Medical robots today and tomorrow

          We born, we live our lives and at the end - we die. That's the truth. However, the quality of our lives often correlates with our health. Generally, the healthier we are the more we can achieve - thus the happier we can be.

          That's why health has always been an issue to deal with. Nowadays medicine has gone a very long way compared to the time of Hippocrates of Kos. Now humans are able to do very complicated surgeries, invent cures for various illnesses and so on. The question arises - can medicine go further and in what ways?
          The answer on the first part of the question is "definitely". However the answers to the second part can differ. There are many notable fields which could change the course of medical history for example - stem cells. Still, I'm sure that the field of robotics and robotics-related fields such as medical bionics and biomechatronics will play a big role in medicine in near future.
          Actually, many exciting things are happening in these fields right now. So, in this section of my site I will try to shed some light on questions about medical robots and robotics related fields in medicine now and in the future.

 

The surgery

          Medical robots that can do surgeries sounds marvelous, right? All existing surgery robots on this day are actually cleverly made manipulators controlled by competent doctors. There are some issues with the level of Artificial Intelligence needed to do surgeries independently but that can be achieved some day.
Nowadays, there are two fields where surgical robots are being developed and tested. One is telerobotics which enables a doctor to do a surgery at a distance. The other field is minimally invasive surgery - surgery done without making large cuts.
          The da Vinci robot surgery system is one great example of robotics use for surgery purposes. More than thousand units are being used world-wide. Read more on robot surgery in general.

 

Robots in hospitals

          Hospitals are a bit like factories. There are many mundane tasks. For example - carrying things around, moving samples from one apparatus to another, cleaning. There are also tasks that require some strength. For example - lifting and moving patients.
          I assume you got the point - there are many tasks which could be done by medical robots. There has been some development in this field - there are robots intended for laboratory uses, there are AGV's (Automated Guided Vehicle) intended for hospital use.
          As far as I know most of these are in a testing stage. However, it is surely a doable task.

 

Therapeutic robots

          Medical robots used in therapies. The idea behind this is quite similar to therapies with animals only robots are more predictable.Read more on therapeutic robots.

 

Bionic prosthetics

          This is a robotics-related field. The outcome can't actually be considered a robot but the disciplines included are quite similar - AI, electronics, mechanics and more. This field strives to develop robotic prostheses for humans.
          The great dream is that one day there will be bionic arms and bionic legs just as good and functional (or even better) as our natural limbs. The recent development in this field is quite astounding. Several companies operate in this field - Ossur, Otto Bock and Touch Bionics are a few among those I'm aware of.

 

Nano-robots

          Maybe this will be possible in the future. The idea is to develop devices as small as a few nanometers, hence the name – nano-robots. These little devices could then be used in different mind-blowing ways. For example, to fix a broken bone or to deliver medication to the exact place needed or to exterminate cancer cells.
          The possibilities are limited only by imagination. By now, nano-robots are in research and development stage so it actually IS imagination.
          I'm sure that you want more information about each of these topics. Don't worry, there will be separate articles on all of these topics and possibly on a few more. I'm working on it check out this site's for development from time to time!

Military robots

           Let's bring in a little bit of philosophy before addressing the topic - military robots.

          We have waged wars since the beginning of history and probably even sooner. Where is the reasoning behind humankind's aggressive nature? Well, the line between defense and offense is quite blurred and offense is also the best defense.

          Whether it's a "war on terrorism" or an "Operation to force someone to peace", the reason is to protect the world and their respective countries. Or so they say.

          Homeland's defense and money are powerful drives. In order to protect ourselves better at all times, many of greatest technological achievements were used initially in military context.

          Surprisingly - the history of robotic devices used for military purposes can be traced pretty far back - at the 1930s in the Soviet Union. The soviets made so called teletanks. The operator was in another tank that could be as far as 1500 meters behind the teletank. The teletanks were controlled using radio signals. In WWII Germany used "Goliath" tracked mines.

          As you know, the technology has gone a far way since the times of WWII so the possibilities are much more advanced now. Nevertheless, most of the robots I'll tell you about are still operated by a human operator.

          In this section I'll also discuss robots that can be used for civilian operations, like search and rescue, firefighting, law enforcement etc.

 

Cargo carriers

          These are military robots that are used for transportation missions. It can be ammunition, weaponry, supplies or everything else. These can be legged robots for rough terrains but usually they are wheeled robots. Read more on military transportation robots

 

Search and rescue

They do what the name tells. Robots used in search and rescue missions. Read more on search and rescue robots.

