Elenco Robotics User Manual

robotics

WARNING :

Use under the direct supervision of an adult when
handling parts with sharp points or edges.
Keep away from children under three years of age.
Use only batteries! Never use any other source of
electricity. Do not mix old and new batteries.
Do not use rechargeable batteries.

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Tree of Knowledge (H.K.)

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Robot

The word Robot is used to describe any automatically
operated machine that replaces the human being.
It does not look like a human being nor does it necessarily
do the same things as human beings.

The origin of the word Robot is from a Czech word, Robota,
meaning " forced Labor " The word was used in a play written in 1920
showing how the industrial revolution created mechanical workers called robots,
which could do all types of physical work.
There is a very old Charlie Chaplin lm called "Modern Times",
in which the machine operator behaves like a machine.

One of the rst robot devices was a water clock made by the The Greeks in 250 BC.
From as early as 3rd century BC, during the Han dynasty in China,
a mechanical orchestra was made for the Emperor,
later ying birds, an otter that caught sh and many mechanical dolls were made.
The present day Robots started as mechanical toys and were later
adapted for use in industry and led to the development
of automatic industrial machinery.
One of the most important parts of a Robot are its "arms "or manipulators ,
these usually consist of an arm and body with 3 joints connected
by large links and a wrist consisting of 2 or 3 joints.
Many every day machines are made up of elementary robot mechanisms.
It was only from 1960 that microelectronics were introduced into robots.

The electronic robots in this kit are simple to assemble and operate.
They will show you how larger and more complicated robots function and behave.

1

How do these Robots " think " ? Everyone has 5 basic senses; you see with your eyes, taste with your tongue, hear with your ears,
smell with your nose, and feel with the skin on your ngers.
The information that you get from any of these 5 " sensors " is transmitted
to your brain, the brain processes the information and the muscles in your body react.
Let's say you go out in the bright sun, what happens?
You immediately start to squint or shut your eyes completely.
A robot is programmed to operate in the same way, it receives
information and reacts accordingly.
The simple robot will receive information from the sensor and

Input

will react immediately.
As an example; we will use the robot that moves forward until it meets
an object in its way. It receives the information and stops.
We call this an open loop system: it works on the basis of receiving
information and reacting.

Process

A more complicated robot could do the following; it receives information
that there is an object in its way; it stops and now it can be programmed
to reverse, turn to the left, and try to go forward again.
If the object in the way is small, it can now go forward, but if the object
is large it will have to reverse and turn further to the left until such time
that it will not meet the object when it goes forward.
This robot works on what is called a closed loop system.
It receives information, compares it with what it has been programmed
to do, acts, and waits to receive further information before acting again.
To use the same example of the sun in your eyes.
You go out in the bright sun, and you immediately squint,
your brain now analyses the information and decides how you react,
for example by raising your hand over your eyes to act as a shade or you put on sunglasses.

Output

2