03-05-2012, 12:27 PM
Robots in Radioactive Environments
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INTRODUCTION
Robots are developed to be used in areas inaccessible to human beings. Radio active environment is one in which high energy radiations like ?, ? and ? radiations are emitted by radioactive materials. There is a limitation in case of the time and dose for which professional worker can be exposed to nuclear radiations according to international regulations so it very useful to use robots in such an environment.
Robots with properly automated can also be used to control nuclear power plants and hence can be used to avert nuclear power plant disasters like one that occurred at Chernobyl. Robots can also be used for the disposal of radioactive waste.
Future is still bright for robots in radio active environment as they are to be used to isolate nuclear power plants from surroundings in case of a nuclear power plant disaster
In a critical place such as a nuclear power plant , where the manual work is quite difficult the application of robots are really worth mentioning.
Robots are used to prevent exposure of humans to radiations in Nuclear Power plants
The folks working on the first atomic bombs pretty much defined telerobotics in this country. They had no other way of working with the radioactive materials. They used pure mechanical coupling for their telerobotics. The operator would stand on one side of a thick, leaded glass window while the robot manipulated the material on the other side. Cables, bands and tubes provided the coupling. Before long, these systems were carefully engineered with counter balancing and very low friction surfaces.
The mechanical coupling provided natural force feedback. I had the opportunity to use one of these systems at Oak Ridge National Lab and it was far superior to any modern, motorized, electronic telerobotic system I have tried (and I have tried very many of them). I would recommend the use of these manual systems in any telerobotic application where it is not necessary to project the control beyond the next room.
BRIEF HISTORY
The word robot was introduced in 1921 by the Czech play Wright Karel Capek, in his play Rossum's universal robots and is derived from the Czech word "Robota", meaning "forced labour". The story concerns a brilliant scientist named 'ROSSUM' and his son, who developed a chemical substance similar to protoplasm to manufacture robots. Their plan was that the robots would serve the mankind obediently and do all physical labour. Finally, after improvements and eliminating unnecessary parts, they develop a "perfect robot", which eventually goes out of control and attacks humans.
Although Capek introduced the word robot to the world, the term robotics was coined by Isaac Asimov in his science fiction story "run around", where he portrayed robots not in negative manner but built with safety measures in mind to assist human beings. Asimov established in his story three fundamental laws of robots as follows:
1. A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.
2. A robot must obey the orders given to it by human beings, except where such orders would conflict with the first law.
3. A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the first and second laws. .
Robots were introduced into the industry in the early 1960's. Robots originally were in hazardous operations, such as handling toxics and radioactive materials and loading & unloading hot work pieces from furnaces and handling them in foundries.
The robot at right was developed for the decontamination and dismantlement of nuclear weapons facilities. It has two six-degree of freedom Schilling arms mounted on a five-degree of freedom base. As the facilities used to develop our country's nuclear weapons enter their 50th year and beyond, we now have to dismantle them and safely store the waste. The radioactive fields makes this activity too hazardous for human workers so the use of robotics makes sense. The idea for this robot is that it can hold a part in one hand and use a cutting tool with the other; basically stripping apart the reactor layer by layer (something like peeling an onion). As the robot works it too will become contaminated.
Stories of artificial helpers and companions and attempts to create them have a long history.
The word robot was introduced to the public by the Czech writer Karel Čapek in his play R.U.R. (Rossum's Universal Robots), published in 1920.[5] The play begins in a factory that makes artificial people called robots creatures who can be mistaken for humans – though they are closer to the modern ideas of androids. Karel Čapek himself did not coin the word. He wrote a short letter in reference to an etymology in the Oxford English Dictionary in which he named his brother Josef Čapek as its actual originator.[5]
In 1927 the Maschinenmensch ("machine-human") gynoid humanoid robot (also called "Parody", "Futura", "Robotrix", or the "Maria impersonator") was the first and perhaps the most memorable depiction of a robot ever to appear on film was played by German actress Brigitte Helm in Fritz Lang's film Metropolis.
In 1942 the science fiction writer Isaac Asimov formulated his Three Laws of Robotics and, in the process of doing so, coined the word "robotics" (see details in "Etymology" section below).
In 1948 Norbert Wiener formulated the principles of cybernetics, the basis of practical robotics.
Fully autonomous robots only appeared in the second half of 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. Commercial and industrial robots are widespread today and used to perform jobs more cheaply, or more accurately and reliably, than humans. They are also employed in jobs which are too dirty, dangerous, or dull to be suitable for humans. Robots are widely used in manufacturing, assembly, packing and packaging, transport, earth and space exploration, surgery, weaponry, laboratory research, safety, and the mass production of consumer and industrial goods.[8]