Learn Robotics(2) - Modules of a robot.
We’ll see a bit about the basic strucutre of a robot today. There are
certain basic componentrs or modules, which together make a robot.
There are many of them. Some are,
1)Sensor (Transducer)
2)Processor
3)Actuator (Motors and the like)
Well, these are the most basic modules of a robot. Before going into
each one, let me make it clear that,
1)Every robot need not have all of these modules.
2)But every robot will have at least one or some of these modules.
Moving on to the basic definitions,
SENSOR :
A sensor is the thing which senses and provides information about the
environment. We can make some decisions based on the information it
gives. You would have come across the term Transducer. A sensor is
also an electrical transducer.
Technically, a sensor is anything which converts some quantity to be
measured into electricity. For example, there are pressure sensors and
temperature sensors. As you can infer, they convert change in pressure
and temperature into a voltage or current. Using that voltage or current,
we may take some action, may be move a motor or something.
ACTUATOR :
An actuator is anything used to respond to the information from the
sensor. The most widely used actuator is the motor. You can think of the
actuator as the thing used to move the robot, or move some parts in the
robot. (Simply, it’s used to actuate the bot. Know the meaning of
‘Actuate’).
PROCESSOR :
A processor is the interface between the sensor and actuator.
It gets the signal from the sensor, does some processing and commands
the actuator to do something. So, the inputs to the processor are signals
from the sensor. Outputs are the signals for the actuators.
A processor can be a micro controller, a micro processor, a DSP
processor or even a computer. And in some special cases, it can also ba
a human being.
SENSOR ------> PROCESSOR ------> ACTUATOR
That’s enough for an introduction for now. We’ll see each one of these in
detail in the following days.
So, now that you’re familiar with the frame work of a robot, we’ll see
where these modules are used.
Let’s say you make an autonomous line follower robot (A line follower is a
robot which folows a line in the ground. The line should be a dark line
against light background or vice versa. More on this later...) How do you
go about making one? What modules do you need?
To answer that, think how you can sense how the line is moving. You can
sense the colour, because, there’s a colour contrast between the line and
background. So, you need a sensor which differentiates the light and dark
colours. One solution is to use LDR (Light Dependent Resistor). It’s
simply a resistor whose value changes based on the light falling on it. So,
when the resistance value changes, the voltage also changes. So, you
sense that the line is changing track.
A more easy and accurate approach is to use Infra Red sensors. It’s
useful to know that dark colours (say black) absorb IR rays, and light
colors (Say white) reflect it. So, if you place an IR sensor on white color, it
gives a high voltage. On black color, it gives something near zero. This
can be used to identify which color the line is currently.
Next, you need a processor, say a microcontroller to decide what to do
with the sensor signal. The controller may, for example, move the motor
right if white color occurs, and move them left if black occurs. This is a
very crude algorithm, but this’ll suffice for now. So, you need a processor
to process the sensor info.
Finally, you need actuators to carry out the commands given by the
processors. You need some two or four motors to move the robot over the
line.
So, for a line follower, you need all three modules.
Next case, take a manual robot which you’ll use to pick objects from the
floor and place it somewhere in the shelf. You obviously dont need a
sensor to find where the object is. Also, you dont need a processor to
process the sensor information. You just need a remote control module to
issue commands to the robot, and some motors to actually lift the objects
and place them in the shelf. Here, the human operation the robot is
obviously the processor. So, you need only actuators for such a robot.
PS (Well, you may need a sensor after all, but that’s a special case. Take
for instance you are building a bot to be used by a blind person. Then you
need sensor to find where the object is.)
The point of the above discussion is simply that, what modules are
required for a robot cannot be determined a priori. You need to think and
decide for yourself what components the robot is gonna need.
So, now you know what is what of any basic robot. We'll go into the
details of each one.
Hope you liked this. Be interested, and ask questions.
Cheers!!😁😁
certain basic componentrs or modules, which together make a robot.
There are many of them. Some are,
1)Sensor (Transducer)
2)Processor
3)Actuator (Motors and the like)
Well, these are the most basic modules of a robot. Before going into
each one, let me make it clear that,
1)Every robot need not have all of these modules.
2)But every robot will have at least one or some of these modules.
Moving on to the basic definitions,
SENSOR :
A sensor is the thing which senses and provides information about the
environment. We can make some decisions based on the information it
gives. You would have come across the term Transducer. A sensor is
also an electrical transducer.
Technically, a sensor is anything which converts some quantity to be
measured into electricity. For example, there are pressure sensors and
temperature sensors. As you can infer, they convert change in pressure
and temperature into a voltage or current. Using that voltage or current,
we may take some action, may be move a motor or something.
ACTUATOR :
An actuator is anything used to respond to the information from the
sensor. The most widely used actuator is the motor. You can think of the
actuator as the thing used to move the robot, or move some parts in the
robot. (Simply, it’s used to actuate the bot. Know the meaning of
‘Actuate’).
PROCESSOR :
A processor is the interface between the sensor and actuator.
It gets the signal from the sensor, does some processing and commands
the actuator to do something. So, the inputs to the processor are signals
from the sensor. Outputs are the signals for the actuators.
A processor can be a micro controller, a micro processor, a DSP
processor or even a computer. And in some special cases, it can also ba
a human being.
SENSOR ------> PROCESSOR ------> ACTUATOR
That’s enough for an introduction for now. We’ll see each one of these in
detail in the following days.
So, now that you’re familiar with the frame work of a robot, we’ll see
where these modules are used.
Let’s say you make an autonomous line follower robot (A line follower is a
robot which folows a line in the ground. The line should be a dark line
against light background or vice versa. More on this later...) How do you
go about making one? What modules do you need?
To answer that, think how you can sense how the line is moving. You can
sense the colour, because, there’s a colour contrast between the line and
background. So, you need a sensor which differentiates the light and dark
colours. One solution is to use LDR (Light Dependent Resistor). It’s
simply a resistor whose value changes based on the light falling on it. So,
when the resistance value changes, the voltage also changes. So, you
sense that the line is changing track.
A more easy and accurate approach is to use Infra Red sensors. It’s
useful to know that dark colours (say black) absorb IR rays, and light
colors (Say white) reflect it. So, if you place an IR sensor on white color, it
gives a high voltage. On black color, it gives something near zero. This
can be used to identify which color the line is currently.
Next, you need a processor, say a microcontroller to decide what to do
with the sensor signal. The controller may, for example, move the motor
right if white color occurs, and move them left if black occurs. This is a
very crude algorithm, but this’ll suffice for now. So, you need a processor
to process the sensor info.
Finally, you need actuators to carry out the commands given by the
processors. You need some two or four motors to move the robot over the
line.
So, for a line follower, you need all three modules.
Next case, take a manual robot which you’ll use to pick objects from the
floor and place it somewhere in the shelf. You obviously dont need a
sensor to find where the object is. Also, you dont need a processor to
process the sensor information. You just need a remote control module to
issue commands to the robot, and some motors to actually lift the objects
and place them in the shelf. Here, the human operation the robot is
obviously the processor. So, you need only actuators for such a robot.
PS (Well, you may need a sensor after all, but that’s a special case. Take
for instance you are building a bot to be used by a blind person. Then you
need sensor to find where the object is.)
The point of the above discussion is simply that, what modules are
required for a robot cannot be determined a priori. You need to think and
decide for yourself what components the robot is gonna need.
So, now you know what is what of any basic robot. We'll go into the
details of each one.
Hope you liked this. Be interested, and ask questions.
Cheers!!😁😁
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