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Robotics

The field of robotics has exploded in recent years. This is in large part due to increasingly smaller circuitry and thus more powerful computational power. Capek (a Czech playwright) was the first use of the word "robot" in his 1921 play (R.U.R) about machine factory workers rebelling against their human masters. occurred in a play about mechanical men that are built to work on factory assembly lines and that rebel against their human masters.  In fact robot is derived the root czech word for 'force labour' or slave.
   

Components of a typical robot

• Power Supply - The working power to the robot is provided by batteries, hydraulic, solar power, or pneumatic power sources.

• Actuators - Actuators are the energy conversion device used inside a robot. The major function of actuators is to convert energy into movement.

• Electric motors (DC/AC)- Motors are electromechanical component used for converting electrical energy into its equivalent mechanical energy. In robots motors are used for providing tortional or rotational movement.

• Sensors - Sensors provide real time information on the task environment. Robots are equipped with tactile sensor it imitates the mechanical properties of touch receptors of human fingerprints and a vision sensor is used for computing the depth in the environment.

• Controller - Controller is a part of robot that coordinates all motion of the mechanical system. It also receives an input from immediate environment through various sensors. The heart of robot's controller is a microprocessor linked with the input/output and monitoring device. The command issued by the controller activates the motion control mechanism, consisting of various controller, actuators and amplifier.