Our Future With Robots Will Be Amazing And Here Is Why

Robots have started to cook and clean for us and are assisting us in our day to day lives. Industrial robots have been assembling parts and manufacturing materials for a long time now. In healthcare, robots have started performing surgeries. Bots and drones are delivering packages. Military has been extensively using robots for diffusing bombs, for surveillance and for vigilance. Autonomous tractors are tilling and ploughing farms. Robots are appearing in almost every field with abilities that seem to grow every day. With artificial intelligence they are beginning to show some cognition as well, like Honda's ASIMO which can remember names, faces, take simple orders and execute them.

We have been thinking about machines that can move about themselves and do things for as far back as ancient times. In around 400-350BC, Archytus of Tarentum built a mechanical bird that can fly. "If every tool when ordered or even of its own accord could do the work that befits it then there would be no need either of apprentices for the master workers or of slaves for the lords." Aristotle supposedly said that in 320BC. Two texts- Pneumatica and Automata which talks about building automatic machines, are attributed to ancient Greek engineer Hero of Alexandria. We find the mention of mechanical giants in ancient Greek texts. Leonardo Da Vinci built a Robot that can swing its arms and move its jaws, in around 1495. Tanaka Hisashige made Karakuri dolls in 1800s. These dolls were capable of drawing arrows from a quiver and shooting them. They could also be used for serving tea and were very popular among Japanese aristocracy.

Word 'Robot', taken from an old Slavic word 'Robota' meaning compulsory labor, was first used by Czeck writer Karel Capek in his play Rossum's Universal Robots. The play was about a society that build robots to serve them, but gets enslaved by the robots afterwards. Later in 1942, word 'Robotics' was used by Issac Asimov in his story 'Runaround', which also included his three laws of Robotics. Later he added Zeroth law saying- a robot may not injure Humanity or by inaction allow Humanity to come to harm. George Devol made a Robot in 1954 which was programmable. He Sold this robot to General Motors in 1960. General Motors became first company to use a robotic arm in its production line when it installed this robot called 'Unimate' in its Trenton, New Jersey plant. Researchers at Stanford, MIT and world-over, continued to develop newer, better Robots, bringing us to the current age of humanoid bots like ASIMO and ATLAS.

In old times people made robots using springs and pulleys and gears. Developments in the field of Electrical and Electronics in 19th and 20th century brought us Electric motors, sensors and microprocessors. These are the components we use in building robots now. Going about building your own bot, first you'll need to decide what you want your bot to do. It can be an obstacle avoiding robot, or a cleaning bot or a walking bot like DARWIN. Next you will need to decide what it will look like. Make a sketch or draw it on computer. After that you will need to select material for robot's body and select components which you'll put into it. Usually, the components which you will be needing are main processor board like an Arduino or Raspberry, controller board like Arbotix Pro Robocontroller. Motors could be geared DC motors, stepper motors and/or DC servomotors, normally referred as actuators. After that you may need wheels and casters, linear actuators, specialty robot motors, Bluetooth module or WIFI module or Ethernet for communication.

Stereo cameras or a webcam can be used for vision. Large number of sensors are available such as accelerometers, gyros, LIDARs, light sensors, temperature sensors such as LM35, voltage and current sensors, gas sensors, ground sensors, position sensors such as rotary encoders and potentiometers, touch sensors, Ultrasonic sensors for sensing distance from objects. Hydraulic pumps and pipes and solenoid valves may be required for some designs. LiPo or VRLA Batteries will be required for power supply. Other than this, you are going to need data cables and wires with connector, LEDs and displays, I/O boards, Motor driver boards, glue and bolts and some hardware tools such as pliers and keys and screwdrivers. You can always search for a particular part on Google and select from a number of vendors. Next you will require to program the processor for which you can use a programming interface and load the program from your computer using USB connector. After that you will need to put all the components together using your schematic. Microprocessor uses the feedback from a number of sensors to drive motors and pumps of the robot to accomplish tasks that it was programmed to accomplish. 

