The Advancements of robotics.

The Advancement of Robotics.
By
Alva Roberts
As we look into the world of robotics we will find out about the earlier versions of robotics and their contribution to modern day robotics.  During this time line we can also see how artificial Intelligence (AI) has advanced and we can try to look and see what lies ahead of the robotics industry. With the development of new technologies it is definite that the robotics industry will continue to contribute to most industries within our modern world.
1          A Robot From the Past
One of the first milestones in the world of robotics would have been a robot named Hero.  Heathkit, a company that was dedicated to educational products developed Hero as a learning tool.  Hero, Hero Jr. and Hero 2000 were the first affordable robots according to their ads.  Hero and his predecessors were not only educational toys but after the assembly of some of the models you could use them with specifics house alarms so that you not only had a house alarm you had a monitoring system that patrolled.  Hero would seek out human interactions, with the insertion of cards made by the manufacturer you could play games, sing, and even attach a programmable robotic arm to hero.  Many people within our vast and ever changing world still seek out this human counterpart.  The information used in this section comes from http://hero.dsavage.net.  This website is full of information about the hero line of robots and goes as far as to put want ads on the site to help people who would like to find hero robots.

1.1          The Parts of Hero
         Hero was made of several electrical components.  In a way you could say that this was the AI at its simplest form.  According to the http://hero.dsavage.net website the technical specs states that “Hero 2000 had: a main processor Intel 8088 CPU, 6 slave processors (11 with optional Arm), 24K RAM (expandable to 576k with optional Memory cards), 64K ROM with built in BASIC (Full version of BASIC), speech SPA-256, 360 degree sonar (24 bearings) and light sensor (255 levels), Stationary sonar range finder in the base, two RS-232 ports (one for a Terminal and the other for a printer), passive backplane supports up to 12 Cards.” 
         Just for the sake of explanation let’s look at the robot as a human.  The main processor would have to be the part of the brain that controls involuntary movement.  A human breathes therefore a machine processes numeric data. The rom and ram is the other portion of the brain.  Look at this as the awareness of the machine.  If you interact with the machine this part is the active portion or the part that responds. The slave processors would then be the nerves and tendons giving the machine the ability to move and speak.  When I say speak I would like to use the team loosely at this time due to amount of limited storage that was produce at this time speaking was limited to the capacity of the card or memory.  The slave processors would have been mostly for these functions. Even though the Intel 8088 was one of the best processors in its time the amount of data that could be processed would be minuet compared to the functions that were requested for the sub components.  As we go down the list we see the parts that make up the eyes.  The sonar sensors and range finder act as the depth perception and obstacle avoidance components.  The light sensors allowed hero to detect light. Temperature sensors were added to hero to help detect humans.  With this added hero seems more aware to us.  The ears were sound sensors that processed human words to robot lingo.  Hero could not carry conversations that were lasting but programmed phrases could be established like passwords for the security alarm or maybe happy birthday. The most important part has not been announces.  Hero will sit there as long as he does not have a heart.  To give this machine a pulse you now have to add his batteries.  Hero had a 24-amp hour battery.
2          The Robots of Our Time
There are several real working robots in this day and age.  Because of the complexity of the robots I have choose to talk about two.  The first robot is called PCBOT 914.  It is designed by whitebox robotics.  This little droid would most like fall into the same classification as Hero.  The main difference is that this robot is not only up to date it takes the place of your laptop.  In our world there will be several uses for this human counter part. Which brings me to my second robot in this the GRUNT.  The GRUNT is a much larger robot than PCBOT 914.  Its basic design looks like a six wheel all terrain vehicle, like a Polaris.  The droid has one main function and that is patrolling and advanced security.  This unmanned vehicle can give readouts of areas.  According to the manufacturer, Frontline Robotics, this machine is being purchased by militaries and government agencies across the world.  The counter-bot for the GRUNT is PCBOT 914.  The two droids can communicate with each other and while one set of droids patrol the outside of an a the counter-bot can patrol the inside.  The PCBOT can help diagnose problems encountered by the GRUNT and help the technician repair the other droid.  Several advancement in our technology have made this robotic duet possible.

