World’s First Industrial Robot
Robot is an automated machine which was booming only in science fiction stories and movies till 1950’s. Even the name ‘Robot’ was first used for characters of artificial creatures in a stage drama directed by Karel Capek in 1920. Isaac Asimov, a well-known writer, has written three famous laws only during the period of science fiction era. So, when did the first robot came into action? What kind of robot it was? Where it was used? Who was the founder of it? Answers on the way! Joseph Engelberger Joseph Engelberger was born on July 26, 1925 in New York City, US and he was an American physicist, entrepreneur, and engineer. He partnered with an inventor George Devol for setting up the world’s first robotics manufacturing company “Universal Automation” in 1954. George Devol registered a first patent for robotics in 1954 and was granted in 1961. Unimation was the first company to develop a robot in 1956, and the first robot was called as ‘UNIMATE’ which was based on Devol’s original patent. UNIMATE Unimation robots were also known as programmable pick and place machine. It was mainly used for transferring objects from one place to another, which was less than a dozen feet or so apart. This robot was equipped with hydraulic actuators and programmed with joint coordinates. In join coordinates, angles of each joints will be saved during the training phase and replayed in operation. It was highly accurate within the range of 1/10000 of an inch. Later, Kawasaki Heavy Industries and GKN got the license of manufacturing UNIMATE robots in Japan and England respectively. Till 1970’s, Cincinnati Milacron Inc of Ohio was only competitor for Unimation and this drastically changed after several big Japanese companies started to produce similar robots.
Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Industrial Robots
Everyone knows a robot can work more efficiently than a human. Then, what is the need for Artificial Intelligence (AI)? In this article, let us explore how AI can be useful in industrial robots. An industrial robot is generally programmed to do a task. This type of robots will be able to perform a specific task. If a robot has to perform many tasks, then it is really difficult to program for all the junctures. As a result, Artificial Intelligence came into existence to solve this problem. Artificial Intelligence was invented by John McCarthy in 1956 at the MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology). AI is an interesting field in robotics that aims at building machines with human intelligence, which can think, learn, understand, solve problems, etc. “Artificial Intelligence converts a man-controlled robot to a self-controlled robot” The AI concept may be simple, but achieving it is quite difficult. AI doesn’t replicate human heart, it reproduces human brain. We are familiar that the brain has the most complex design with billions & billions of neurons. A robot with AI will make use of sensors to collect the information. The collected information will be compared with the stored data for achieving the best result. An industrial robot equipped with AI will be useful for performing vision system function. A camera mounted on the robot will help to pick a component in a complicated 3D area by storing various characteristics of an object such as length, breadth, area, etc. It also helps the robot to grasp a specified object from a mixture of objects. Overall, the AI technique in industrial robots could increase the speed, accuracy, and efficiency.
To what extent a Robot can go?
Well, this question is in the minds of all robotics freaks. Day to day all our intuition is proved false, We normally think a humanoid robot will be the extreme, even if its legitimate, will have to reach a lots and lots of milestone before destination, this is well accepted fact.
Welding Robots
When two metals are joined by means of heat suppliers is known as Welding. This welding process when done by robots are known as Welding Robots. Usually, these robots are used in the areas where a human man cannot weld. Types of Welding Robots: There are two important types where welding robots play a vital role. Arc Welding Robot. Spot Welding Robot. Why Arc Welding Robot? Arc welding is done by fitters where the working conditions are very hazardous and unpleasant. It may be injurious to human vision due to high emission of ultra-violet rays. So the welders are required to wear the helmet with dark window to protect their eyes. Sometimes, sparks and smoke can cause infections to the operators. As a result of avoiding these problems, the arc welding robots came into existence. Benefits of Arc Welding Robots: High Safety Better quality High productivity Features of Arc Welding Robots: Programmable Provides motion control system High work volume and degree of freedom. httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PLXAEKH4DvQ Why Spot Welding Robots? The spot welding guns attached with cables can easily exceed 100lb weights. The apparatus is placed in the overhead hoist system for the operator to manipulate the gun. Even this assistance also causes difficulty for a human man. Therefore, the spot welding robots were introduced to perform this job. Benefits of Spot Welding Robots: The quality of the product is improved Safe for the operators Improved control in operation Features of Spot Welding Robots: Programmable Effective in manipulating the welding gun for any application Increased degree of freedom httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y1F-6S85vu0