Robotics :: essays research papers

Two years ago, the Chrysler corporation on the whole gutted its Windsor, Ontario, car assembly plant and within six weeks had installed an entirely impudently factory inside the building. It was a marvel of forming. When it came time to go to work, a whole new work force marched onto the assembly line. There on opening day was a crew of 150 industrial automatons. industrial robots dont look anything like the androids from sci-fi books and movies. They dont act like the evil Daleks or a fusspot C-3P0. If anything, the industrial robots toiling on the Chrysler line resemble comely swans or baby brontosauruses with their fat, squat bodies, long arched necks and small heads. An industrial robot is essentially a long manipulator arm that holds tools much(prenominal) as welding guns or motorized screwdrivers or grippers for picking up objects. The robots working at Chrysler and in many other modern factories be extremely adept at performing highly specialized tasks - unitary robo t may spray paint car parts bit another does spots welds while another pours radioactive chemicals. Robots are lofty workers they never get bored and they work around the clock. Whats even more than important, theyre flexible. By altering its programming you can instruct a robot to take on different tasks. This is largely what sets robots apart from other machines cause as you might you cant make your washing machine do the dishes. Although near critics complain that robots are stealing much-needed jobs away from people, so far theyve been presumptuousness only the dreariest, dirtiest, most soul-destroying work. The word robot is Slav in origin and is related to the words for work and worker. Robots first appeared in a play, Rossums Universal Robots, written in 1920 by the Czech playwright, Karel Capek. The play tells of an engineer who designs man-like machines that have no human weakness and become immensely popular. However, when the robots are used for war they rebel agai nst their human masters. Though industrial robots do dull, dehumanizing work, they are nevertheless a delight to watch as they unfold their long necks, swivel their heads and poke about the area where they work. They satisfy "that black longing to verify the human body reflected in a machine, to see a living function translated into mechanical parts", as unrivalled writer has said. Just as much fun are the numerous "personal" robots now on the market, the most popular of which is HERO, manufactured by Heathkit.