Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
8. Artifi cial intelligence: The ability to respond appropriately to information from
the sensors and use it to determine behaviour, including in unfamiliar environ-
ments with limited information, time variation and uncertainty. An intelligent
robot should be able to compensate for all these effects at least to some extent.
There are a number of different ways of classifying mobile robots, and classifi ca-
tions include the following: (1) the type of application, i.e. industrial robots or ser-
vice robots, and (2) the type of mobile structure, e.g. mobile platforms on wheels
and legged robots. Some of the applications of industrial and service robots were
discussed briefl y in Sect. 2.1 , so mobile platforms and legged robots will be consid-
ered now.
2.3.1
Mobile Platforms
Mobile platforms with external sensors have been available for a number of years
and can be used in a wide range of applications. The main components of the robot
are situated on the platform and include an onboard PC, drives, a power supply, a
human-machine interface and devices, such as wheels, to support movement.
Various additional devices can be attached to the platform, including arms, grippers
and transportation equipment. Communication between the onboard and supervi-
sory PCs is carried out by radio-based networks, WLAN (wireless local area net-
working). Recorded or synthetic speech messages can be used for communication
with users. Only about 10% of industrial robots are mobile ( http://www.ifr.org/
service- robots/statistics/ ) .
Applications could involve the teleoperation or semi-autonomous operation of
robot platforms, with some of the possibilities including the following:
Factory automation : Mobile robots transport components between machining
and (dis)assembly sites.
Operation in hazardous environments : This could include the use of mobile
robots in the clearance of mines and cluster bombs and in mine excavation.
Planetary and space exploration : This could involve the use of autonomous
rovers and probes and the employment of tele-robotic systems in construction in
space. However, it should be noted that space exploration raises ethical issues,
including issues relating to resource use and environmental impacts, and is
probably not ethically justifi ed, particularly at the current time.
Deep-sea surveying and prospecting: This could again involve the use of autono-
mous robots and probes and allow information to be obtained at reduced risk to
people and reduced costs.
2.3.2
Legged Robots
Most mobile robots are wheeled. This gives them advantages over legged robots
with regard to stability. However, wheeled robots have disadvantages in terms of the
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