It is branch of Science and technology which deals with application design and manufacturing of Robots using computer Applications. Japan, USA and Germany are leading countries in research of Robotics. Robots can increase speed, Productivity & Accuracy e.g. Industrial Robot

Jobs which a human could do better than a robot, but Robots free us from dangerous dull and dirty work e.g. Domestic Robot and Military Robot

Time Line of Robot Development

• Robot named Televox1926 was worlds first workable robot
• Marwin Minsky and John Mccarthy in 1956 introduced Artificial Intelligence in machines
• 1997 World Chess champion Gary Kasparov lost to Robot IBM Deep Blue Sea
• Humanoid Robot named ASIMO created by Honda Motor Company
• Little Moe: A germ-killing robot designed to rid a room of dangerous viruses in minutes, works by damaging viral DNA using pulses of ultraviolet light. It is currently being used in 250 hospitals and health facilities across the US.
• Da Vinci Surgical System: is a robotic surgical system made by the American company Intuitive Surgical. Approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), it is designed to facilitate complex surgery using a minimally invasive approach, and is controlled by a surgeon from a console.
• Sophia: Developed by Hanson Robotics became world’s first humanoid robot to earn a citizenship after Saudi Arabia gave it a citizenship.

Types of Robots

Industrial Robots: An industrial robot is defined by as an automatically controlled, reprogrammable, multipurpose manipulator programmable in two or more axis

Domestic Robot: Used for House Hold chores (Both Indoor and Outdoor). The highest level Domestic Robot is Domobot autonomously connected to wifi home network and Smartphone

Humanoid Robot: A humanoid Robot is a Robot with its overall appearance based on that of a human body. It is an autonomous Robot (Pre-programmed Robot because it can adapt to change in its environment or in itself & continue to reach its goals)

Capacities of Humanoid Robot

• Self Maintenance (Can recharge itself)
• Autonomous learning (i.e. learn or gain new capabilities without outside assistance)To adapt to new situations & to avoid harmful situation to people, property and itself. Safe Interaction with Human Being and environment. E.g. of Humanoid Robot ASIMO (Advanced Step in Innovative Mobility) made be Honda Motor Company. Asimo resembles a small Astronaut wearing a back pack which can run at a speed of 6 km/hr

Laws of Robotics

The term robotics was coined in the 1940s by science fiction writer Isaac Asimov. In a series of stories and novels, he imagined a world in which mechanical beings were mankind's devoted helpmates. They were constrained to obey what have become known as Asimov's Laws of Robotics:

• A robot may not injure a human being, or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.
• A robot must obey the orders given it by human beings except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.
• A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law.

Basic Components of a Robot

A typical robot has a movable physical structure, a motor of some sort, a sensor system, a power supply and a computer "brain" that controls all of these elements. Essentially, robots are man-made versions of animal life -- they are machines that replicate human and animal behavior. 5 main Components of a Robot

1)   Manipulator (Arm of a Robot) - Manipulator - which is the robots arm, consists of segments jointed together with axes capable of motion in various directions allowing the robot to perform work

2)   The End effector (which is the part of the manipulator) - The end effectors which is a gripper tool, a special device, or fixture attached to the robots arm, actually performs the work

3)   Power Supply - provides and regulates the energy that is converted to motion by the robot actuator, and it may be either electric, pneumatic, or hydraulic

4)   Controller - initiates, terminates, and coordinates the motion of sequences of a robot. Also it accepts the necessary inputs to the robot and provides the outputs to interface with the outside world.

Types of sensor

• Tilt sensor To analyze degree of inclination performed by the robot
• Digital Compass Used to Move in right direction
• Pro-pri Ceptive Sensor Self collision detection, tilt sensor, digital compass, sensing heat in itself
• Extero captive Sensor Uses ultra sensor, sonic waves for sound navigation.
• Vision sensor CCD(Charged Couple Device) Camera, captures photons on light & convert it to digital sensor
• Sound Sensor Is Performed by Microphone helps in the speech interpretation and collection of voice sound

