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BASIC CONCEPTS  13

              (d) They cannot in principle handle tasks of arbitrary dimensionality, and they
                 require specialized algorithms for each type of robot kinematics.
              (e) They are usually simple computationally: If a technique is applicable to
                 the problem in hand, it will likely be computationally easy.



            1.2 BASIC CONCEPTS

            This section summarizes terminology, definitions, and basic concepts that are
            common to the field of robotics. While some of these are outside of this book’s
            scope, they do relate to it in one way or another, and knowing this relation
            is useful. In the next chapter this material will be used to expand on common
            technical issues in robotics.


            1.2.1 Robot? What Robot?
            Defining what a robot is is not an easy job. As mentioned above, not only
            scientists and engineers have labored here, but also Hollywood and fiction writers
            and professionals in humanities have helped much in diffusing the concept. While
            this fact will not stand in our way when dealing with our topic, starting with a
            decent definition is an old tradition, so let us try.
              There exist numerous definitions of a robot. Webster’s Dictionary defines it
            as follows:


              A robot is an automatic apparatus or device that performs functions ordinarily
              ascribed to humans, or operates with what appears to be almost human intelligence.

            Half of the definition by Encyclopaedia Britannica is devoted to stressing that a
            robot does not have to look like a human:

              Robot: Any automatically operated machine that replaces human effort, though it
              may not resemble human beings in appearance or perform functions in a humanlike
              manner.

            These definitions are a bit vague, and they are a bit presumptuous as to what is and
            is not “almost human intelligence” or “a humanlike manner.” One senses that a
            chess-playing machine may likely qualify, but a machine that automatically digs a
            trench in the street may not. As if the latter does not require a serious intelligence.
            (By the way, we do already have champion-level chess-playing machines, but
            are still far from having an automatic trench-digging machine.) And what about a
            laundry washing machine? This function has been certainly “ordinarily ascribed
            to humans” for centuries. The emphatic “automatic” is also bothersome: Isn’t
            what is usually called an operator-guided teleoperation robot system a robot in
            spite of not being fully automatic?
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