Societies survive in their environment and compete with each other depending on the technology they develop. Economic, military and political power are directly related to the available technology, while access to technology is key to the well-being of our societies at the individual, community and national level.

Problems common to graphics and robotics are covered in this reviewed selection of papers written following a 1993 workshop. Leading experts from both disciplines met to identify common problems, to present new solutions, and to discuss future research directions. Topics covered include robot simulation using graphics workstations, simulation concepts in the framework of teleoperation, path planning strategies, collision detection techniques, experimentation using virtual reality, modeling techniques for automated programming and for objects with curved surfaces, object-oriented implementations, various aspects of robot vision, and - in a paper that reflects the essence of the workshop - the challenging task of designing a vision system for a domestic robot.

D. McCloy D. M. J. Harris SPRINGER-SCIENCE+BUSINESS MEDIA, B. V ISBN 978-94-010-9754-3 ISBN 978-94-010-9752-9 (eBook) DOI 10. 1007/978-94-010-9752-9 First Published 1986 Copyright © 1986 Don McCloy and Michael Harris Originally published by Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 1986 All rights reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced in any form by mimeograph or by any other means, without permission in writing from the publisher. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data McCloy, D. Robotics: an introduction. - (Robotics series) 1. Robots I. Title II. Harris, D. M. J. III. Series 629. 8'92 TJ211 Text design by Clarke Williams Contents Series Editor's Preface Introduction List of abbreviations and acronyms 1 Chapter 1 From flint tool to flexible manufacture 1 Introduction 1. 1 1 Technology extends human capabilities 1. 2 4 Mechanization 1. 3 5 1. 4 Automatic control 10 1. 5 Automation 11 1. 6 Robotics 13 1. 7 The elements of an industrial robot 16 1. 8 Why robots? 17 1. 9 Robot applications 26 1. 10 Recapitulation Chapter 2 Mechanisms and robot configurations 27 27 2. 1 Introduction 2. 2 Mechanisms 27 vi Contents 2. 3 Simple chains: M = 3 40 2. 4 Geometry of simple chains 43 2. 5 Matrix methods 47 2. 6 Recapitulation 58 Chapter 3 Wrists, hands, legs and feet 59 3. 1 Introduction 59 3. 2 Wrists 59 3. 3 Grippers 61 3. 4 Mobile robots 67 3. 5 Methods of support: wheels and tracks 68 3.

It is a privilege to be asked to introduce this important work. Such a book has long been needed. Industrial manipulators and robots have caught the attention of the general public and become very fashionable in the last few years. The casual reader of current newspapers and magazit:les or the viewer of television and films might easily conclude that the development of mechanical hands, arms and legs or other mobility devices has progressed rapidly in only the last few years. Most people are unaware of the gradual orderly succession of creative designs and painstaking refinements which have been produced over a greater number of years. That story is carefully described in this volume, together with diagrams and photographs which document in detail this elegant phase in the history of machine design. This volume together with Volume 3A constitute the most complete and comprehensive work on manipulators and teleoperators. Jean Vertut and Philippe Coiffet are well known not only as authors but also as engineers who have produced some of the finest devices in the world. Of course for the complete history of manipulators and teleoperators one must look back to the artisans who crafted the delightful clock­ works, mechanical puppets and toys before and during the Renaissance.

Micro/Nano-robotics for Biomedical Applications features a system approach and incorporates modern methodologies in autonomous mobile robots for programmable and controllable micro/nano-robots aiming at biomedical applications. The book provides chapters of instructional materials in micro/nanorobotics for biomedical applications. The book features lecture units on micro/nanorobot components and techniques, including sensors, actuator, power supply, and micro/nano-fabrication and assembly. It also contains case studies on using micro/nano-robots in biomedical environments and in biomedicine, as well as a design example to conceptually develop a Vitamin-pill sized robot to enter human’s gastrointestinal tract. Laboratory modules to teach robot navigation and cooperation methods suitable to biomedical applications will be also provided based on existing simulation and robot platforms.

An industrial robot routinely carrying out an assembly or welding task is an impressive sight. More important, when operated within its design conditions it is a reliable production machine which - depending on the manufacturing process being automated - is relatively quick to bring into operation and can often repay its capital cost within a year or two. Yet first impressions can be deceptive: if the workpieces deviate somewhat in size or position, or, worse; if a gripper slips or a feeder jams the whole system may halt and look very unimpressive indeed. This is mainly because the sum total of the system's knowledge is simply a list of a few variables describing a sequence of positions in space; the means of moving from one to the next; how to react to a few input signals; and how to give a few output commands to associated machines. The acquisition, orderly retention and effective use of knowledge are the crucial missing techniques whose inclusion over the coming years will transform today's industrial robot into a truly robotic system embodying the 'intelligent connection of perception to action'. The use of computers to implement these techniques is the domain of Artificial Intelligence (AI) (machine intelligence). Evidently, it is an essential ingredient in the future development of robotics; yet the relationship between AI practitioners and robotics engineers has been an uneasy one ever since the two disciplines were born.

