Page 298 - Concise Encyclopedia of Robotics

Serial Data Transmission
burglars, or flooding. A sentry robot might detect abnormal temperature,
barometric pressure, wind speed, humidity, or air pollution.
In industry, sentry robots can alert personnel to the fact that some-
thing is wrong. The robot might not specifically pinpoint and identify the
problem, but it can let people know that a system is malfunctioning. A
fire, for example, generates smoke and/or infrared (IR), either or both of
which can be detected by a roving sentry.
A high-end sentry robot might include features such as:
• Air-pressure sensing
• Autonomy
• Beacon navigation
• Computer map(s) of the environment
• Guidance systems
• Homing devices
• Intrusion detection
• Ladar
• Mobility
• Position sensing
• Radar
• Wireless links to controller and central station
• Smoke detection
• Sonar
• Speech recognition
• Tactile sensing
• Temperature sensing
• Vision systems
SERIAL DATA TRANSMISSION
See DATA CONVERSION.
SERVOED SYSTEM
See CLOSED-LOOP SYSTEM.

SERVOMECHANISM
A servomechanism is a specialized feedback-control device. Servomech-
anisms are used to control mechanical things such as motors, steering
mechanisms, and robots.
Servomechanisms are used extensively in robotics. A robot controller
can tell a servomechanism to move in certain ways that depend on the
inputs from sensors. Multiple servomechanisms, when interconnected
and controlled by a sophisticated computer, can do complex tasks such as

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