2.1          PCBOT 914 and The Grunts Technology.
The PCBOT 914 and the Grunt have all the major components of a modern laptop.  Hard drives, RAM, USB ports, Monitor out put terminals, Motherboards, communication ports, speakers, microphones, cddvd roms, Pcmia slots, webcams, wireless networking radio communication devices.  They also have added components that are optional.  An example of this would be the Global Position Satellite add on and cellular technology.  The GPS system has 24 satellites that orbit around the earth giving a precise reading of the location of the GPS receiver.  The system was developed by and run by the Department of Defense. The software of the new droids is just like a laptop as well, Windows XP or Linux.  There are some robotic applications added into the new package however.  One of the optional software development kits (SDK) is the ERSP3 made by evolution robotics. With this package you add video recognition, advance mapping features and pattern recognition to your droid.  So now robots can see objects, hear noises, can sense heat, and recognize people by picture, know where in the world they are generally located, and can speak responses.  That is not the end of this list.  The GRUNT and the PCBOT 14 have robot open control (ROC) technology available.  “With this technology the droids can Intelligent autonomous navigation and team routing, have capability of detecting of anomalies with group situational awareness, plan threat-response analysis on a team level, and hierarchy a team of analogous to military command structures. Plus you have the option of human override control of any robot(s) in the system.” According to Frontline Robotics.  There are several options and features that these newer machine can do over the older systems of the past.

3. The Need of Robotics in Our Society
As times continue to progress there will always be a need for these types of technology to advance.  Many robotics corporations are looking to expand their robots uses in more than just educational and defense.  Some of the companies are already in the field of manufacturing and agricultural.  Most people do not look at a glass of milk and think that a machine milked the cow, nor do they look at a roll of toilet paper and think that and automated vehicle brought the parent roll over to the slitting machine that produced this roll of tissue.  As long as there is a demand for workforce that can be automated by a machine there will always be a reason to explore robotic technology.  To support this argument we can say that a machine is never later for work and it does not get sick.  A machine does not need work man’s Compensation.  These are not thoughts they are facts.  Even though a machine will break, that just means there will always be a need for humans to repair those machines. 
Robotics will continue to evolve in our ever-changing world due to the demands of the consumer and the rate of acceleration of our technology.  Over the past fifty years robotics have come from your basic radio controlled machines to self animated machine.  In another fifty years you may see robotic doctors and surgeons as you explore more regions of the world.  Robotics have also touched the disabled public.  “Recent amputees have had prosthetic emplaced to respond better with the kinetic movement and pressure of simulated joints.” according to http://www.roboticstrends.com.  The website also explains that various colleges are designing newer robotic prosthetic limbs to respond to the tendon and electrical pulses within the nervous system.  This is just another example of consumer demand for robotic research.

The robotics industry will continue to develop a need within our society and evolution in technology will always be continuously changing subject.  With the development of new technologies it is definite that the robotics industry will continue to contribute to most industries within our modern world.

Bibliography



ERSP information-
Evolution Robotics, 2001-2006 Evolution Robotics, Inc
http://www.evolution.com/products/ersp/

GRUNT Information-
Frontline Robotics Inc., 2006
http://www.frontlinerobotics.com/2005/

GPS Information-
Peter H. Dana, Department of Geography, University of Texas at Austin, 1994 http://www.colorado.edu/geography/gcraft/notes/gps/gps_f.html

Hero Robotic Information-
Donnie V. Savage Site ©1996-2001
http://hero.dsavage.net/robots/Hero_FAQ.html

PCBOT 914 Information-
Whitebox Robotics, Copyright 2006 White Box Robotics Inc.
http://www.whiteboxrobotics.com/special/documents/914Specifications.pdf

Robotic Prosthetics information-
Felice J. Freyer, Industry Shorts - Service: Project Looks to Medicine, Engineering to Aid Amputees 2004
http://www.roboticstrends.com/displayarticle560.html?POSTNUKESID=eff9ed657a8fd0c...