Accelerometer measures proper acceleration as a vector quantity in three dimension. Proper acceleration is acceleration relative to acceleration of the object in free fall. For the object under free fall, accelerometer will measure a value of 0m/s² and for an object sitting on ground it will measure a value of 9.81m/s² upwards. Accelerometer also senses orientation as it can sense the direction of weight. It can sense vibration as well as shock. Due to such properties, it is widely used in navigation system of aircrafts and spacecrafts and for balancing robots and to trigger safety mechanism in case of excessive shock or vibration. Accelerometer typically comprises of a spring mass system made of Piezoelectric, Piezoresistive or Capacitive sensor as spring and some mass with some damping medium such as a gas inside a housing. They are usually micro electromechanical systems or MEMS that can fit on a PCB. When the object accelerates,  mounted accelerometer also accelerates creating displacement of mass which stresses the Piezoelectric crystal or Capacitive sensor causing a voltage change which can be calibrated to give acceleration reading.

Gyros are used to sense rotation. They can measure angular velocity and the feedback along with position sensor feedback can be used for rotating arms or torso of the Robot or for maintaining balance in conjunction with accelerometer feedback. They measure angular velocity in degrees per second. Rotating gyro resists any change in its axis of rotation which is why it can be used for sensing orientation. Stereo camera is used for getting 3D images of surrounding, serves as 3D vision for robots. LIDAR is used for creating a 3D map of environment by shooting pulsed laser. It gives distance of objects around which is utilized by the processor in navigating the robot to tasks. It consists of laser, scanner and a receiver such as Silicon avalanche photodiodes. Ultrasonic sensors are also used to measure distance to nearby objects. It works by measuring time between transmission and reception of an ultrasonic signal. Current and voltage sensors are used with motors for precise speed control and protection. Temperature sensor gives temperature reading to the processor.

Honda started work on bipedal humanoids with prototype E0 in 1986. This was a slow walker taking 5s between steps. Researchers analyzed how humans and animals walk and run to get ideas and improved on their design. Next prototype E1 could walk at .25km/h. Model E2 was first to walk nearly like a human and could attain a speed of up to 1.2km/h. Model E3 could walk at 3km/h. Prototype E1, E2 and E3 were developed between 1987 and 1991. Next model E4 could perform quick walk at 4.7km/h. With more improvements prototype model E5 was made. E5 could walk autonomously. Engineers incorporated ground reaction control, target zero moment point control and foot planting location control to enable the robot to walk autonomously without falling. This was done to achieve more human like movement. Prototype E6 could balance itself on slopes or when faced with rough terrain. It could also walk on stairs without falling. After achieving reliable walking capability, engineers added torso, arms and head and first humanoid like prototype P1 was created. P1 could push carts. Prototype P2 (210kg) could maintain its balance when knocked. With improved sensors, software and body, P3 could walk faster, weighed less (130kg) and appeared more not like a science experiment at 1.57m. Development of P1, P2 and P3 was carried out between 1993 and 1997.

Engineers continued to research and improve on their work. On Nov 20, 2000 they presented ASIMO, standing for advanced step in innovative mobility. This humanoid robot was 1.2m tall and had abilities like intelligent real time flexible walk featuring predicted movement control. ASIMO was able to walk and turn more smoothly than earlier prototypes. By 2002, they had a more improved version able to recognize faces, postures and gestures, different sounds, objects under motion and surrounding environment. By 2005, ASIMO was able to carry beverages. Equipped with new posture control system, it was able to run at 6km/h in circular pattern. Height was slightly increased to 1.3m. Software was further improved to let ASIMO move more gracefully with the help of visual sensor, ground sensor and ultrasonic sensor. Ability to avoid obstacles was also improved. By 2007, ASIMO could recharge itself on sensing low battery using specially developed charging station. Two or more ASIMOs could work in collaboration now. They also added the ability to give way to people passing through.

