U NIT 3: Robot making industry

Man is a robot with defects.

Emile Cioran

WARM-UP

1. Think of as many applications of the following robots as possible.

2. Discuss the following definitions of a word ‘robot’ in pairs. Give your own definition.

1. A robot is a mechanical device that can perform tasks automatically.

2. A robot is a machine that looks like a human being and performs various complex acts (as walking or talking) of a human being.

3. A robot is a device that automatically performs complicated often repetitive tasks.

4. A robot is a mechanism guided by automatic controls.

3. Why do people create robots? Work in pairs. Make a list of all possible reasons.

4. Work in pairs. Make a list of the world-famous robots.

5. Look at the list of the things that 6-year-olds can do and robots can't (yet) and try to guess why dexterity is one of the challenges of specialists in robotics.

1. T ie shoelaces

2. Fold a bedsheet

3. Clear a table of dishes

4. Turn the pages of a book

5. Type on a keyboard

6. Use chopsticks

7. Build a house of cards

8. Put a cap on a pen

9. Open a lock with a key

10. Pick up a coin from the floor

READING

6. Underline the stressed sound in each word as in the example. Practise reading.

Dexterity, aluminium, initiative, repertoire, handrail, intervention, gesture, teleoperator, inference, generalization, roboticist, coordinate.

7. Write out all geographical names from the text (Parts 1 and 2).

8. Student A: Read the text below. Student B: Read the text in the Further reading section.

Student B: Ask your partner to find out the answers to the following questions. Make notes.

1. What does a robot that is described in the text resemble?

2. What parts does Robonaut consist of?

3. What can Robonaut do?

4. Where can such robots be applied?

Student A: Ask your partner to find out the answers to the following questions. Make notes.

1. Why is dexterity a challenge for engineers-roboticists?

2. What do Robonaut’s arms contain? What are the functions of an on-board computer?

3. What are the new abilities of Robonaut?

4. What is Dexter? What do Robonaut and Dexter have in common? What is different?

Get a grip. Part 1.

Clad smartly in a white flight suit, the astronaut is a picture of concentration - c arefully grasping a rod with a gloved hand and fastening it to a large aluminium frame by gently twisting the rod until it locks in place. That frame might some day support solar panels to power a space station or a moon colony. This vital job requires precise, deliberate moves and a good deal of strength, but this astronaut is up to the task.

Here at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas, specialists train for all kinds of important missions. But the astronaut in the helmet is the cream of the crop, and the centre's teachers proudly track every move of the exercise. "That looks like the way I would do it," says Ron Diftler. "It's kind of eerie. Sometimes you could swear it's a human doing the task."

It's not a human, of course. Robonaut is one of the most dexterous robots on the Earth, and Diftler is its supervisor, and manager on the project. Robonaut's upper body looks human, with a head, torso, two multi-jointed arms, and two precisely controlled five-fingered hands. It can mimic the dexterity of an astronaut wearing pressurised gloves, and it might one day assist on space-walking missions or even operate in space on its own. The robot could be sent into orbit to spruce up the International Space Station, for instance, or help construct the first human habitat on Mars.

An initiative launched by NASA has given Robonaut and its kin a vital boost. The Human-Robot Technology programme aims to develop intelligent machines that can do useful work with their hands. It's all part of what robotics experts call "autonomous mobile manipulation" - and it's one of the hottest fields around. The overarching goal is to build, within two decades, a robot that has the manual dexterity of a 6-year-old child.

What's all the fuss about then? "Autonomous mobile manipulation is important if you want to go fix the Hubble telescope or work as a general-purpose humanoid robot," says Russ Tedrake from the computer science and artificial intelligence laboratory at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. That means going where humans would rather not, because of safety concerns, cost or just plain laziness. And although today's robots are likelier to be picking up litter on Earth than making repairs in space, even these could help spawn important advances in prosthetics, surgical tools and automated care for the elderly.

Although researchers have worked on robotic dexterity for decades - notably in the US, Germany and Japan - they have tended to focus more resources on tasks like navigation and walking. That has led to machines that can get around impressively well but can't do much else.

Now all that is changing, thanks to remarkable advances in the sensors, actuators and computing abilities that robots need for dexterity in the real world. The latest control systems enable robots to sense their environment more accurately, sharpen their fine motor skills and interact more naturally with objects around them.

Adapted from New Scientist