Mobile robot

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Mobile Robots are automatic machines that are capable of movement in a given environment.

Robots generally fall into two classes, linked manipulators (or Industrial robots) and mobile robots. Mobile robots have the capability to move around in their environment and are not fixed to one physical location. In contrast, industrial manipulators usually consist of a jointed arm and gripper assembly (or end effector) that is attached to a fixed surface.

The most common class of mobile robots are wheeled robots. A second class of mobile robots includes legged robots. They might have two legs like humans, or more, resembling animals or insects. A third class includes aerial robots, usually referred to as unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). A fourth class are robots that are suited for an underwater environment. They are called autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV).

Mobile robots are the focus of a great deal or current research and almost every major university has one or more labs that focus on mobile robot research. Mobile robots are also found in industry, military and security environments. They also appear as consumer products, for entertainment or to perform certain tasks like vacuum cleaning or mowing.

[edit] History

1939-1945 — During World War II the first mobile robots emerged as a result of technical advances on a number of relatively new research fields like computer science and cybernetics. They were mostly flying bombs. Examples are smart bombs that only detonate within a certain range of the target, the use of guiding systems and radar control. The V1 and V2 rockets had a crude 'autopilot' and automatic detonation systems. They were the predecessors of modern cruise missiles.

1948-1949 — Grey Walter builds Elmer and Elsie, two autonomous robots that looked like turtles. Officially they were called Machina Speculatrix because these robots liked to explore their environment. Elmer and Elsie were equipped with a light sensor, if they found a light source they would move towards it, avoiding or moving obstacles on their way. These robots demonstrated that complex behaviour could arise from a simple design, Elmer and Elsie only had the equivalent of two nerve cells. [1]

1961-1963 — The Johns Hopkins University develops 'Beast'. Beast used a sonar to move around. When its batteries ran low it would find a power socket and plug itself in.

1969 — Mowbot was the very first robot that would automatically mow the lawn. [2]

1970 — The Stanford Cart line follower was a mobile robot that was able to follow a white line, using a camera to see. It was radio linked to a large mainframe that made the calculations. [3]
At about the same time (1966-1972) the Stanford Research Institute is building and doing research on Shakey, a robot named after it's jerky motion. Shakey had a camera, a range finder, bump sensors and a radio link. Shakey was the first robot that could reason about its actions. This means that Shakey could be given very general commands, and that the robot would figure out the necessary steps to accomplish the given task.
The Soviet Union explores the surface of the Moon with Lunokhod 1, a lunar rover.

1973 — Lunokhod 2

1976 — In its Viking program the NASA sends two unmanned spacecrafts to Mars.

1977 — The first Star Wars movie A New Hope features R2D2, an autonomous mobile robot and C3PO, a humanoid. They make robots known to the general public.

1980 — The interest of the public in robots rises, resulting in robots that could be purchased for home use. These robots served entertainment or educational purposes. Examples include the RB5X [4], which still exists today and the HERO series.
The Stanford Cart is now able to navigate its way through obstacle courses and make maps of its environment.

1989 — Mark Tilden invents BEAM robotics.

1993-1994 — Dante I [5] and Dante II [6] were developed by Carnegie Mellon University. Both were walking robots used to explore live volcanoes.

1996-1997 — NASA sends the Mars Pathfinder with its rover Sojourner to Mars. The rover explores the surface, commanded from earth. Sojourner was equipped with a hazard avoidance system. This enabled Sojourner to autonomously find it s way through unknown martian terrain.

1999 — Sony introduces Aibo, a robotic dog capable of seeing, walking and interacting with its environment.

2001 — Start of the Swarm-bots project. Swarm bots resemble insect colonies. Typically they consist of a large number of individual simple robots, that can interact with each other and together perform complex tasks. [7]

2004 — Robosapien, a biomorphic toy robot designed by Mark Tilden is commercially available.
In 'The Centibots Project' 100 autonomous robots work together to make a map of an unknown environment and search for objects within the environment. [8]
In the first DARPA Grand Challenge competition, fully autonomous vehicles compete against each other on a desert course.