ASIMO had a higher degree of autonomy by year 2011 as a result of continued improvements. The new ASIMO could determine its behavior based on information gathered with the help of sensors, from surrounding people and objects. Some of the components used by ASIMO are- lightweight but reliably strong Magnesium alloy body, gyroscope and accelerometer, 6 axis force sensor, joint angle sensor, 6 ultrasonic sensors in midsection, brushless DC servomotors and harmonic drive speed reducer, battery, IC communication card, floor surface sensors in feet. Some of the people involved in development of ASIMO are chief engineer Masato Hirose and project leader Satoshi Shigemi. Honda team has done an awesome job and they are not finished yet.

Apart from ASIMO, many other developers have created amazing bots.  UCLA Professor Dr. Dennis Hong is using DARWIN as a research platform to develop working humanoids. ATLAS is a humanoid developed by Boston based company Boston Dynamics, primarily for disaster relief ops such as search and rescue . As of February 2016, ATLAS can open and push a door to let itself out, maintain balance on rough snowy terrain and get up by itself when knocked down. It can maintain balance on a narrow beam of wood for considerable amount of time. It can also lift a heavy box and place it on shelf. ATLAS uses hydraulics for its movements, a stereo camera and a side camera for vision, a LIDAR for sensing its surrounding and gyros and accelerometer for orientation and balance. HRP 4 is a humanoid bot developed jointly by KAWADA Industries and AIST Japan. HRP 4 can walk, move its arms and legs in sync to make gestures and lift up to .5kg with its 5 fingers. NAO is a biped bot developed by Aldebaran Robotics of Paris, France. Bruno Maisonnier is the CEO. NAO can speak with coordinated gestures, tell jokes and stories and can even dance using pre programmed moves. It can get up on its own if pushed over. NAO uses 2 HD cameras for vision, four microphones, nine tactile sensors and eight pressure sensors among many other.

Under social robots we have Zenbo from ASUS, Tapia from MJI Robotics Japan, Aido from Aidorobotics and Jibo from Jibo Inc. For military purposes there is MQ-9 Reaper and MQ-1 Predator from General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Packbot from IRobot, Massachusetts, TALON from Foster-Miller, Massachusetts and DRDO Daksh. Packbot and DAKSH are bomb diffusing bots used by armed forces and law enforcement. New Holland has developed an autonomous tractor for farm automation. Swiss company Sensefly makes eBee SQ drones which are used by farmers to watch over crop health. AgEagle is another drone that can watch over crops. Da Vinci series of surgical robots from intuitive surgical are remotely operated and have been performing surgeries for close to a decade. Smart Tissue Autonomous Robot or STAR did a better job sewing up a pig's small intestine than human surgeons. Amazon is testing delivery drones in order to deliver packages in under 30 minute. Food companies in UK and USA are testing autonomous delivery vehicles. YuMi from ABB, Baxter from Rethink Robotics and Nextage from Kawada Robotics, Japan are some of the industrial robots in use. We even have fully automated lights out factories like IBM's keyboard assembly factory in Texas.

       

After the disaster at TEPCO's Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant following the failure of emergency generators due to tsunami on March 11, 2011, many were hoping robots will come to rescue. None were up to task except for Packbot. Plant was dangerously radioactive for any human to enter. Packbot was sent in to take images of damage. At Osaka conference held in November of 2012, DARPA program manager Gill Pratt announced DARPA Robotics Challenge to encourage teams from around the world to build disaster rescue humanoid bots. DARPA was to provide funding of up to 4 million dollars to 8 teams coming up top in trials. To win the challenge, a humanoid had to complete 8 tasks in shortest time under disaster like scenario which included failure of wireless communication between bot and operator. The tasks included driving a vehicle, stepping out of the vehicle, walking on debris, opening door, going up stairs, turning on a drill and cutting through wall, opening a valve and a surprise task. 16 teams participated in trials dominated by team SCHAFT of Japan. Following the trials, SCHAFT inc. was acquired by Google and the team withdrew from finals. Their humanoid S-one was equipped with compact liquid cooled motors allowing for higher currents and therefore higher torque.

