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外文原文
Introduction to Industrial Robots
Industrial robets became a reality in the early 1960’s when Joseph Engelberger and George Devol teamed up to form a robotics company they called “Unimation”.
Engelberger and Devol were not the first to dream of machines that could perform the unskilled, repetitive jobs in manufacturing. The first use of the word “robots” was by the Czechoslovakian philosopher and playwright Karel Capek in his play R.U.R.(Rossum’s Universal Robot). The word “robot” in Czech means “worker” or “slave.” The play was written in 1922.
In Capek’s play , Rossum and his son discover the chemical formula for artificial protoplasm. Protoplasm forms the very basis of life.With their compound,Rossum and his son set out to make a robot.
Rossum and his son spend 20 years forming the protoplasm into a robot. After 20 years the Rossums look at what they have created and say, “It’s absurd to spend twenty years making a man if we can’t make him quicker than nature, you might as well shut up shop.”
The young Rossum goes back to work eliminating organs he considers unnecessary for the ideal worker. The young Rossum says, “A man is something that feels happy , plays piano ,likes going for a walk, and in fact wants to do a whole lot of things that are unnecessary … but a working machine must not play piano, must not feel happy, must not do a whole lot of other things. Everything that doesn’t contribute directly to the progress of work should be eliminated.”
A half century later, engineers began building Rossum’s robot, not out of artificial protoplasm, but of silicon, hydraulics, pneumatics, and electric motors. Robots that were dreamed of by Capek in 1922, that work but do not feel, that perform unhuman or subhuman, jobs in manufacturing plants, are available and are in operation around the world.
The modern robot lacks feeling and emotions just as Rossum’s son thought it should. It can only respond to simple “yes/no” questions. The moderrn robot is normally bolted to the floor. It has one arm and one hand. It is deaf, blind, and dumb. In spite of all of these handicaps, the modern robot performs its assigned task hour after hour without boredom or complaint.
A robot is not simply another automated machine. Automation began during the industrial revolution with machines that performed jobs that formerly had been done by human workers. Such a machine, however , can do only the specific job for which it was designed, whereas a robot can perform a variety of jobs.
A robot must have an arm. The arm must be able to duplicate the movements of a human worker in loading and unloading other automated machines, spraying paint, welding, and performing hundreds of other jobs that cannot be easily done with conventional automated machines. DEFINITION OF A ROBOT
The Robot Industries Association(RIA) has published a definition for robots in an attempt to clarify which machines are simply automated machines and which machines are truly robots. The RIA definition is as follows:
“A robot is a reprogrammable multifunctional manipulator designed to move material, parts, tools, or specialized devices through variable programmed motions for the performance of a variety of tasks.”
This definition, which is more extensive than the one in the RIA glossary at the end of this book, is an excellent definition of a robot. We will look at this definition, one phrase at a time, so as to understand which machines are in fact robots and which machines are little more than specialized automation.
First, a robot is a “reprogrammable multifunctional manipulator.” In this phrase RIA tells us that a robot can be taught (“reprogrammed”) to do more than one job by changing the informaion stored in its memory. A robot can be reprogrammed to load and unload machines, weld, and do many other jobs (“multifunctional”). A robot is a
“manipulator”. A manipulator is an arm( or hand ) that can pick up or move things. At this point we know that a robot is an arm that can be taught to do different jobs.
The definition goes on to say that a robot is “designed to move material, parts, tools, or specialized devices.” Material includes wood,steel, plastic, cardboard… anything that is used in the manufacture of a product.
A robot can also handle parts that have been manufactured. For example, a robot can load a piece of steel into an automatic lathe and unload a finished part out of the lathe.
In addition to handling material and parts, a robot can be fitted with tools such as grinders, buffers, screwdrivers, and welding torches to perform useful work.
Robots can also be fitted with specialized instruments or devices to do special jobs in a manufacturing plant. Robots can be fitted with television cameras for inspection of parts or products. They can be fitted with lasers to accurately mearure the size of parts being manufactured.
The RIA definition closes with the phrase,”…through variable programmed motions for the performance of a variety of tasks.” This phrase emphasizes the fact that a robot can do many different jobs in a manufacturing plant. The variety of jobs that a robot can do is limited only by the creativity of the application engineer. JOBS FOR ROBOTS
Jobs performed by robots can be divided into two major categories:hazardous jobs and repetitive jobs. Hazardous Jobs
Many applications of robots are in jobs that are hazardous to humans. Such jobs may be considered hazardous because of toxic fumes, the weight of the material being handled, the temperature of the material being handled, the danger of working near rotating or press machinery, or environments containing high levels of radiation. Repetitive Jobs
In addition to taking over hazardous jobs, robots are well suited to doing
extremely repetitive jobs that must be done in manufacturing plants.many jobs in manufacturing plants require a person to act more like a machine than like a human. The job may be to pick a piece up from here and place it there. The same job is done hundreds of times each day. The job requires little or no judgment and little or no skill. This is not said as a criticism of the person who does the job , but is intended simply to point out that many of these jobs exist in industry and must be done to complete the manufacture of products. A robot can be placed at such a work station and can perform the job admirably without complaining or experiencing the fatigue and boredom normally associated with such a job.
Although robots eliminate some jobs in industry, they normally eliminate jobs that humans should never have been asked to do. Machines should perform as machines doing machine jobs, and humans should be placed in jobs that require the use of their ability,creativity, and special skills.
POTENTIAL FOR INCREASED PRODUCTIVITY
In addition to removing people from jobs they should not have been placed in, robots offer companies the opportunity of achieving increased productivity. When robots are placed in repetitive jobs they continue to operate at their programmed pace without fatigue. Robots do not take either scheduled or unscheduled breaks from the job. The increase in productivity can result in at least 25% more good parts being produced in an eight-hour shift. This increase in productivity increases the company's profits, which can be reinvested in additional plants and equipment. This increase in productivity results in more jobs in other departments in the plant. With more parts being produced, additional people are needed to deliver the raw materials to the plant, to complete the assembly of the finished products, to sell the finished products, and to deliver the products to their destinations. ROBOT SPEED
Although robots increase productivity in a manufacturing plant, they are not