Page 18 - Robotics Designing the Mechanisms for Automated Machinery

1.2 Definition of Levels or Kinds of Robots 7

of the family. It is easy to see that this scheme can describe any tool: a hammer, a spade,
an aircraft, a computer, a missile, a lunar vehicle, or a razor. Each of these examples
has an energy source, a means of control, and the tools for carrying out the required
functions. At this stage we should remember that there is no limit to the number of
elements in any system; i.e., a system can consist of a number of similar or different
energy sources, like or unlike means of control for different parameters, and, of course,
similar or different tools. The specific details of this kind of scheme determine whether
a given system can be defined as a robot or not. Let us now look at Figure 1.5 (exam-
ples I to X) which shows the various possibilities schematically.

FIGURE 1.5 Classification of tools used in industry.