NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY KARNATAKA

SURATHKAL

ROBOTICS AND CONTROL | MF703

DR K. R. GURUPRASAD
DEPARTMENT OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERING

ASSIGNMENT -1 | INTRODUCTION TO ROBOTICS

Sakthivel Sivaraman 11M236

1. Key characteristics of a Robot?

A. Sensing, the very basic characteristic of robots is that it must have the ability to sense its
environment or the surroundings. It must sense it in almost similar ways as a human does. There
are different types of sensors which can be present in a robot such as light sensors which function
as eyes in human, chemical sensors to perform the functions which are done by nose, touch and
pressure sensors to act like hands, hearing and sonar sensors to act like ears and taste sensors to
act like tongue in human beings. All these sensors provide awareness to a robot about its
surroundings.
B. Movement, another of the primary robots characteristics required in machine is that it must be
able to move around its surroundings. This can be done in different ways like there can be rolling
on wheels propelling by thrusters a robot needs to be able to move, to count as a robot. If the
entire robot moves, it is like the Sojourner or if only some just parts of the robot moves, it is like
the Canada Arm.
C. Programmability, it can be programmed to accomplish a large variety of tasks. After being
programmed, it operates automatically.
D. Mechanical capability, enabling it to act on its environment rather than merely function as a data
processing or computational device
E. Energy, is one of the most important robots characteristics. It is necessary to have an adequate
source of energy so that robot is able to power itself on its own. There may be different sources
like electrically powered, battery powered or solar powered robots. The means of energy are
selected in accordance with the functions which the robot needs to perform.
F. Flexibility, it can operate using a range of programs and manipulates in a variety of ways.
G. Autonomous or Semi-autonomous, something that reacts to stimuli and makes decisions on
how to respond appropriately. The most important among all the characteristics of robots is that it
must be a kind of smarts. This is the area where programming enters into the scene. Smartness is
awarded to a robot by the programmer. A programmer is a person whose job is to provide robot its
smartness. The robot receives the program so that it knows what to do and how to do.
H. DOFs, degrees of freedom is also a determining factor in the characterization of Robots. Usually
robots have varying DOFs starting from 2 or 3 to 36 and higher in humanoid robots.
I.

Learnability or Adaptivity, robots that will train themselves just like peeople learn how to move
as we grow up, or learn a new activity. Just as with us it is a trial and error process. A trainer must
help the robot or person learn by correcting errors.

J.

Dexterity, to touch, pick up and manipulate objects in a complex fashion, flipping a coin between
your fingers for example.

2. Taxonomy

Robots
Application
based

Arm
Configuration
Rectangular
Coordinates
Cylindrical
Coordinates

Polar
coordinates

Scara

Feauture
based

General
purpose

Factory
Robots

Modular
Robot

Industrial
Robot

Military
Robots

Mining
Robots

Service
Robot

Educational
Robots

Medical
Robots

Research
Robots

Mobile
Robots

Collaborative
Robots

Shape of
workspace

Operating
Method

Type of
controller

Type of Joints

Type of
Technology

Type of
Motion

Limited
Sequence

Linear
Motion

Continuous
Path

Rotational
motion

Extenional
motion

Point to
point

3. Why CNC machine is not considered as a Robot?

-

A robot is a machine that uses sensors to perceive some information about its environment, then
thinks about that information, makes a decision, and performs a physical action. A mobile robot is a
robot that also can move around in its environment. So, by my definition, a CNC can be viewed as
robotic, but not a mobile robot.

There is no agreed-upon definition of a robot, but a common definition is a machine controlled,

wholly or partially, by an onboard computer. Should be either autonomous or semi-autonomous,
and should have atleast some basic intelligence imparted but CNC fails in this aspect as well.

4. Examples of what are considered to be Robots!

Humanoid Robot: ASIMO

Medical Robot: da Vinci Surgical System

Industrial Robot: KUKA

Military Robot: Big Dog