Lesson 1. Warm-up questions. Components of an industrial robot

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Module 9

Transportation and travel: beyond human capabilities

Lesson 1

1.1. Warm-up questions

a) What images and ideas come to you when you hear the word ‘robot’?

b) What do you know about robotics? Do you find it to be an interesting branch of engineering?

c) How do you think robotics has already changed our lives?

d) How important do you think robotics will be in the future?

1.2. Components of an industrial robot

This diagram shows the components of an industrial robot. What do you think the functions of each component are?

Now read the following snippet and compare it to your answers. What have you missed? Have you provided any extra information not found in this text?

A manipulator is an arm-like mechanism that consists of a series of segments, which grasp and move objects with a number of degrees of freedom. It is what most of us think of when hearing the words “industrial robot”, but it’s only one part of it. First of all, in order to move, it has to get energy from somewhere. In smaller robots, the only power source may be an electrical motor. Huge hydraulic or pneumatic machines also require compressors. All the various machines required to operate an industrial robot are integrated and controlled by a single computer. Corresponding interface software is installed onto this computer that also has physical interfaces to connect to motors, compressors and sensors. Specialized robot software controls the flow of the positional data: first the manipulator receives commands, then it sends back special feedback signals that help the computer to make the movement of the manipulator more precise.

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