 

Fire-fighting

          It is possible that one day this hazardous job will be entrusted to robots. Nowadays there are working projects - robots that can be connected to a water hydrant and used for fire extinguishing. 

 

Mine clearance

          Yet another highly hazardous mission that can take human lives. Military robots for mine clearance are used all around the world nowadays. These are usually remote controlled by an operator which is in a safe distance.

 

Surveillance and reconnaissance

          To see what the enemy has up his sleeve is a very handy advantage. Different robots are used for surveillance and/or reconnaissance missions. Those military robots used for reconnaissance missions behind the enemy lines could be equipped with weaponry as well.

 

Armed robots

          These are robots that shoot people. Period.

 

Unmanned Aerial Vehicle

          These are flying robots. Usually used for surveillance missions. However, it seems that it's possible that there will be unmanned fighters and bombers one day as well.

 

Unmanned Ground Vehicles

          Most of the military robots in sections above are actually UGV's. This means that they move on the ground.

Unmanned Underwater Vehicle

          These are robots that can swim underwater.

          As you can understand this division is quite blurred. There are many cases that the same robot can be used for surveillance purposes as well as for search and rescue missions, etc.

          Also, the last three chapters accordingly - UAV's, UGV's and UUV's are more like a division by the environment and should not be viewed separately of all the other chapters. Any of these can be in the same time a surveillance robot or maybe a mine clearance military robot, for example.

          At the moment, you see a short introduction on every of the above mentioned topics. As time goes by, I'll add articles on every of them. 

Household Robots

          

          So what exactly household robots are and what do they do? You probably have heard something about three D's - Dull, Dirty and Dangerous. This is a designation for jobs that are usually entrusted to robots. Maybe chores are not very dangerous but they can be rather dirty and dull.

          Of course, not everything in a household can be done by robots, at least not yet. Still, there are jobs where robot application can be justified at the moment. There are two main criteria that should be met when thinking about buying a household robot.

          At first, you should find out how effectively a robot can do its job. The robot's efficiency should be high enough for your specific application. Different applications could require different levels of efficiency.

Second, a robot's use should be economically justifiable. Maybe it's cheaper to pay someone to do the job than to buy a robot. This goes more to commercial applications like shop or pool cleaning. Of course, the time you spend to clean a room also counts.

By weighing out at least these two criteria it is possible to find the best price-value bargain. Human emotions also come in the equation. If you really, really want a household robot there's no reason why you should prohibit something to yourself.

          So what exactly are those jobs that household robots are able to do at the moment? Let me tell you. 

Robotic vacuums

          In my opinion, robotic vacuum cleaners are the most known household robots to general public. It's so because of the most known of all vacuuming robots - iRobot Roomba . This company sure knows how to put their products on the market.

          Nevertheless, roomba is not the only one. There are many vacuuming robots in a wide price range for different applications made by different companies. Read more on robotic vacuums here.

 

Other floor cleaners

          Although vacuuming is the most known application, robots are not limited to it. There are robots that can sweep floors such as the iRobot Dirt Dog and robots that can wash floors like roomba's sibling - iRobot Scooba as well.

 

Mobile webcams

          Anyone has something they have to watch for. For example a dog - are you sure that he doesn't sit on a couch when you are not home? Well... Now you can log on your surveillance robot using the internet and shout to your dog to get off the couch.

          They can have more capabilities also - like playing mp3's and other handy things when you are home. Two most known mobile webcams are Spykee made by Meccano/Erector and Rovio made by WowWee. Read a summary on mobile webcams here.

 

Gutter cleaners

          Remember I talked about three D's? Well, I think gutter cleaning could fit all three of them. You have to reposition the ladder many times, you can fall off them and the job is definitely dirty. This sounds like a perfect job for a robot to me.

          Although the justification of robot's application for this job is quite clear, at the moment I am aware of only one gutter cleaning robotic solution. That would be Looj made by iRobot.

 

Lawn mowing

          This job seems quite similar to vacuuming only outdoor and in a bigger scale, right? If there are many vacuuming robots there should be many robotic lawn mowers too. Well, that is right. Lawn mowing could be the second largest robot application in a household.

          As I said, there are many lawn mower robots made by different companies. There are not so expensive solutions for your home lawn. And there are also rather expensive robots for more serious commercial applications like golf clubs and other sports fields.

 

Pool cleaning

          Pools are nice and offer you a lot of joyful moments when you can use it for recreation. However, cleaning them is not so nice. Of course, you can always pay someone to do the job but a robotic pool cleaner could be a cheaper solution.

