like the plot of a fantasy novel. One such area is education. Today robots are increasingly being used as teaching assistants to help out in the classroom. In South Korea, a telepresence-focused robot, Robosem, is already teaching English in a country where certified English teachers are rare.

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Text 10: Robots

2.Because of its interactivity, a robot is a big asset in imparting lessons to students, especially the young ones. In the future, robots may take up much more important roles in the classroom. That day no longer seems to be a dream when students will walk into classes and find robots waiting to check on their homework.

3.The future will mostly be about people using robots to accomplish work that is more interesting and fulfilling. Advances in the development of robots mean they will be able to perform multiple tasks more quickly, safely and efficiently than humans. With robots taking over most of the boring jobs, humans can concentrate more on meaningful work, such as research and development for making life better for everyone.

4.A major problem that the world faces today is the scarcity of land and lack of living spaces in urban areas. In the future, technology might just solve this problem. Scientists have already predicted that oceans might be the next place where humans will build their homes and living spaces.

5.While technology limits us from doing that today, in the future entire cities could be suspended under the sea. Inside enormous livable babbles, homes, schools, offices and even parks could be built using the water itself to make oxygen and generating hydrogen fuel in the process. (17)

1.On the basis of your reading of the passage, answer the following questions in about 30-40 words each:

a) Where will the humans start living in future?

b) How can you say that Robots are increasingly used in the field of educa-

tion?

c) What can you say about the future of Robot in the classroom? d) What major problem is the world facing today?

e) What kinds of fuels will be used in future?

2.On the basis of your reading of the passage, give the answer to the following statements:

1.A robot is a big asset in imparting lessons to students because of its … a) popularity

b) interactivity c) being strong d) being punctual

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2.… in the development of robots mean they will be able to perform multiple tasks more quickly, safely and efficiently than humans.

a) Accomplishment b) Advances

c) Concentration d) Research

3.In para 1, the word which means ‘a set of technologies’ is …

a)mortise

b)telepresence

c)nautical

d)monogamy

4.Inpara 1, the word similar in meaning to ‘air castle’ is … a) obliged

b) fantasy c) dream

d) impossible

5.In para 4, find a word which means the same as ‘shortage’ … a) less

b) scarcity c) safely d) meagre

Text 11: History of Ancient Robots

The question whether Ancient Robots existed in the Ancient world is intriguing.

This may be possible if we consider descriptions given of Ancient Robots and Intelligence in Ancient Texts from Ancient Sumer, Greece, China and India which suggest that humans have been familiar with the concept of Ancient Robots and Automatons for Thousands of years.

Our first Anciet Robot can be found in The Epic Of Gilgamesh, where we have Gilgamesh and his companion Enkidu travelling to the Cedar Forest on Mount Lebanon where they encounter and behead the Ancient Automaton Humbaba, the Guardian Of The Cedar Forest.

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Text 11: History of Ancient Robots

Humbaba who may have been an Ancient Robot in the form of an Ancient Android is described as a fierce one-eyed fire breathing creature whose eye and breath could strike men dead.

Humbaba may therefore have actually been some kind of Intelligent Android Robotic weapon used for performing the specific task of defending the Cedar Forest by the Anunnaki Gods.

Ancient Robots Presence Across The Ancient World.

In Greek mythology we have the story of Talos, the giant Bronze Ancient Robot Automaton who guarded the island of Crete by throwing boulders at ships of unwanted visitors and invaders.

Talos is most known from the story of Jason and the Argonauts where his task was to run around Crete three times a day and repel unwelcome visitors by either hurling huge stones at their ships or by heating himself red hot, and then holding them in a fiery embrace.

The legend of Talos once again reveals the possibility of an Ancient Robot programmed to perform a specific function.

In Ancient China we encounter the story of an engineer named Yong Chi who presented the King with the gift of a life-sized Robotic Automaton which was able to move and perform several impressive feats like singing, walking and entertaining the King’s guests.

This Ancient Robot however was taken apart at the instance of the King to reveal an Artificial entity made of a complete set of artificial organs that could not speak or perform once its artificial Heart was removed.

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In this story, we may also have the story of another Ancient Android that was inoperable once its Core was removed.

Last but not least, we have an Ancient Robot from India In the legend of the Ajatashatru guards who may also have been Robotic automatons.

In Indian legend, these Ancient Robots carried out tasks like Trade, Farming and Executing Criminals.

In the Legend of the Ajatashatru Guards, the closely guarded secrets of Ancient Robot making and animation are stolen by a young Artisan and used to build automated soldiers for King Ajatashatru.

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Control of this Army of Ancient Robots later passes onto another King after a series of violent battles fought with the Robots themselves.

Given that in Ancient India we already have stories of techologically advanced vehicles, and Ancient atomic warfare in the Vimana Epics, its no surprise that Ancient Indian legends would suggest the posibility of Ancient Robots and

Automatons in India’s past.

In the final analysis, the possibility of Ancient Robots is intriguing.

Whilst there is no firm evidence, stories of all sorts of Ancient Robots suggest the existence of Mechanical Automatons that were used for simple tasks as Soldiers, Guards or Entertainers in the Ancient world.

The mechanism by which these Ancient Robots and Automatons were brought to life or programmed is not clear.

Some suggest Ancient mystical magical secrets on the art of Robotic Animation were used, but it may also have been due to some Ancient software or code we are yet to discover.

In our own time, the technology of Robotics has come full circle as we develop more advanced forms of Artificial Intelligence to take over more complex tasks and these developments may be just a continuation of the Ancient Robotic From The Ancient World. (18)

1.Divide the text into semantic parts and title each one.

2.In each part, find and write out sentences that convey the main idea.

3.Find more information on the topic of the text and present it.

Text 12: Myths Featuring

Ancient Robots

A man in this sculpture is a Greek god called Hephaestus. He was regarded as the god of technology, blacksmiths, craftsmen and artisans. Amongst many of his marvelous creations, myths also feature various artificial beings.

It is said that Hephaestus made ancient robots to help him in his workshop. Greek mythology also states that a bronze giant called Talos was made by Hephaestus as well. This bronze giant would patrol around the island and throw rocks at enemy ships.

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