Page 100 - Concise Encyclopedia of Robotics

Educational Robot
shoulder. Thus, it must tell the difference between pavement and other sur-
faces, such as gravel, grass, sand, and snow. The robot car can use beacons
for this purpose, but this requires the installation of the guidance system
beforehand,limiting the robot car to roads that are equipped with such nav-
igation aids.
A personal robot equipped with edge detection can see certain con-
tours in its work environment. This keeps the machine from running
into walls, or closed doors, or windows, or from falling down stairwells.
Compare EMBEDDED PATH.
See also VISION SYSTEM.
EDUCATIONAL ROBOT
The term educational robot applies to any robot that causes its user(s) to
learn something. Especially, this term applies to robots available for
consumer use. Robots of this kind have become popular among children,
particularly in Japan, but increasingly in the United States and other
Western nations.These machines are toys in the sense that children have fun
using them,but they often are excellent teachers as well.Children learn best
when they are having fun at the same time.
An instructional robot is an educational robot intended to function
only, or primarily, as a teacher. Robots of this kind can be purchased for
use in the home, but more often they are found in schools, especially at
the junior-high and senior-high levels (grades 7 through 12).
Robots are intimidating to some students. But once a child or young
adult gets used to working or playing with machines, robots can become
companions,especially if there is some measure of artificial intelligence (AI).
See also PERSONAL ROBOT.
ELASTOMER
An elastomer is a flexible substance resembling rubber or plastic. In robotic
tactile sensing, elastomers can be used to detect the presence or absence of
mechanical pressure.
The illustration shows how an elastomer can be used to detect, and
locate, a pressure point. The elastomer conducts electricity fairly well, but
not perfectly. It has a foamlike consistency, so it can be compressed. An
array of electrodes is connected to the top of the elastomer pad; an iden-
tical array is connected to the bottom of the pad. These electrodes run to
the robot controller.
When pressure appears at some point in the elastomer pad,the material
compresses, and this lowers its electrical resistance in a small region. This
is detected as an increase in the current between electrodes in the top pad
and the bottom pad, but only within the region where the elastomer is

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