ROBOTIC
or virtual , artificial agent . A robot is usually an electro-mechanical system , which, by its appearance or movements, conveys a sense that it has intent or agency of its own. The word robot can refer to both physical robots and virtual sofware agents , but the latter are often referred to as bots .
While there is still discussion about which machines qualify as robots, a typical robot will have several, though not necessarily all of the following properties:
- Is not ' natural ' / has been artificially created.
- Can sense its environment .
- Can manipulate things in its environment.
- Has some degree of itelligence , or ability to make choices based on the environment, or automatic control / preprogrammed sequence.
- Is programmable .
- Can move with one or more axes of rotation or translation .
- Can make dexterous coordinated movements .
- Appears to have intent or agency ( reification , anthropomorphisation or Pathetic fallacy [7] ).
• Defining characteristics
• The last property (above), the appearance of agency, is important when people are considering whether to call a machine a robot. In general, the more a machine has the appearance of agency, the more it is considered a robot.
Mental agency
For robotic engineers, the physical appearance of a machine is less important than the way its actions are controlled . The more the control system seems to have agency of its own, the more likely the machine is to be called a robot. An important feature of agency is the ability to make choices. So the more a machine could feasibly choose to do something different, the more agency it has. For example:
- a clockwork car is never considered a robot.
- a radio-ontrolled car is almost never considered a robot (though is sometimes known as a telerobot ).
- a car with an onboard computer, like Bigtrak , which could drive in a programmable sequence might be called a robot.
- a self-controlled car , like the entries to the DARPA Grand Challenge , which could sense its environment, and make driving decisions based on this information would quite likely be called robot.
- a sentient car, like the fictional KITT , which can take decisions, navigate freely and converse fluently with a human, is usually considered a robot.
Physical agency
However, for many people, if a machine looks anthropomorphic or zoomorphic (e.g. Asimo and Aibo ), especially if it is limb -like (e.g. a simple robot arm ), or has limbs, or can move around, it would be called a robot.
For example, even if the following examples used the same control architecture:
• a factor automation arm is usually called a robot.
• a zoomorphic mechanical toy, like Roboraptor , is usually called a robot.
• a humanoid, like ASIMO , is almost always called a robot.
Interestingly, while a 3-axis CNC milling machine may have a very similar or identical control system to a robot arm, it is the arm which is almost always called a robot, while the CNC machine is usually just a machine. Having a limb can make all the difference. However, simply being anthropomorphic is not sufficient for something to be called a robot. A robot must do something, whether it is useful work or not. So, for example, a rubber dog chew, shaped like Asimo, would not be considered a robot.