          Usually, robotic pool cleaners can clean the pool from floor to waterline and also filter the water for leaves and other things. This way owning a pool is made nearly hassle free.

 

Litter robot

          Well, I'm not really sure if these devices can be called robots but they do a dirty job. The idea is simple - a cat does its thing in the litter robot which can detect when a cat leaves. When it happens it will roll cat's things off the surface into a special compartment.

          I'm not really sure how it's possible to get a cat into it. They can be rather independent and proud beings.

 

Friends

          Of course, you can't buy friends at a store. But there are robots that can entertain you in your daily duties that can be viewed as borderline toys.

          The possible device range is quite large. There are robots that can follow you around and entertain. There are robots that can wake you up and run away and hide from you - more like wheeled alarm clocks. There are also PC-based robots that you can assemble and program as you wish.

          There are some other robots that could be regarded as household robots. Many of them are in development stage and many that can't really do something useful. Of course, toy robots can also be counted into this type. However, here I focus primarily on robots that can do chores and other useful things for us.

          You should have some insight on household robots now. I'll further expand this section so that every section leads to an article.

Idustrial Robot Application

           What should you know about industrial robots? Depends on reasons why you are searching for this information. However, in this article I'll try to address the most common questions and issues regarding robots used in industrial environment.

Components

           A typical industrial robot consists of a tool, an industrial robotic arm, a control cabinet, a control panel, a teach pendant, as well as some other peripheral equipment. So what is what?

A tool (also called the end effector) is a device designed for a specific task for example – welding or painting. The robot arm, basically, is the thing that moves the tool. Beware! It's important to understand that not every industrial robot resembles an arm. As I will explain later, there are different types of different robot structures.

A control cabinet resembles robot's brains. A control panel and a teach pendant makes up the user environment. These parts usually come together.

A control panel is intended to be used by operator to do some routine tasks for example - changing programs or controlling the peripheral devices. Whereas the teach pendant is usually used only in time of programming, although, it can be left connected to the control cabinet if additional memory is needed to execute a program.

Application

         When should you use an industrial robot instead of a human worker?

         Ideally, this should be a win-win situation. You know that there are jobs that no one really wants to do. These are those repetitive, tedious jobs that require a lot of monotonous action from the side of a worker, like picking something from one conveyor to another.

         If it is always the same task you could use an automated solution tailored specifically for your needs. What if it's not the case? The situation where a factory needs to be more and more flexible is becoming more and more common. In these cases a re-programmable robot which can be used for different tasks is the right solution.

          Also, you should consider a "robot worker" for those tasks that are hazardous for a human worker. For example - surface treatment with dangerous chemicals and work in the environment that is hazardous. In many cases like the ones mentioned it is wiser and cheaper in the long term to use a robot than to hire a worker.

          And of course, there are jobs that can't be done by a human. Like lifting very heavy weights or working in conditions unsuitable for human life. Again, specific automated solutions can be applied in many of these cases. However, if flexibility is required then a robot should be considered.

Here's a list of most often seen robot applications:

• Arc welding
• Assembly
• Coating
• Deburring
• Die Casting
• Moulding
• Material handling
• Picking
• Palletizing
• Packaging
• Painting
• Spot welding

What to consider when choosing a robot? (At least)

          What's the task at hand?Exactly, you should evaluate what will be the task assigned to the robot. This may seem silly at first. You probably already know that you need an arc welding robot for example. Anyway, you may want to consider it more deeply.

          Maybe there's a probability of expanding? If so, maybe later there could be other or slightly different tasks that could be assigned to the same robot? Maybe the same industrial robotic arm can be used with different tools at different times?

          You should consider opportunities like that, it can save you (or your employer) a lot of money.

Technical support.Is a dealer located nearby? Probably you will need to train employees, get software updates, warranty maintenance etc.The dealer should be located as near to you as possible. The farther your robot's dealer is located, the longer will be your down-time if maintenance is needed and the higher will be the costs of personnel training.

          Of course, there could be exceptions. Maybe you have a specific task and the only ones that could provide a robot needed are far away.Otherwise, you should really choose the robot integrator that's the closest to you.

Your factory.You really shouldn't forget to check if all needed facilities for a specific robot to operate are present in your plant. Where will you place it? Are all needed connections available at the future robot site? These could include electricity, IOs, Ethernet, Serial etc.

           The same thing I mentioned in a task part should also be considered when thinking about technical support and your factory - try to evaluate the future possibilities.

Manufacturers.

