Introduction to robotics : explained with real life examples

Robotics

What is a robot? :

I would like to define a robot as A device that performs work. So even our washing machine is a robot which is designed to do that particular task.

Yes, that's right. A robot is something which is more than a machine. At the same time, the technical qualifications and aesthetics of all robots are not necessarily the same. i.e if your washing machine is able to reach your bedroom and collect all the dirty clothes by itself then it must need little more brain to do that, I agree with you. What I mean is the specifications of each robot are strictly related to its purpose. If it is a non-movable robot then want is the use of implementing navigation algorithms in it 😃

Little deeper :

In technical aspects "A robot is just a group of nodes which are communicating with each other to perform one or more tasks "

Just think about a particular robot that is able to navigate in your home and clean the floors for you.

In this scenario, the robot needs the map of your home and obstacle avoidance algorithms to navigate. And it also needs to detect the dirty things on the floor to manage the cleaning process.

Normally the basic obstacle avoidance goal can be implemented by using sonar /radar sensors. So we need to place multiple sensors in our robot and it will be connected to a processing unit (say, Arduino ). Then this Arduino is a node that is communicating with the central processing unit(computer) to fulfill the needs of navigation requirements. Similarly, dirt on the floor is detected by some other mechanisms and is taken as another node in the same system. So basically a robot is a combination of these kinds of nodes and operates based on the communications between these nodes!!

Locomotion in mobile robotics.