Page 150 - Anatomy of a Robot

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RELIABILITY, SAFETY, AND COMPLIANCE 135
high school kids were chewing the buttons off the console! So be wary; a robot is cer-
tainly a tempting target for curious people. It will suffer damage from playful and mali-
cious people alike. It may fall into the hands of operators with less than good intentions.
Prepare for it.
HUMIDITY

Designing a robot for humid environments can be quite difficult. Review all the speci-
fications for all the parts. Rust and mildew can certainly become problems. In some
cases, condensation can form and short things out.

ALTITUDE
Batteries and LCD displays can become problems at high altitudes. Read the specifi-
cations for all the components to set the altitude limits for the robot.

CONTAMINANTS

If the robot must function for long time periods (years) or will be subject to a polluted
atmosphere, consider an accelerated test for corrosion. The Network Equipment Build-
ing System (NEBS) standards were written to help guarantee the reliability of phone
switching equipment at the phone company. One of the tests involved subjecting a sys-
tem to a chemical fog for a week or two. The concentration of chemicals is sufficient to
simulate years of operation in a poor environment. Contact Metlabs or others to inquire
about the testing regimen (www.metlab.com, www.metlab.com/pages/nebs.html).

Common Sense

Many design rules for robots (or other complex systems) come naturally with experi-
ence. Here are a few words of basic advice.

COMPLEXITY

We’ve talked about it before. Keep things simple. Instinct should tell us if things are too
complicated. Chop the robot down to size periodically during the early design phases.
Take stuff out, eliminate actions, remove conditions, and take heed if people wrinkle
their brow when they hear how things are supposed to work.