An Introduction to Robotics

Introduction

Robotics is an important field for Canada. Several hundred Canadian businesses specialize in robotics hardware research and manufacturing. Canada’s expertise in the field of space technologies places us in the forefront of developer countries in such research fields as medicine, astrophysics, telecommunications, transportation and the production of high-tech hardware and equipment.

Robotics brings together a very broad range of human activities. More than 700,000 robots are working today in industry worldwide and thousands more are being used in ethology, medicine and space research.

The science of robotics is barely fifty years old, but is taking advantage of rapid advances in microtechnology and nanotechnology to evolve into a form of artificial intelligence that is beyond the imagination of the most prolific science fiction writers.

And yet we owe the term robotics to a science fiction writer, Isaac Asimov (1926-1996), who also conceived the Three Laws that must govern the manufacture of robots.

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

Second Law: A robot must obey the orders given it by human beings except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.

Third Law: A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law.

Thus, robots are defined as the servants and protectors of humankind. And, we might add, our mimics. For when we compare the functions of humans with those of existing robotic systems, we find that in creating simple machines, industrial robots or androids, researchers and inventors have always modeled them on human physiology. For that reason, and to improve our understanding, our robotics file will constantly be drawing parallels between robotic systems and the way human beings work. Robotics was born, a very long time ago, of the human desire to exceed our limits. After inventing machines to serve and protect us, we wanted to go further. Out into space, even. Together, we’ll be taking at look at how robotics will help us to cross that final frontier.

What is a machine?

A machine is a human invention which helps people do things. Can openers, pliers and scissors are all small, simple machines. Trains, cars and cranes are larger, more complex machines.

What is a robot?

A robot is a more complex machine in that it can "learn" to perform repetitive or hazardous tasks or operate in confined or inhospitable places (in space or in the sea). Robots are machines or devices which operate automatically or in response to directions given by remote control. Automatic toasters or microwave ovens are robots, just like the International Space Station Remote Manipulator System, Canadarm2. Today, there are millions of robots capable of the most amazing range of tasks: sensing odours, detecting defective products on a production line, "seeing" the way the human eye does, meticulously and perfectly assembling complex components. But there are also so-called intelligent robots, capable of giving each other instructions, working untended or making decisions.

What is robotics?

Robotics is the study and technology of robots. It enables us to design automated mechanisms capable of replacing people in certain jobs. Robot systems can be classified into six (6) major categories, analogous to a six-way division of the functions of the human body: