Robotics

Summer Camp

Camp Objectives

Robotics Camp has been designed to introduce the science behind the design and operation of robots. By the end of this camp session, you will be able to:

•Define a robot as a machine that gathers information about its environment (senses) and uses that information (thinks) to follow instructions to do work (acts).

•Recognize the advantages and limitations of robots by comparing how robots and humans sense, think, and act and by exploring uses of robots in manufacturing, research, and everyday settings.

•Understand your connection with technology and create a robot that is programmed to complete one or more tasks.

Three Laws of Robotics

1. A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.

2. A robot must obey any orders given to it by human beings, except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.

3. A robot must protect its own

existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law.

Isaac Asimov, 1942

What is a ROBOT?

A robot is a machine that gathers information about its environment (senses) and uses that information (thinks) to follow instructions to do work (acts).

What is a ROBOT?

A robot has five main parts:

Arm Controller Drive End Effector Sensor

Main Parts of a Robot

The arm of the robot is a significant part of the robotic architecture. It positions the End effector and the sensors that the robot will require. Most arms resemble the human limb-the arm. Some of these arms have many complex parts including fingers, wrists, and elbows. This enables the robot different methods of movement.

Seven degrees of freedom are needed for a robot to

reach all points in its work envelope. Each direction a joint can go gives an arm one degree of freedom. Simple robots usually have three degrees of freedom-it can move in three ways: up and down, left and right, and forward and backward.

Arm

First degree of freedom is called a shoulder pitch. To find your arm's first degree of freedom, point your entire arm straight out in front of you. Move your shoulder up and down. The up and down movement of the shoulder is called the shoulder pitch.

1st Degree of Freedom

Second degree of freedom is called an arm yaw. Point your entire arm straight out in front of you. Move your entire arm from side to side. This side-to-side movement is called the arm yaw.

2nd Degree of Freedom

Third degree of freedom is called a shoulder roll. Point your entire arm straight out in front of you. Now, roll your entire arm from the shoulder, as if you were screwing in a light bulb. This rotating movement is called a shoulder roll.

3rd Degree of Freedom

Fourth degree of freedom is called elbow pitch. Point your entire arm straight out in front of you. Hold your arm still, and then bend only your elbow. Your elbow can move up and down. This up and down movement of the shoulder is called the elbow pitch.

4th Degree of Freedom

Fifth degree of freedom is called a wrist pitch. Point your entire arm straight out in front of you. Without moving your shoulder or elbow, flex your wrist up and down. This up and down movement of the wrist is called the wrist pitch.

5th Degree of Freedom

Sixth degree of freedom is called a wrist yaw. Point your entire arm straight out in front of you. Without moving your shoulder or elbow, flex your wrist from side to side. The side-to-side movement is called the wrist yaw.

6th Degree of Freedom

Seventh degree of freedom is called the wrist roll. Point your entire arm straight out in front of you. Without moving your shoulder or elbow, rotate your wrist, as if you were turning a doorknob. The rotation of the wrist is called the wrist roll.

7th Degree of Freedom

The controller functions as the "brain" of the robot. It can also network to other systems so that the robot may work together with other robots or machines.

Controller

The drive is the engine of the robot. It enables mobility and movements between the joints of the arm. It can be powered by air, electricity, and/or water.

Drive

The End Effector is the hand connected to the arm. In humans, the End effector is the hand. However, in robots, the End effector can be of many different things. It could range from a being a tweezer, to a blowtorch.

End Effector

Sensors provide a robot with feedback so that it can "understand" its surroundings-otherwise a robot would be not only blind, but also deaf to its environment.

Sensors

How are Robots Limited?

Materials:shoes that tie tongue depressor masking tape heavy gloves 2 pairs of pliers blind folds

What To Do: Try tying your shoes blindfolded. Not too hard! Now, repeat

the activity but with heavy gloves on your hands. Then, tape tongue depressors onto your thumbs and forefingers and try again. And if those activities weren't difficult enough, tie your shoes with pliers. First, use pliers in both hands; then with only one hand; finally with two people -- each with one pair of pliers. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXiql8Fm64A

Can a Robot Tie Your Shoes?

Expressions

The Energetically Autonomous Tactical Robot (EATR) is a project by Robotic Technology Inc. (RTI) and Cyclone Power Technologies Inc. to develop a robotic vehicle that could forage for plant biomass to fuel itself, theoretically operating indefinitely. “It can find, ingest, and extract energy from biomass in the environment (and other organically-based energy sources), as well as use conventional and alternative fuels (such as gasoline, heavy fuel, kerosene, diesel, propane, coal, cooking oil, and solar) when suitable," reads the company's Web site.

 If in the future machines have the ability to reason, be self-aware and have feelings, then what makes a human being a human being, and a robot a robot?

 If you could have a robot that would do any task you like, a companion to do all the work that you prefer not to, would you? And if so, how do you think this might affect you as a person?

 Are there any kind of robots that shouldn't be created?

Or that you wouldn't want to

see created?

Why?

Automation and the development of new technologies like robots is viewed by most people as inevitable. But many workers who lose their jobs consider this business practice unfair. Do you think the development of new technologies, and their implementation, is inevitable? What, if anything, should we as a society do for those people who lose their jobs?

http://www.robo-works.net/home.html http://ku-prism.org/resources/polar/

robotlessons.html http://www.tryengineering.org/lessons/

robotarm.pdf

http://www.tryengineering.org/lessons/binary.pdf http://www.technokids.com/documents/camp/

survivor-sample-lessons.pdf