Page 12 - Robotics Designing the Mechanisms for Automated Machinery

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Introduction: Brief Historical

Review and Main Definitions

1.1 What Robots Are

The word "robot" is of Slavic origin; for instance, in Russian, the word pa6oTa
(rabota) means labor or work. Its present meaning was introduced by the Czechoslo-
vakian dramatist Karel Capek (1890-1938) in the early twentieth century. In a play enti-
tled R. U.R. (Rosum's Universal Robots), Capek created automated substitutes for human
workers, having a human outlook and capable of "human" feelings. Historically, in fact,
the concept "robot" appeared much later than the actual systems that are entitled to
answer to that name.
Our problem is that there is as yet no clear, efficient, and universally accepted def-
inition of robots. If you ask ten people what the word "robot" means, nine will most
likely reply that it means an automatic humanoid creature (something like that shown
in Figure 1.1), or they will describe a device that may be more accurately denned as a
manipulator or an automatic arm (Figure 1.2). Encyclopaedia Britannica [1] gives the
following definition: "A robot device is an instrumented mechanism used in science
or industry to take the place of a human being. It may or may not physically resemble
a human or perform its tasks in a human way, and the line separating robot devices
from merely automated machinery is not always easy to define. In general, the more
sophisticated and individualized the machine, the more likely it is to be classed as a
robot device."
Other definitions have been proposed in "A Glossary of Terms for Robotics," pre-
pared for the Air Force Materials Laboratory, Wright-Patterson AFB, by the (U.S.)
National Bureau of Standards [2]. Some of these definitions are cited below.

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