• The manipulator: acts on the product which passes along the production line.

  
  

• The system of articulations: moves the manipulator to the correct place.

There are 3 types of power system: electric, pneumatic and hydaulic.

Electric Power system:

Electric systems are the most common way to power robot. There are 3 types of electric motors: AC motor, DC motor and step-by-step motor

- AC and DC motors requiere constant control. The sensor must constantly give information, and the controller must constantly tell the motor if it should move or not.

-Step-by-step motors don't requiere sensors for positions control. They don't have a lot of force, and they aren't energy efficient.

Pneumatic power system:

Pneumatic power systems use compressed aor as energy. A compressor compresses the air into a tank. The compressed air moves a piston inside the cylinder, which moves an actuator.

Hydraulic power systems:

Hyadraulic power systems use the pressure in oil as energy. An oil pump adds pressure to the oil from a tank. The oil moves the actuators and then returns to the tank.

Position sensors:

Position sensors are linear or angular. We use them to measure the position of an object, its size or its shape.

They can be inductive sensors, limit switches, LDRs, etc.

• Inductive sensors: detect metallic objects without touching them. There are a small electromagnet.

• Limit switches: Are the simplest type of position sensors. If something presses the lever, they are on; if not, they are off.

• LDRs: Are resistances made of a semiconductor material that varies its resistivity with variations of light. If an opaque object blocks the light, the LDR's resistance increases and no electricity flows.

Force sensors:

Different kinds of force sensors detect different forces.

Temperature sensors:

Are very common. Ara also used as safety devices in machines which have a risk of overheating.

Can control the speed or force of the movement

The controller also has a memory to store:

• The software (the logic, which is the program that controls the robot).

• Data, such as parameters for the program or information about the product.

The minimum is one, and the maximum is 6.

Robots are generally used if they have one or more of the following advantages:

• More economical than a person

• Faster than a person

• Can work 24 hours a day

• Produce better quality

• Can work in dangerous places

Some historians date the beginning of robotics to the middle ages, when machines were first used without direct human control.

-In the first half of the 20th century, robots that worked with relays were first used. These automatisms were simple but functional.

The microprocessor with his experience control all of the movements.

1 mm = 1/1,000 m

1nm = 1/1,000,000 m

The name "nano robots" refers to their very small sizes.

Nano robots could, for example, travel along human veins and un-block a blocked vein.