Page 32 - Concise Encyclopedia of Robotics

Autonomous Robot
An early example of an automaton was the “mechanical duck”designed
by J. de Vaucanson in the eighteenth century. It was used to entertain
audiences in Europe. It made quacking sounds and seemed to eat and
drink. Vaucanson used the robot act to raise money for his work.
Every December,certain ambitious people build holiday displays in their
yards, consisting of machines in the form of people and animals. These
machines have no “brains,”because they simply follow mechanical routines.
Although they are fun to observe, these devices lack precision, and the
motions they can make are limited. Some of these machines may look like
androids, but are actually no more than moving statues. Compare ANDROID.
AUTONOMOUS ROBOT
An autonomous robot is self-contained, housing its own controller, and not
depending on a central computer for its commands.It navigates its work en-
vironment under its own power,usually by rolling on wheels or a track drive.
Robot autonomy might at first seem like a great asset: if a robot func-
tions by itself in a system, then when other parts of the system fail, the
robot will keep working.However,in systems where many identical robots
are used, autonomy is inefficient. It is better from an economic stand-
point to put programs in one central computer that controls all the robots.
Insect robots work this way.
Simple robots, like those in assembly lines, are not autonomous. The
more complex the task, and the more different things a robot must do,
the more autonomy it can have. The most advanced autonomous robots
have artificial intelligence (AI).
See also ANDROID and INSECT ROBOT.
AXIS INTERCHANGE
Axis interchange is the transposition of coordinate axis in a robotic system
that uses Cartesian coordinate geometry. Axis interchange can involve two
axes, or all three.
The illustration shows an example in which the left/right (normally x)
and up/down (normally z) axes are transposed. This is not the only way in
which the left/right versus up/down interchange can take place; one or both
axes might also be inverted.Clearly,there are numerous possibilities for axis
interchange in a three-dimensional Cartesian system.
Axis interchange can produce useful variations in robot movements.
A single-motion programming scheme can result in vastly different work
envelopes and motion patterns, depending on how the axes are defined. No
matter how the axes are transposed, however, there is always a one-to-one
correspondence between the points in both work envelopes, provided the
motion programming is done properly.

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