IB Digital Society - Paper 1 - Section 3: Content (3.7: Robotics and Autonomous Technologies)

Key terms for Robotics and Autonomous Technologies for the IB Digital Society course.

Industrial robots

Robots that would normally perform tasks such as drilling, painting, welding, assembly and material handling. They replace human workers on the production line.

Service robots

Robots designed to assist humans in completing less desirable or dangerous tasks.

Social robots

Robots developed to interact and communicate with humans in a friendly manner.

Internet of Things (IoT)

Refers to all devices which are connected to the internet. Uses for IoT can include: predictive maintenance, location tracking, workplace analytics, remote quality monitoring and energy optimization.

Autonomous vehicles (AV)

A vehicle that has the ability to operate without human intervention. 

Drones

Also known as unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) – a remote controlled or autonomous flying robot.

Sensory inputs: Vision

Robots use digital cameras to capture images but need two cameras (or stereo vision camera) to create depth perception, enabling image recognition. 

Sensory inputs: Light Sensors

Used to detect light levels, informing robots whether it is day or night.

Types of sensors: Lidar

Light detection and ranging - measures shape, contour and height of objects. 

Types of sensors: Sonar

Sound navigation and ranging - measures the depth of water.

Types of sensors: Radar

Radio detection and ranging - detects moving objects and draws out the environment.

Sensory inputs: Hearing

Use of a microphone to collect sound which is converted into electrical signals.

Sensory inputs: Smell and taste

Robots use a chemical sensor, which collects data later transformed into an electrical signal.

Sensory inputs: Touch

Robots feature end effectors, which are grippers with pressure sensors or resistive touch sensors.

Reasoning with inputs: Machine Learning

Modern robots employ this to develop a new skill within a limited capacity.

This feature makes robots more intelligent, thus more useful in addition to improving and adapting to their environments.

Reasoning with inputs: Supervised Learning

A subcategory of machine learning which uses a labeled database to produce algorithms.

Interacting with environment: Actuator

A part of a device that moves or controls a mechanism. These control the ‘joints’ of a robot.

Actuators can be an electric motor, a hydraulic system (driven by incompressible fluid) or a pneumatic system (driven by compressed gas).

Interacting with environment: End effector

A peripheral device attached at the end of an actuator in order to grip objects and attach tools or sensors. End effectors can be either mechanical or electromechanical.

End effector: Grippers

Allow robots to pick up and manipulate objects. These are the most common form of end effectors. 

End effector: Process tools

Tools designed for specific tasks - e.g. welding, spray, drilling.

End effector: Sensors

Used for applications such as robot inspections.

Autonomy: Semi-autonomous Robots

Have some level of intelligence - they can react to some conditions without the need of guidance.

Autonomy: Fully Autonomous Robots

Operate independently, can accomplish complex tasks and have greater mobility. Yet, they are restricted to one working environment.

Asimov’s Laws of Robotics (1940)

• A robot must not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm

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

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

Cognitive robotics

An emerging field which aims to design robots with human-like intelligence, which can perceive their environment, plan their actions and deal with uncertain situations.

Anthropomorphism

Giving human-like characteristics to non-human entities. Robots are now given ‘friendly’ appearances to make interaction with humans more natural.

Uncanny Valley

A hypothesized emotional response introduced by professor Masahiro Mori in 1970. It describes the unsettling feeling a human has when interacting with lifelike humanoid robots.

Cobots

Robots designed to work alongside humans and augment their capabilities, which most envisioned to work in the service sector (e.g. shops).