1.0 Introduction
Interface, can be defined as the point at which a connection is made between two elements so that they can work with one another. Before going further, we shall fully base our write up on the computer interface for robots, as it is the case study of this project.
In computing, different types of interfacing occur at different levels, ranging from highly visible user interfaces that enable people to communicate with programs to often invisible, yet necessary, hardware interfaces that connect devices and components inside the computer. User interfaces consist of the graphical design, the commands, prompts, and other devices that enable a user to interact with a program. There are different types and makes of interface but they are all used to convert a program so that a robotic device can be controlled
A robot in its own is a virtual or mechanical artificial agent. In practice, it is usually an electro-mechanical system which, by its appearance or movements, conveys a sense that it has intent or agency of its own. Stories of artificial helpers and companions and attempts to create them have a long history but fully autonomous machines only appeared in the 20th century.
The first digitally operated and programmable robot, the Unimate, was installed in 1961 to lift hot pieces of metal from a die casting machine and stack them. Today, commercial and industrial robots are in widespread use performing jobs more cheaply or with greater accuracy and reliability than humans. They are also employed for jobs which are too dirty, dangerous or dull to be suitable for humans.
Robots are widely used in manufacturing, assembly and packing, transport, earth and space exploration, surgery, weaponry, laboratory research, and mass production of consumer and industrial goods. While there is no single correct definition of “robot”, a typical robot will have several or possibly all of the following properties.
- It contains an artificial substance.
- It can sense its environment, and manipulate or interact with things in it.
- It has some ability to make choices based on the environment, often using automatic control or a preprogrammed sequence.
- It is programmable.
- It moves with one or more axes of rotation or translation.
- It makes dexterous coordinated movements.
- It moves without direct human intervention.
- It appears to have intent or agency.
There is no one definition of robot which satisfies everyone, and many people have their own. Hence, The Robotics Institute of America (RIA) uses a broader definition: a robot is a “re-programmable multi-functional manipulator designed to move materials, parts, tools, or specialized devices through variable programmed motions for the performance of a variety of tasks”.
The RIA subdivides robots into four classes: devices that manipulate objects with manual control, automated devices that manipulate objects with predetermined cycles, programmable and servo-controlled robots with continuous point-to-point trajectories, and robots of this last type which also acquire information from the environment and move intelligently in response.
It is therefore conclusive that a robot can only function if there is a preprogrammed instruction to direct it intent via a computer or any control operated device, manually or automatically, otherwise called the interface.
The computer interface is necessary even as the robot itself, because each cannot do without the other. Basically a robot cannot be connected to the computer directly to function, but through the interface. This interface converts the program into movement of the robot, and gives the artificial device (robot) intent of accomplishing a specific task.
Nevertheless, an interface is made up of programmable integrated circuits (ICs) that understands a series of binary instructions from the computer and thus transmit or convert these sets of binary instruction into an understandable language of the robot.
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