25 Teams competed  in finals held at Fairplex, LA county fair grounds on 5th and 6th June 2015 for the top prize of 2 million dollars. Of these were, team MIT, team Tartan Rescue from Carnegie Melon University, Team KAIST from South Korea, team Robosimian from NASA JPL and team IHMC robotics from IHMC, Pensacola Florida. Team MIT and team IHMC were using ATLAS. Prof. Russ Tedrake of team MIT had given his ATLAS as much autonomy as he can. Due to a small glitch the robot tried to step out of the vehicle while pressing throttle and fell down, breaking its right arm. Dr. Jerry Pratt led team IHMC. Jerry has been working on bipedal robots for more than 20 years, developing a sophisticated walking software. Team IHMC ATLAS also fell while walking over debris but without causing itself any serious damage. Repairs and error compensations were done overnight and the bot was able to finish all 8 tasks in second run. Team Tartan Rescue competed with their robot 'Chimp' which was the only bot to get up on its own after falling. Chimp with its motion planning ability was also able to complete all 8 tasks. Brett Kennedy of NASA JPL was leading team Robosimian. They competed with the quadruped bot Robosimian.

  

Team KAIST was led by Prof. Jun Ho Oh. After a disappointing performance in trials, Jun Ho Oh thought up some improvements to give their robot HUBO an edge. He put wheels at HUBO's knees and casters at its toes which allowed it to move forward while kneeling, increasing its chances of completing the tasks without falling. HUBO Could rotate its torso. Because of the air cooling system, the 33 motors in the robot could draw more current than rated, allowing it to be more powerful and faster. They put a supercapacitor system for emergency power to keep the bot balanced and communication up in case of main power failure. HUBO was able to complete all 8 tasks faster than other bots, claiming first prize. Team IHMC Robotics came second with a clock of 50:26 and was awarded 1 million dollars. Team Tartan Rescue came in third with a clock of 55:15 and received 500,000 dollars.

Graphene is a honeycomb like 2 dimensional hexagonal lattice of Carbon atoms. It is 100-300 times tougher than steel yet extremely lightweight at .77mg/m² and flexible. It is the best conductor of electricity and heat we have. It shows nonlinear diamagnetism, allowing it to levitate over suitable magnets. It is almost transparent and can be used to make semitransparent electronics. It can absorb light and has possibility to be used in solar cells. Continued research have shown that Graphene can be used in making classical and quantum transistors as well. Graphene can also be used to make best quality barriers. Due to such awesome properties, researchers are keenly pursuing ways of using it in building better bots. One possibility is using it as replacement for Silicone. It can also be used to make flexible, lightweight and extremely tough structure for robots. With Graphene actuators, future bots may become faster, more powerful and highly flexible. With Graphene as covering, they may also be able to harness sunlight for all their electrical power needs.

Quantum computing presents even higher possibilities for robots of future. Quantum processors equipped with sophisticated quantum algorithms can figure out global weather patterns, design stable new molecules or simulate human brain patterns. Robots equipped with quantum AI may be able to make decisions in real time factoring in huge amount of information from their surrounding, bringing them further close to human like behavior. Equipped with such abilities, robots of future may be able to carry out decision intensive tasks making their integration with human environment look even more natural. They are already taking over restaurant and fast food jobs. Zume Pizza of Mountain View California uses robotic chefs and Eatsa is a highly automated  fast food joint operating in San Francisco. Autonomous trucks and cars are taking over driving jobs. Google and Uber already have working autonomous vehicles and others are coming along fast. Robots are taking over the jobs of doctors, lawyers and accountants as well. They are increasingly being used for dangerous and dirty works in factories and laboratories. Robotic soldiers are poised to reduce the number of serving personnel. New technology brings new kind of jobs. There will be other type of jobs. People will have to just train accordingly. Future served by robots looks safer and more convenient. It's going to be awesome.

References:

1) http://world.honda.com/ASIMO/technology/index.html

2) http://www. ancient-origins.net/ancient-technology/steam-powered-pigeon-             archytas-flying-machine-antiquity-002179

3) https://learn.sparkfun.com/tutorials/gyroscope

4) https://learn.sparkfun.com/tutorials/accelerometer-basics

5) https://www.technologyreview.com/s/538136/a-transformer-wins-darpas-2-             million-robotics-challenge/

Image credits goes to respective sources.