PEOPLE AND THEIR PROBLEMS

New Delhi, 3 February 2006

India’s Ambitious Programme

TOWARDS INNOVATIVE ROBOTS

By Radhakrishna Rao

The science and technology of building robots has received a quickening impetus from the advances in planetary research. As it is, the American Administration’s strong push for an increasing frequency of manned space flights in the years ahead could open up the frontiers for engineering newer and innovative robot systems capable of handling challenging tasks and using the tool the way people do,” We were told by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) that how can robots support manned missions on the Moon and Mars before people get there, while they are up there and after they are left, said Dr.Rodney Brooks, Director of the Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory of Massachussetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

Incidentally, Brooks was the architect of the robotics-based sojourner probe launched by the American space agency NASA in 1997. Without doubt, sojourner was considered a bold experiment in robotics. In fact, the current thrust of Dr. Brooks’ laboratory is on endowing the robots with skills and intelligence that are useful to the people. It is  envisioned that  in the none-too-distant a future, robots will wheel around the hospitals, houses and offices.

In Japan, where the rapidly ageing population has become a big social challenge, the current focus of robotics research on designing smart machines that would ultimately serve as the “companions and faithful servants” of the neglected elderly population. “The next generation of robots now coming up on to the market will improve the daily life of our ageing population”, said a spokesman of the Osaka Perfecture Government in Japan. The Japan Robot Association expects the so-called companion robots and other robots for the home to be the biggest future growth market, comprising around 50% of the robots by 2010.

Nearer home, the Hyderabad-based International Institute of Information Technology (IIIT) has unveiled an ambitious programme for designing and developing a range of robots for a variety of applications—from education and research to surgical and medical purposes. The Robotics Research Laboratory of IIIT has a tie-up with the Carnegie Mellon University of USA. According to P.J. Narayanan, Director of IIIT, the robotics development   programme of the IIIT has been planned in two over-lapping phases.

While the phase-1 will concentrate on building the necessary level of capabilities in robotics and  associated technologies, the Phase-11 will focus on research and technology development and the identification and implementation of robotics applications. Meanwhile, the IIIT’s  robotics laboratory  is developing a low cost, versatile robot  equipped with  a stereo cameras, sonar larger range finders and inertial sensors to help it navigate through hazardous environment.

On the other hand, the Switzerland-based company by name K-Team has developed a robot that functions as a camel jockey. According to Alexander Colat, Managing Director of K-Team, “we are aiming at making this mechanical system as close to human jockey as possible”. Ultimately the objective is to make camel races in United Arab Emirates (UAE) a totally robot driven affair. Interestingly, the robotic jockey is sprayed with scent traditionally used by human jockeys. “It was important for us that the camel recognizes and accepts the robot so we had to make him as human as possible”, said Colat. Perhaps the most important feature of this robot jockey is that it has been designed to show gestures similar to those of a human jockey.

Currently, the major thrust of robotics development programme is on using artificial intelligence to endow the machine with a greater degree of versatility. There are also efforts to develop robots capable recognizing human faces and human voice. Here, the emerging research discipline of speech recognition is being used by the robotics engineers.

Researchers feel that use of advanced artificial intelligence would help robots mimick humans in many ways. It surmised that AI would help a robot to reason, discriminate, think and generate ideas depending upon the situation. As it is, AI implies simulation of the human intelligence process by smart devices that interact with their immediate environment, develop a power of reasoning and are capable of arriving at specific conclusions.

On another front, the rapid advances in nanotechnology, neural networking and Micro Electro Mechanical Systems (MEMS) have contributed in a substantial manner to the task of developing intelligent robots that are capable of learning and self correction. Similarly, endeavours are on to equip robots with fault tolerant systems.

Because robots never get tired and are not bothered by monotony, they can become an ideal supplement to human labour. Moreover, robots can function even under hostile conditions and hazardous environment. Further, robots can easily handle tasks involving manual labour. For instance, it can clean up office corridors and move from one floor to another by itself, cleaning passages, along a programmed route and avoiding obstacles with sensors it carries.

In fact, robots have no substitutes when it comes to tackling dangerous situations and handling hazardous substances. They can easily detect landmines and bombs and also defuse them. In addition, they can go deep down the earth’s crust, where temperatures are intolerable and look for buried treasure. Robots are now being routinely employed for handling dangerous chemicals and in operating the nuclear reactors. In majority of cases, the operator of the robot controls and manipulates the machine from a safe distance. Similarly, the robots meant to diffuse explosive devices are equipped with cameras, sensors and grippers.

More importantly, robots can also be passed into service to rescue humans caught under the debris of a collapsed building. Significantly, a robot christened Dervish developed by Stephen Salter of the University of Edinburgh has the capacity to withstand the force of about eleven tonnes anti-personal mines during the search and rescue operations. In the area of medicine and health care, micro and mini robots are used to carry out certain types of complicated surgeries involving very minute parts of the human organs. In fact, these robots help surgeons perform delicate procedures that would be otherwise to fine for human hands.

As a matter of fact, the current research trend in the area of robotics is centered round mimicking natural systems as close as possible and turn robots into self-controlled autonomous bodies. Robots employed in space missions are to a large extent autonomous entities.

Using robots in industrial production, especially in automobile plants have many advantages. For they can work with precision and accuracy for long hours without getting tired. No doubt, they ultimately help improve productivity as well as the quality of production. Use of robots also makes for a decrease in the production cost. It has been computed that one robot can perform the job of  two to five persons. In the years ahead, robots will substitute human labour at a vastly enhanced frequency.---INFA

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