ROBOTICS

Getting started in robotics

THE WORD "ROBOT" CONJURES UP
many different images in people's
minds; everything from Hol-
lywood's lovable creations to the
monstrous machines that many
once believed would someday
take over the Earth. Regardless of
what you the think of them, they
are everywhere today. For in-
stance, your car was probably as-
sembled and inspected for defects
on a robotic assembly line.
Even so, the number of prob-
lems found in new cars tells a lot
about the state of robotics tech-
nology. Robots are prone to make
many mistakes; after all, look at
who created them! However,
those system miscalculations are
not the same misjudgments of
which man is so often guilty. They
are, instead, problems that arise
due to the limitations of the tech-
nologies involved. Today, the field
of robotics is where personal com-
puters were !n the mid-1970's.
Our purpose
In this column, we'll try to keep
you up to date on the latest hap-
penings in robotics field. We'll
also cover several technical topics
and look at numerous robotic de-
vices that you can build. You'll re-
ceive instructions on building a
robotics laboratory, an intelligent
platform, and an ultrasonic vision
system.
We'll include indepth product
reviews of the various robots. And
you'll have the opportunity to read
z about those products before you
a? see them anywhere else. And
o since the field is still in its infancy,
believe it or not, you can make a
6 significant contribution through
o personal research. As a reader of
Ci Radio-Electronics, you are used to
66
FlG.l
participating in new technologies.
For example, the first construction
details for a personal computer
appeared in these pages.
Personal robots
About two and a half years ago,
personal robots came to the atten-
tion of consumers through the in-
troduction of RB Robot Corp.'s
(14618 W. 6th Ave., Golden, Colo-
rado) small cylindrical rover, the
RB-5X. That microprocessor-based
unit could directly execute BASIC
programs entered by the user from
a remote terminal. Several design
changes have occurred since its in-
troduction, including the addition
of an ultrasonic range finder and a
somewhat articulated arm.
Shortly thereafter, U.S. Heath
Co. (Benton Harbor, Ml 49022) in-
troduced its HERO-1 (see Fig. 1).
Both the Heath and RB products
showed that there was considera-
ble interest in building and experi-
menting with intelligent vehicles.
Some time after HERO and
RB-5X made their debut, a new
company headed up by Atari's
founder, Nolan Bushnell, intro-
duced the Tapa robot. That unit
was much taller, with a more
human-like appearance; but its
limited capabilities and non-exis-
tent third-party support kept it
from reaching its full potential. To- .
day, Heath's HERO is said to be
leading in sales, with a rumored
8000 machines in existence:
However, the field is constantly
widening.
Industrial robotics
Although the public views the
robotic production line asmerely a
collection of mechanized arms,
the industry is having a love affair
with those mechanical marvels.
Assernbly-line robots are usually
supplied materials via a system of
intelligent, roving, driverless vehi-
cles. Those vehicles are built using
a combination of technologies, in-
cluding mechanical engineering,
electronics engineering, and cC?m-
puter science.
From those fields come the de-
sign of the various robot parts. For
example, mechanical engineering
provides the body structure, the
wheeled mechanics, and the arm
linkages. Electronics engineering
contributes the control circuitry
and various sensory devices
needed to help make the robot
system interact with its environ-
ment.
The sensors include sonic dis-
tance-rneasuring systems, tactile
sensors for finger tips, wheel-
position feedback sensors based
on optoelectronic or Hall-effect
technologies, etc. Computer sci-
continued on page 70