Here is a list of most known industrial robot manufacturers:

• ABB
• Adept Technology
• Asyst Technologies
• Brooks automation
• DENSO robotics
• Epson robots
• FANUC robotics
• Intelitek
• Kawasaki heavy industries
• KUKA Robotics
• Yaskawa-Motoman
• Nachi robotic systems
• Reis robotics
• Toshiba Machine

Basic Types of Robots

Types of robots

         There are numerous ways how to define types of robots. As I have seen the possible divisions varies widely. The main reason of these differences is that different scholars tend to have different views on issues that should be taught under term "robotics".

          For example - most scholars that teach robotics usually focus mainly on industrial robots, neglecting service robots completely. Therefore when talking about types of robots they usually talk about types of industrial robots. There is a strong reason for this though - the vast majority of robotics engineers will have to deal mostly with industrial robotics.

          Nevertheless, industrial robots are not the only ones. Therefore when dividing robots into types this division should be broad enough to include everything that can be understood as a robot.
There are two possible ways how this could be done. First, you can divide robots into types by their application and second - by the way they move (or doesn't). I acknowledge that there are other possible ways how to define various types of robots but in my opinion these two are the most relevant ones. Also, I prefer to use both these classifications together. This way two questions about a robot would be already answered - "What it does?" and "How it does its job?"

Types of robots by application

           Nowadays, robots do a lot of different tasks in many fields. And this number of jobs entrusted to robots is growing steadily. That's why one of the best ways how to divide robots into types is a division by their application. There are:

1. Industrial robots
2. Domestic or household robots
3. Medical robots
4. Service robots
5. Military robots
6. Entertainment robots
7. Exploration robots 

          
          Now, as you can see there are examples that fit into more than one of these types. For example, there can be a deep see exploration robot that can gather some valuable information that can be used for military purposes.
          Also, I have seen that a division into two types is used, accordingly - industrial and service robots. However, I can not see how a Mars exploration rover fits into one of these general types. Therefore I have used "service robots" in a narrower manner. In my version a term "service robots" serves as "others". This is basically a type where robots that don't fit into other types should fall in.

Types of robots by locomotion and kinematics

          As you can understand, robot's application alone does not provide enough information when talking about a specific robot. For example an industrial robot - usually, when talking about industrial robots we think of stationary robots in a work cell that do a specific task. That's alright, but if there is an AVG (Automated Guided Vehicle) in a factory? It is also a robotic device working in an industrial environment. So, I propose to use both of these classifications together.
So there are:

1. Stationary robots (including robotic arms with a global axis of movement)
    1.1 Cartesian/Gantry robots (rectangular robot)
    1.2 Cylindrical robots
    1.3 Spherical robots (polar robots)
    1.4 SCARA robots (RRP)
    1.5 Articulated robots (robotic arms)
    1.6 Parallel robots


2. Wheeled robots
    2.1 Single wheel (ball) robots
    2.2 Two-wheeled robots
    2.3 Three and more wheel robots


3. Legged robots
    3.1 Bipedal robots (humanoid robots)
    3.2 Tripedal robots
    3.3 quadrupedal robots
    3.4 hexapod robots
    3.5 other numbers of legs


4. Swimming robots

5. Flying robots

6. Mobile spherical robots (robotic balls)

7. Others

Wireless Accelerometer Controlled Robot

          The aim of this project is to build a vehicle that can be controlled by using wireless MEMS (Micro Electro-Mechanical Systems) based accelerometer. This consists of a remote control that wirelessly transmits data using RF technology to the remote vehicle to move in any direction.  The accelerometer will be mounted on a steering plate (remote control), such that if the steering plate leans in some direction then the robot vehicle moves in that direction.

           If the user wants to move the robot forward he can lean the steering plate forward and backward for reverse. To turn left or right user need to turn the steering plate toward left or right respectively.

          The major building blocks of this project are:

1. Two Microcontroller Mother Boards with regulated power supply.
2. 433MHz RF Transmitter and Receiver Modules.
3. Accelerometer Sensor Module.
4. Robot Vehicle with two PWM controlled DC Motors.

