Ohrenberger School

Robotics History

Definition of a ‘Robot’

First use of the word ‘Robot’

First use of the word ‘Robotics’

Three Laws of Robotics

The First Robot ‘Unimate’

Modern Industrial Robots

Benefits of Robots

Definition of a ‘Robot’

According to the Robot Institute of America (1979) a robot is:

“A reprogrammable, multifunctional manipulator designed to move material, parts, tools, or specialized devices through various programmed motions for the performance of a variety of tasks”.

A more inspiring definition can be found in Webster. According to Webster a robot is:

“An automatic device that performs functions normally ascribed to humans or a machine in the form of a human.”

First use of the word ‘Robot’

The acclaimed Czech playwright Karel Capek (1890-1938) made the first use of the word ‘robot’, from the Czech word for forced labor or serf. Capek was reportedly several times a candidate for the Nobel prize for his works and very influential and prolific as a writer and playwright.

The use of the word Robot was introduced into his play R.U.R. (Rossum’s Universal Robots) which opened in Prague in January 1921.

In R.U.R., Capek poses a paradise, where the machines initially bring so many benefits but in the end bring an equal amount of blight in the form of unemployment and social unrest.

The play was an enormous success and productions soon opened throughout Europe and the U.S. R.U.R’s theme, in part, was the dehumanization of man in a technological civilization.

You may find it surprising that the robots were not mechanical in nature but were created through chemical means. In fact, in an essay written in 1935, Capek strongly fought that this idea was at all possible and, writing in the third person, said:

“It is with horror, frankly, that he rejects all responsibility for the idea that metal contraptions could ever replace human beings, and that by means of wires they could awaken something like life, love, or rebellion. He would deem this dark prospect to be either an overestimation of machines, or a grave offence against life.”
[The Author of Robots Defends Himself - Karl Capek, Lidove noviny, June 9, 1935, translation: Bean Comrada]

There is some evidence that the word robot was actually coined by Karl’s brother Josef, a writer in his own right. In a short letter, Capek writes that he asked Josef what he should call the artificial workers in his new play.

Karel suggests Labori, which he thinks too ‘bookish’ and his brother mutters “then call them Robots” and turns back to his work, and so from a curt response we have the word robot.

First use of the word ‘Robotics’

The word ‘robotics’ was first used in Runaround, a short story published in 1942, by Isaac Asimov (born Jan. 2, 1920, died Apr. 6, 1992). I, Robot, a collection of several of these stories, was published in 1950.

One of the first robots Asimov wrote about was a robotherapist. A modern counterpart to Asimov’s fictional character is Eliza. Eliza was born in 1966 by a Massachusetts Institute of Technology Professor Joseph Weizenbaum who wrote Eliza — a computer program for the study of natural language communication between man and machine.

She was initially programmed with 240 lines of code to simulate a psychotherapist by answering questions with questions.

Three Laws of Robotics

Asimov also proposed his three “Laws of Robotics”, and he later added a ‘zeroth law’.

Law Zero: A robot may not injure humanity, or, through inaction, allow humanity to come to harm.

Law One: A robot may not injure a human being, or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm, unless this would violate a higher order law.
Law Two: A robot must obey orders given it by human beings, except where such orders would conflict with a higher order law.

Law Three: A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with a higher order law.

The First Robot: ‘Unimate’

After the technology explosion during World War II, in 1956, a historic meeting occurs between George C. Devol, a successful inventor and entrepreneur, and engineer Joseph F. Engelberger, over cocktails the two discuss the writings of Isaac Asimov.

Together they made a serious and commercially successful effort to develop a real, working robot. They persuaded Norman Schafler of Condec Corporation in Danbury that they had the basis of a commercial success.

Engelberger started a manufacturing company ‘Unimation’ which stood for universal automation and so the first commercial company to make robots was formed. Devol wrote the necessary patents. Their first robot nicknamed the ‘Unimate’. As a result, Engelberger has been called the ‘father of robotics.’

The first Unimate was installed at a General Motors plant to work with heated die-casting machines. In fact most Unimates were sold to extract die castings from die casting machines and to perform spot welding on auto bodies, both tasks being particularly hateful jobs for people.

Both applications were commercially successful, i.e., the robots worked reliably and saved money by replacing people. An industry was spawned and a variety of other tasks were also performed by robots, such as loading and unloading machine tools.

Ultimately Westinghouse acquired Unimation and the entrepreneurs’ dream of wealth was achieved. Unimation is still in production today, with robots for sale.

The robot idea was hyped to the skies and became high fashion in the Boardroom. Presidents of large corporations bought them, for about $100,000 each, just to put into laboratories to “see what they could do;” in fact these sales constituted a large part of the robot market. Some companies even reduced their ROI (Return On Investment criteria for investment) for robots to encourage their use.

