Talk:Robot/Archive 1

message: Should exoskeleton be considered robot when it is directly controlled by a human operator? The mechanical arm onboard of the Space shuttle is often called the robotic arm.  It falls in the same category of device as exoskeleton.  What exactly is the definitive characteristic of a robot?
The article mentions a "death by robot" in Michigan but gives no details - did this really happen?  It gets repeated on various other websites but nobody gives the name of the person, or the location - a search on snopes adds no further information.
You would have to search in actual commercial indexes (for a fee) or go to a library and look in one of their paper based indexes (or use the digital indexes at your college library if you are a student) because, if memory serves me well, the accident happened as far back as 30 ago or more with a Unimate (Unimation) or Cincinnati Milacron industrial robot or one of the early Hitachi industrial robots in a car factory or one of their parts supplier near Detroit.  The general "free" Web is notoriously poor for this kind of old "niche" information.  By the way, I did not put in the "death by robot" mention.  AlainV 06:51, 8 Sep 2004 (UTC)
thread_title: definition of robot?

message: Adding a picture of a robot would be cool. (I don't have any such picture, however.) —Vespristiano 00:17, 30 Nov 2004 (UTC)
replies: text: I agree.  --Dbenbenn 00:20, 20 Dec 2004 (UTC)
thread_title:  Picture? 

message: Do we really need a disambiguation link at the top of the article for a film that has not yet even appeared? JFW | T@lk 00:16, 7 Dec 2004 (UTC)
thread_title:  [[Robots (movie)]] 

message: I edited an odd quote and editorial comment in the preface and removed this excessively convoluted, and unnecessarily detailed section from the beginning. Parts may be salvaged, but it seems to just restate the much simpler descriptions used throughout.
: Motion is achieved by motors controlled by digital circuits that incorporate a key power semiconductor switching element called a thyristor or silicon-controlled rectifier (SCR). The robot turns when only one of two parallel motors is actuated: for example, stopping the left motor while running the right motor causes the dummy to turn left. Digital signals fed to the motor control circuitry determine which motors move at which times. The problem can range from very simple (e.g., turning left or right) to very complex (e.g., controlling an elbow and wrist to move an item from a conveyor belt to a shelf). The signals can be sent by an outside element (e.g., a human operator) or by internal circuitry that makes "decisions" based upon observations of the robot's environment and may alter these decisions based upon whether the motion is proceeding satisfactorily. (see feedback).
: Combinations of various computer systems and electromechanical subsystems can produce the appearance of profound sophistication. For example, a "chess-playing robot" that really should be viewed as two discrete systems: (1) chess-playing software that has nothing to do with robotics; and (2) a robot that interacts with the chess board. The latter requires the abilities to [a] locate a chessman on the board based upon its expected coordinates, [b] lift the man, [c] remove any captured man from the board, and [d] reposition the first man--all without breaking or knocking down chess pieces or committing other environmental faux pas.
--LeFlyman 21:06, 4 May 2005 (UTC)
thread_title:  Edited out from intro 

message: I hope that in the future, Robots will evolve into a human race. 
--Ed Telerionus 20:02, 23 Jun 2005 (UTC)
thread_title:  Comments and Questions 2005