DTMF Controlled Wireless Robot

“DTMF Controlled Wireless Robot” is capable of receiving a set of command (instructions) in the form of DTMF tones and performs the necessary actions. Here DTMF stands for “Dual tone multiple frequency”. We will be using a dedicated modem/mobile at the receiver module i.e. with the robot it self and send the commands using DTMF tones as per the required actions.
               The mobile unit which is dedicated at the robot is interfaced with an intellectual device called Microcontroller so that it takes the responsibility of decoding the tones received and perform the corresponding predefined tasks such as move front or back, left or right etc.
The micro controller is also interfaced with few DC motors in order to move the robot in different directions. The ON and OFF of the DC motors depends on the direction it has to move which is the complete responsibility of the controller to take those intelligent decisions.
        The major building blocks of this project are:-

• Regulated Power Supply
• GSM Modem/Phone
• Microcontroller based Control Unit
• Robot Mechanical Assembly
• DTMF Drivers

GSM (SMS) Controlled Wireless Robot

             “GSM (SMS) Controlled Wireless Robot” is automatic robots which capable of receiving a set of command instructions in the form of Short message service and performs the necessary actions. We will be using a dedicated modem/mobile at the receiver module i.e. with the robot it self and send the commands using SMS service as per the required actions.
               The mobile unit which is dedicated at the robot is interfaced with an intellectual device called Micro controller so that it takes the responsibility of reading the received commands in the form of SMS from the mobile unit and perform the corresponding predefined tasks such as move front or back, left or right etc. The micro controller is also interfaced with few DC motors in order to move the robot in different directions. The ON and OFF of the DC motors depends on the direction it has to move which is the complete responsibility of the controller to take those intelligent decisions.
                The major building blocks of this project are:-

• Regulated Power Supply
• GSM Modem
• Microcontroller based Control Unit
• Robot
• Serial Communication Port(RS232)

Obstacle detection Robot with Ultrasonic Sensors

           Obstacle detection Robot with Ultrasonic Sensors automatically senses the presence of a obstacle in its path and deviates its path or stops its journey. The obstacle detection mechanism is managed by a ultrasonic sensor which makes uses of ultrasonic waves to find the presence of a obstacle in its path.
          The robot consists of an 8-bit microcontroller to communicate with the sensor and takes any action depending upon the feedback received from the ultrasonic sensor. Here the micro controller part is to control the movement of the robot as well as to read the input from the sensor unit.
          This also consists of few dc motors to rotate the wheels of the robot. The motor is rotated as per the direction in which the robot has to be moved, these kind of intelligent decisions are to be taken by the controller.

          The major building blocks of this project are:-

• Regulated Power Supply
• Microcontroller based Control Unit
• Ultrasonic Sensor
• Geared DC motors

Robotics Projects

1. Radio Frequency based remote controlled robot with wireless video camera mounted on it.
2. Zigbee controlled Boat with wireless video and voice transmission with night vision capability.
3. Autonomous Robot with artificial vision for obstacle detection.
4. Voice operated robot with speaker identification technology.
   
5. Accelerometer (Gyroscope) Controlled Robot. Accelerometer is MEMS based 3-axis tilt sensor that can sense the tilt in any of the 3-dimensions. The robot moment is controlled based on the tilt angle of the remote. No need to press any buttons for robot control.
6. wireless room freshener spraying robot with video vision.
   
7. Touch Screen Controlled intelligent robot.
8. Mobile phone Bluetooth operated robot (works with any java enabled phone).
   
9. DTMF based humanless Robotic boat control for ocean research application.
   
10. Live Human being detection wireless remote controlled Robot. (Useful for detection of terrorists hiding inside buildings).
11. GSM (SMS) Mobile Phone Controlled Intelligent Robot.
12. Pick and place robot.
    
13. Micro Electro Mechanical Sensor (MEMS) Accelerometer/Gyroscope based self-balancing robot.
14. Servo motor controlled wireless video camera control system.
    
15. Mobile phone controlled four-legged walking robot with speed and direction control.
16. Radio Frequency (RF) Controlled Wireless Robot.
17. Infrared Light tracing Robot (TV Remote controlled).
18. Android mobile phone controlled bluetooth robot.
    
19. Visible light follower Robot.
20. Human-robot interface using robust speech recognition.
    
21. Accelerometer (Gyroscope) Controlled Robot.
22. DTMF based Mobile phone controlled Robot.
23. Obstacle detection robot with mechanical sensing switches.
24. Computer controlled Pic and Place Robot (wired or wireless).
    
25. Line Follower Robot.
26. Bomb detection Robot.
    
27. Live Human detection and alerting Robot.
28. Remote Controlled Land Rover.
29. Smoke and LPG Gas detection robot with wireless control.
30. PC Controlled Wired Robot.
31. Wireless Voice and image transmission robot for surveillance system.
    
32. PC Controlled Wireless Robot.
33. Speech recognition robot with ultrasonic obstacle avoidance system.
    
34. Obstacle detection Robot with Ultrasonic Sensors.
35. Wall Follower Robot.
36. Robot Controlled Wireless Audio-Video Streaming Camera.
37. speech controlled wireless elevator system.

robos

i like it very much.

robo for robowar....