Modern Industrial Robots

The image of the “electronic brain” as the principal part of the robot was pervasive. Computer scientists were put in charge of robot departments of robot customers and of factories of robot makers. Many of these people knew little about machinery or manufacturing but assumed that they did.

(There is a common delusion of electrical engineers that mechanical phenomena are simple because they are visible. Variable friction, the effects of burrs, minimum and redundant constraints, nonlinearities, variations in work pieces, accommodation to hostile environments and hostile people, etc. are like the “Purloined Letter” in Poe’s story, right in front of the eye, yet unseen.) They also had little training in the industrial engineer’s realm of material handling, manufacturing processes, manufacturing economics and human behavior in factories.

As a result, many of the experimental tasks in those laboratories were made to fit their robot’s capabilities but had little to do with the real tasks of the factory.

Modern industrial arms have increased in capability and performance through controller and language development, improved mechanisms, sensing, and drive systems. In the early to mid 80’s the robot industry grew very fast primarily due to lar
ge investments by the automotive industry.

The quick leap into the factory of the future turned into a plunge when the integration and economic viability of these efforts proved disastrous. The robot industry has only recently recovered to mid-80’s revenue levels.

In the meantime there has been an enormous shakeout in the robot industry. In the US, for example, only one US company, Adept, remains in the production industrial robot arm business. Most of the rest went under, consolidated, or were sold to European and Japanese companies.

In the research community the first automata were probably Grey Walter’s machina (1940’s) and the John’s Hopkins beast. Teleoperated or remote controlled devices had been built even earlier with at least the first radio controlled vehicles built by Nikola Tesla in the 1890’s.

Tesla is better known as the inventor of the induction motor, AC power transmission, and numerous other electrical devices. Tesla had also envisioned smart mechanisms that were as capable as humans.

An excellent biography of Tesla is Margaret Cheney’s Tesla, Man Out of Time, Published by Prentice-Hall, c1981.

SRI’s Shakey navigated highly structured indoor environments in the late 60’s and Moravec’s Stanford Cart was the first to attempt natural outdoor scenes in the late 70’s.

From that time there has been a proliferation of work in autonomous driving machines that cruise at highway speeds and navigate outdoor terrains in commercial applications.

Fully functioning androids (robots that look like human beings) are many years away due to the many problems that must be solved. However, real, working, sophisticated robots are in use today and they are revolutionizing the workplace.

These robots do not resemble the romantic android concept of robots. They are industrial manipulators and are really computer controlled “arms and hands”. Industrial robots are so different to the popular image that it would be easy for the average person not to recognize one.
Benefits

Robots offer specific benefits to workers, industries and countries. If introduced correctly, industrial robots can improve the quality of life by freeing workers from dirty, boring, dangerous and heavy labor. it is true that robots can cause unemployment by replacing human workers but robots also create jobs: robot technicians, salesmen, engineers, programmers and supervisors.

The benefits of robots to industry include improved management control and productivity and consistently high quality products. Industrial robots can work tirelessly night and day on an assembly line without an loss in performance.

Consequently, they can greatly reduce the costs of manufactured goods. As a result of these industrial benefits, countries that effectively use robots in their industries will have an economic advantage on world market

If your son is a professional baseball prospect, you might want to know what makes more sense for him: continue playing at the collegiate level, or turn pro right away. The price where it pays to go pro might surprise you.

Of the four major U.S. sports, only baseball and basketball draft high school and college players together. However, the basketball draft lasts only two rounds and includes players from overseas professional leagues, while baseball provides far more opportunities. The Amateur Baseball Draft lasts ten rounds and includes only high school and college players.

While baseball offers immediate professional opportunities to high school graduates, a minor leaguer ballplayer usually needs three or four years of seasoning to be ready for the major league roster. A player who signs a contract in 2007 and immediately reported to a Rookie League or Class A team should be on the major league roster on or before the 2010 season.

First year salaries for a minor league ballplayer range from $850 a month for the first contract season to $2,150 when the player reaches Triple-A, one level below the major leagues. Given the low salaries, the decision to skip college has to depend on the player’s signing bonus and the quality of the college programs that are offering scholarships. It might not pay for a ballplayer to pass on a top college program if the academics are strong enough to help them with life after baseball.

What is a good guideline for a signing bonus for a high school baseball player?

My rule of thumb is that the signing bonus should equal or exceed the projected cost of four years of college plus the major league minimum salary. This assumes the player would remain in college through his senior year-although it is common for baseball players to drop out without completing their degree. At worst, if the player does not make the major leagues, he should have the opportunity to save enough money to pay for college while he toils in the minors.

Following this rule of thumb, a high school player would need to receive a minimum signing bonus of $600,000.

The $600,000 minimum is based on:

? The combined costs: tuition, fees, room and board and essentials at a top private university and traditional baseball powerhouses such as Stanford, the University of Miami, or the University of Southern California approached $45,000. It is quite likely that these costs will approach, if not surpass, $200,000 to complete a bachelor’s degree.

