1 курс - 2 семестр / unit 13 - Robot facts

UNIT 13. Robot facts!

Did you know…?

• The first recorded mention of a robot comes from Leonardo Da Vinci, all the way back in 1495. He wrote down his thoughts about ‘mechanical knights’ who would help in battle.

• The word ‘robot’ comes from the Czech word for ‘compulsory labour’

• The first working robot was introduced in 1961. It worked on a production line making cars for Ford.

• The smallest robot is a nanobot, which measures only 10 nanometres in size – less than one thousandth of a millimetre.

• Japan is home to more than half the world’s robots.

Perception: The eyes have it—or do they?

Photo: One day, robots may look just like humans, with real human emotions. This robot, Emo, has a computer-controlled face with digital cameras for eyes and lips that move to show how it's feeling.

Humans have five senses, but robots tend to have only one: sight. It's not impossible to make robots that could respond to sound, touch, smell, or taste but, so far, vision is really all they can handle. You may have seen humanlike robots with "eyes," but what robots really have are digital cameras that feed images to a central computer. Human eyes are incredibly complex, but they represent only a small part of the human visual system . Most of our visual perception happens in the brain—and the same is true of robots.

Photo: This NASA 3D object scanning robot isn't intelligent: it can do only what it's programmed to do.

How do you give a robot a brain? That one's easy: you just stick a computer inside it.

That means computerized robots designed to do specific tasks have to be taught to do those tasks in minute detail. They have to have programs running in their computers that allow them to follow the orders we give them. In other words, robots don't think; they just follow instructions.

Action: One step beyond

Making a machine move is one of the easier problems of robotics. After all, inventors have been developing moving machines—from the wheel to the space rocket—for thousands of years. What makes robots different from most other machines is the extreme precision with which they can move.

Photo: Robots can be programmed to move with incredible precision. This one is learning to play the drums at Think Tank, the science museum in Birmingham, England.

A robot hand that can pick up an egg without breaking it has to be able to make precise gripping movements to an accuracy of millimeters. How does it do it? The joints in the hand are operated by very accurate servo motors or stepper motors. Unlike a normal electric motor, which rotates by an unpredictable amount when you switch on the electric current, a servo or stepper motor can be made to rotate with great precision, which allows a robot shoulder, arm, elbow, wrist, or finger to turn through an exact number of degrees.

Some robots use hydraulics so they can lift or move heavy objects with relatively little effort. The Space Shuttle's manipulator arm is another example of a robot-like device that uses hydraulics. (It's not really a robot as such: the arm is operated by one of the pilots—it's not controlling itself.)

What can robots do?

Right now, robots are being used everywhere, from the operating table to chess tournaments. Here are just a few examples.

• Robots are now performing delicate surgical operations, which reduces the risk of mistakes and allows surgeons to perform more complex procedures.

• In space, robots can perform many tasks that would be impossible for humans in such a hostile atmosphere. One robot is currently helping astronauts to rebuild the International Space Station.

• Robots can also be used to help people around the house. Although at the moment they are only capable of basic tasks, such as tidying or putting things away, in the future we may all have a ‘house bot’ to help us with the chores.

• The military use robots for many different tasks, ranging from scouting enemy territory to more complicated tasks like the clearing of landmines. They can even be used underwater.

• Robots are also used for our entertainment, whether it be as pets, or as almost unbeatable chess champions!

robot facts
mention	згадування
compulsory work	примусова праця
to tend	проявляти тенденцію
to respond	реагувати
to handle	обходитись чимось, тримати щось
to feed images	подавати образи
to stick	монтувати
in minute detail	в дрібних деталях
a stepper motor	кроковий двигун
to scout	розвідувати
be capable	бути спроможним