Mobile Robotics: A Practical Introduction (2nd edition) is an excellent introduction to the foundations and methods used for designing completely autonomous mobile robots. A fascinating, cutting-edge, research topic, autonomous mobile robotics is now taught in more and more universities. In this book you are introduced to the fundamental concepts of this complex field via twelve detailed case studies that show how to build and program real working robots. Topics covered in clued learning, autonomous navigation in unmodified, noisy and unpredictable environments, and high fidelity robot simulation. This new edition has been updated to include a new chapter on novelty detection, and provides a very practical introduction to mobile robotics for a general scientific audience. It is essential reading for 2nd and 3rd year undergraduate students and postgraduate students studying robotics, artificial intelligence, cognitive science and robot engineering. The update and overview of core concepts in mobile robotics will assist and encourage practitioners of the field and set challenges to explore new avenues of research in this exiting field. The author is Senior Lecturer at the Department of Computer Science at the University of Essex. "A very fine overview over the relevant problems to be solved in the attempt to bring intelligence to a moving vehicle." Professor Dr. Ewald von Puttkamer, University of Kaiserslautern "Case studies show ways of achieving an impressive repertoire of kinds of learned behaviour, navigation and map-building. The book is an admirable introduction to this modern approach to mobile robotics and certainly gives a great deal of food for thought. This is an important and though-provoking book." Alex M. Andrew in Kybernetes Vol 29 No 4 and Robotica Vol 18.

How quickly the technological 'flavour of the month' changes. At the beginning of the 1980's many saw 'robotics' as being something of a pana­ cea for those problems in the manufacturing industries which had been exacerbated by the world recession. Those working at the time in the field of robotics stressed that robots themselves were only part of the solution. Yet in many quarters the 'hype' for the new technology apparently knew few bounds, resulting, inexorably, in many industries painfully discover­ ing for themselves a new realism, closely followed by disillusionment. In its wider sense the term 'robotics' covers an extremely broad spec­ trum of technologies ranging from extremely flexible, highly sensory and integrated systems capable of handling a very diverse product range, through to comparatively inflexible, high volume systems which can merely handle slightly different variations of the same basic product. As a result of the one 'buzzword' referring to such a variety of actual system­ types, the disillusionment which started to become apparent during the early 1980's acted as something of a double edged sword. A given com­ pany might consider a particular robotics-based technological solution to its production problems, find that it was unsuitable, and so renounce all robotics approaches as inappropriate. Yet just because one position on that spectrum of technological solutions was unsuitable for the company should not have led them to assume that there was no other robotics solu­ tion that was appropriate.

solution, are provided for calculation of the responses to forces or motions exciting the structure. The new chapters in earthquake-resistant design of buildings describe the provisions of both the 1985 and 1988 versions of the UBC (Uniform Building Code) for the static lateral force method and for the dynamic lateral force method. Other revisions of the book include the presentation of the New­ mark beta method to obtain the time history response of dynamic systems, and the direct integration method in which the response is found assuming that the excitation function is linear for a specified time interval. A modifi­ cation of the dynamic condensation method, which has been developed re­ cently by the author for the reduction of eigenproblems, is presented in Chap­ ter 13. The proposed modification substantially reduces the numerical operation required in the implementation of the dynamic condensation method. The subjects in this new edition are organized in six parts. Part I deals with structures modeled as single degree-of-freedom systems. It introduces basic concepts and presents important methods for the solution of such dynamic systems. Part II introduces important concepts and methodology for multi­ degree-of-freedom systems through the use of structures modeled as shear buildings. Part III describes methods for the dynamic analysis of framed struc­ tures modeled as discrete systems with many degrees of freedom.

The aim of this book is to improve the understanding of forest dynamics and the sustainable management of forest ecosystems. How do tree crowns, trees or entire forest stands respond to thinning in the long term? What effect do tree species mixtures and multi-layering have on the productivity and stability of trees, stands or forest enterprises? How do tree and stand growth respond to stress factors such as climate change or air pollution? Furthermore, in the event that one has acquired knowledge about the effects of thinning, mixture and stress, how can one make that knowledge applicable to decision-making in forestry practice? The experimental designs, analytical methods, general relationships and models for answering questions of this kind are the focus of this book. Given the structures dealt with, which range from plant organs to the tree, stand and enterprise levels, and the processes analysed in a time frame of days or months to decades or even centuries, this book is directed at all readers interested in trees, forest stands and forest ecosystems. This work has been compiled for students, scientists, lecturers, forest planners, forest managers, and consultants.