? A 2010 major league minimum salary of $400,000, as stipulated in the most recent agreement between the Major League Baseball Players Association and the owners of the all 30 Major League Baseball teams. The 2011 league minimum is not known at this time; it is tied to a future cost of living increase.

How many players chosen in the 2006 Amateur Draft earned the recommended minimum signing bonus of $600,000?

Only the top 60 players received a signing bonus of $600,000 or more. Only 27 were high school players, the rest were college prospects.

What about the ballplayer who has finished some of his college education or completed his degree?

A college player’s signing bonus should, as a minimum, cover the remaining costs of his college education, plus the wages he might have earned by using his degree, but not playing baseball.

The player with a community college degree has already invested in his education; he can use his community college degree to find work, continue his education at a four-year college, or turn pro. The community college graduate might need as much as $100,000 to complete a four-year degree at a private college. His entry-level salary, after completing his bachelor’s degree, might range from $35,000 to $55,000 depending on grades and course of study, and, this player might still need three to four years of seasoning in the minor leagues.

This player would need a signing bonus in excess of $180,000, but he has a chance of getting a larger bonus if he stays in school and performs well the next season.

The scholarship player who completed his degree can play ball, or use his education to do something else. Like other prospects, he may need some seasoning in the minors–and his salary after three or four years of non-baseball employment could approach, maybe exceed $50,000, almost the same as tuition and expenses for college. His bonus should also be in excess of $180,000.

How many college draftees earned the recommended minimum signing bonus of $180,000?

There were 150 prospects who received a signing bonus of $180,000, or more, with the lowest ranked player selected at the top of the fifth round of the draft.

What is the major tradeoff?

The top high school baseball prospect must consider the risk of postponing college against his chances of making a major league roster within four years. It is quite difficult for a professional baseball player to attend college in the off-season because of travel and seasons that overlap into the fall and spring semesters. Top prospects are also encouraged to play winter ball; that also overlaps into study time.

However, the number of high school players who can command the big bonuses that make it pay to go pro is an elite few-and that number fluctuates from year to year because it is based on the annual level of talent in the pool of draft-eligible players.

The top college prospect must consider the opportunities to complete his education and increase his signing bonus after each season of amateur competition. The college prospect will have a degree, but he will be off to a later start in his professional career, especially if he needs seasoning in the minor leagues. However, the college graduate has more options for life after baseball.

Unless the player becomes an established major league star, it would be better for him to build a post-baseball life off a college degree than return home to lament glory days.

Fashion or being fashionable has been a trend since the 14th century in the west. Since then, fashion has spread all over the world and invaded country after country, especially the urban cities of the countries. Being fashionable has been sort of a status quo in every society. The more fashionable you are, the more you are regarded as an elite or a socialite person. With the popularity of fashion, it is not surprising that it has become a booming business worldwide.

 

Women nowadays are more particular than men when it comes to fashion. That is why women’s boutiques are more common than men’s in every city. Women are very fussy when it comes to what they wear. They won’t usually wear what is not in style; they would always be updated with the fashion trend. And with the trend shifting almost every year, so do the variety of clothes that women buy. So every boutique and fashion clothing store should always be well-run with the changes in style and trends so that they will not be left behind in the business.

 

With the abundance of the competition in the fashion clothing business, shop owners have to find ways not only to be up-to-date in fashion trends but also to find means to sell their designer clothes competitively. One way of doing this is purchasing wholesale, not only will it be much cheaper, you can also have more availability of clothes for your costumers to choose from. One factor that store owners should also consider is the quality of the fashion clothing that they are buying from manufacturers. Wholesaling clothes is sometimes not reliable in getting the clothes with the best quality so it is wise to shop around for fashion clothing supplier.

 

Luckily for fashion clothes shop owners and entrepreneurs, the internet has made the search for a clothing wholesaler much more convenient with the availability of online fashion clothing suppliers serving trendy and stylish clothes not only locally but internationally. One of these suppliers is the online sourcing mall CausewayMall, a clothing wholesaler who supplies most fashionable clothing and magazine style ladies apparel internationally. Its close relationships with clothing manufacturers enable the CausewayMall to offer mass produced very trendy and fashionably styled clothes.

 

CausewayMall not only offers fashion styles in the locale but also from other countries. Other Asian countries such as Japanese and Korean styles of clothing can also be ordered from this company. Hong Kong and Korean clothing and fashion wholesalers can buy from CausewayMall all the stylish party dresses, off price clothing labels, ladies apparels, trendy clothes, halter tops, cute dresses, and even junior party dresses and clothing apparel are selling at very economical and affordable price.

 

With the assortment of products and accessories CausewayMall offers, you won’t have to look for another wholesale clothing supplier. All the clothing lines you need can be found at this online sourcing mall. And with the quality and affordability of its clothes and accessories, CausewayMall can be considered a one-stop shop clothing store.