Applications of Robotics

• Robotics and Artificial Intelligence (AI) go hand in hand. Artificial Intelligence is the Science of creating computers that can perform task that we associate with human intelligence. It is emulation of intelligent behavior by a Machine. Performs complex solving task that requires thinking and reasoning which process vast amount of knowledge.
• Industrial Robots are used because of its speed, accuracy and reliability. Directly used in manufacturing of Automobiles Work Performed by the Robot Wielding, Spray Painting, Material Handling
• Robots are used to fit chips in Motherboard of a machine. These chips are very small in size (Nano chips) and hence difficult for humans to fit it .
• Tele- Robots used as UAV (Unmanned Armed Vehicle) to perform at dangerous far at dangerous far away or inaccessible places.Work Performed Security & Surveillance in enemy territory. Robots such as iRobot PackBot & Foster Miller Tallon used by USA in Iraq and Afghanistan to diffuse road side bombs
• Robotic Surgery: It uses robots in performing surgery & one such robotic surgery widely used is DA VINCI surgerical system provided with a 3D- Vision system which can be used to perform minimally Invasive surgery with following advantages : Minimize blood loss, Smaller Incision(1.2cm) which reduces pain & shortens recovery time and Less pain, so minimum medication needed
• Nano robots can be used to clear oil spills & disassemble pollutants specially non-Biodegradable ones reducing their polluting impact
• Robots can be used in Nuclear plants for handling & disposal of nuclear waste material, which saves the workers in the plant from potential exposure to hazardous radiations. Tokyo Electro Power Cooperation deployed iRobot Packed Bot to the Fukushima Nuclear plant in Japan, as it is designed to cope with hazardous conditions, so Packed BOT entered the facility with an attached video camera allowing TEPCO to receive live interior images and temperature reading of the troubled reactor building.
• Scientists have developed Robots for pollination which are called as NOVACRAFTERS or ROBINSECTS. It has been observed that due to certain events like Colony collapse disorder, the number of pollinators has been decreasing thereby threatening the world food security. Algorithms are being developed to help robot locate flowers. Its robotic arm is topped with a set of soft brush tips designed to act like a bee's hair. It will gently reach out to each flower  and pollinate it.

Robotics in India

DRDO has developed Daksh Robot. It is a counter terrorist remotely operated designed to handle hazardous material and suspect object in public places. It is provided with multiple camera used for surveillance

DRDO has initiated a project to make Robotics Soldiers Deployed in the LOC (Line of Control) but the challenge is to integrate cognitive skills under AI to differentiate between a threat and a friend

Centre for Artificial Intelligence & robotics (CAIR) Bangalore has developed a CHATUR Robot with vision sensor to pick up objects in the visual field

• AIIMS(Delhi) has successfully performed Robotic Surgery in a patient suffering from Auto- Immune Disease Myasthenia where they successfully removed the thymus gland in the patient.
• Kirobo is the first talking Humanoid Robot launched in International Space System(ISS) It can talk in Japanese a Language.The aim of sending Kirobo to ISS is to analyze how a non-human can provide emotional support for people isolated over long periods
• India's First Robotic Telescope: The telescope, located at the Indian Astronomical Observatory (IAO) at Hanle, Ladakh, is the country’s first robotic telescope and the first one designed to observe dynamic, or transient, events in the universe. The facility at Hanle is part of a multi-country collaborative initiative – known as the Global Relay of Observatories Watching Transients Happen (GROWTH) – to observe transient events in the universe. The 70-cm robotic telescope joins other larger facilities of IAO’s in Hanle: the Himalayan Chandra Telescope, the High-Altitude Gamma-Ray (HAGAR) telescope and the Major Atmospheric Cherenkov Experiment (MACE) telescope. The GROWTH telescope is expected to generate enormous amounts of data: over one thousand gigabytes in a year. The telescope has a camera capable of detecting faint transient events found by partner survey telescopes, such as the Zwicky Transient Facility at Palomar, California. It has also been programmed to directly communicate with different ground-based and space-based surveys searching for transient sources.

Future of robots

• Robotic pets, lawn mowers and vacuum cleaners are already on the market. Following the success of their Aibo robot dog, Sony have developed a humanoid entertainment robot named QRIO. Honda's Asimo welcomes customers to their showrooms in Japan. Toshiba have built a robot that can play volleyball.
• Rapid advances are being made in robotic control systems, artificial intelligence, neural networks, and in the miniaturisation, sophistication and reliability of electronic circuitry, sensors and actuators. These are all contributing to a steady increase in the capabilities of robots. Robots currently under development may become widely used in the food, clothing, nuclear and offshore industries, healthcare, farming, transportation, mining and defence.