What Is A Robot?
FIGURE 2. The sea glider.
cleaning robots are true timesavers. The various styles of
robots used by police forces around the world are no longer
purchased so the agencies can simply say “we have the
latest technology,” but are found indispensible in saving
lives and property. Military forces use land, sea, and air
vehicles, not only as surveillance platforms, but as weapon
carriers to advance modern warfare, and ultimately to
promote peace.
Today, it’s hard to define exactly what a robot is as
there are so many varieties of machines that have been
called robots. Amazing toys like Aibo — Sony’s discontinued
but greatly loved robot
dog — are so much more
complicated and capable
when compared with the
most sophisticated
industrial robots of just a
few years ago. Oceanic
robot ‘sea gliders’ (Figure
2) have been built that can
be held by a single person,
and can cross an ocean
while diving to extreme
FIGURE 3. The prestigious
Engelberger Award.
78 SERVO 07.2010
depths, while taking many measurements. (Forward travel is
accomplished by the diving and surfacing operation.
Retrieved data is transferred by an RF signal to a satellite
while in mid-ocean at the surface, and the whole device is
powered by a small battery pack.) There are now tiny flying
robots that can be hidden by one’s hand, yet are capable of
flying into enemy territory and photographing hideouts.
Even smaller robots can enter the human body, or larger
surgical tele-robots can aid surgeons in performing
minimally-invasive surgeries.
Autonomous Robots Versus
8R/C Robots
I recently attended RoboGames in San Mateo, CA.
Every type of robot that you can imagine was competing in
many different types of contests. There were others on
display, roving about the floor, or even for sale. There were
several parties where everybody got together and ‘talked
robots,’ whether about the combat robots or the many
autonomous robots in attendance display. I talked with
several people who were discussing just what a robot really
is. The humanoid and hexapod builder guys were discussing
their software and the microcontroller and sensors that they
use to make their creations sense the outside world and
operate. The combat people said, “We may not have any
sensors and a microcontroller, but some of our machines
cost well above $10,000 and have some very sophisticated
electronic speed controllers and radio systems. Call them
powerful tele-robots, but they are robots, just the same.”
The gentle jabbing back and forth between different
factions continued in many conversations that I was part of
or overheard. During the competition, I walked through the
pit area that consisted of many tables covered with every
imaginable style of combat robot, and I could see the
extreme complexity several of these competitive machines
possessed. There were still many who insisted that only
autonomous machines could rightly be called robots,
however. They felt that only a machine with the ability to
sense changes in its environment and react accordingly
should be called a robot. Hobbyists have been arguing this
point for many years.
Definitions Of A Robot
Trying to define a robot in this day and age is like
trying to decide what a robot should look like. Everyone
and every organization has their own idea. According to
the Robot Institute of America back in 1979, the definition
of a robot is: “A reprogrammable, multifunctional
manipulator designed to move materials, parts, tools, or
specialized devices through various programmed motions
for the performance of a variety of tasks.” This is from an
industrial robot organization, however, and does not fit
with what robot experimenters and hobbyists like to design
and build.
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