Monday, January 16, 2012

Robotics Reading


The additional article I read was:

The assigned robotics reading provides a lot of general information about the field of robotics, but it does not go into detail about the applications. It discusses how robots function through movement, controls, sensors, and intelligent systems. It is useful for general knowledge on the topic, not the use of robotics for intelligent buildings.

The above article discusses robots that function autonomously and collaboratively to simultaneously explore and map a structure. The project is being developed by a team from the Georgia Institute of Technology, the University of Pennsylvania and the California Institute of Technology/Jet Propulsion Laboratory. The designed application is for first responders such as firefighters or soldiers entering a potentially dangerous building.  The robots communicate with each other and send a map back to the people outside without relying on GPS, but GPS can be used to also relay the robot’s current position.  The robots use video and laser sensors to detect the structure and radar and infrared sensors are in development.

This technology can be used in disaster and military scenarios to provide a quick map of an unknown structure and even danger areas and locations of people. It will lower the risk for people entering dangerous situations and increase the efficiency of their mission.  The article only briefly mentioned future development and did not discuss other applications of this technology.  This technology can be applied to robots that roll on the ground or fly and carry many different sensors.  I also see this technology being used for applications such as inspecting buildings under construction or in danger of collapse and evaluating the performance of building systems.  It relates to the idea of swarm robots, many small robots working together to accomplish a task.  These mapping robots could work with construction robots to inspect the progress of building construction and provide the plans for remaining work.

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