Page 284 - Concise Encyclopedia of Robotics

Robot Generations
Some researchers and engineers add another category: intelligent bio-
mechatronic systems. These include devices such as cyborgs and certain
prostheses.
See also ROBOT GENERATIONS.
ROBOT GENERATIONS
Engineers and scientists have analyzed the evolution of robots, marking
progress according to robot generations.
First generation
A first-generation robot is a simple mechanical arm. These machines have
the ability to make precise motions at high speed, many times, for a long
time. Such robots find widespread industrial use today.
First-generation robots can work in groups, such as in an automated
integrated manufacturing system (AIMS), if their actions are synchronized.
The operation of these machines must be constantly supervised, because
if they get out of alignment and are allowed to keep working, the result
can be a series of bad production units.
Second generation
A second-generation robot has rudimentary machine intelligence. Such a
robot is equipped with sensors that tell it things about the outside world.
These devices include pressure sensors, proximity sensors, tactile sensors,
radar, sonar, ladar, and vision systems. A controller processes the data
from these sensors and adjusts the operation of the robot accordingly.
These devices came into common use around 1980.
Second-generation robots can stay synchronized with each other,
without having to be overseen constantly by a human operator. Of
course, periodic checking is needed with any machine, because things
can always go wrong; the more complex the system, the more ways it
can malfunction.
Third generation
The concept of a third-generation robot encompasses two major avenues of
evolving smart robot technology: the autonomous robot and the insect robot.
An autonomous robot can work on its own. It contains a controller,
and it can do things largely without supervision, either by an outside
computer or by a human being. A good example of this type of third-
generation robot is the personal robot about which some people dream.
There are some situations in which autonomous robots do not perform
efficiently.In these cases,a fleet of simple insect robots,all under the control
of one central computer, can be used. These machines work like ants in an

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