Electronic and electrical components in Robotics

Robotics is the branch of technology that deals with the design, construction, operation, structural disposition, manufacture and application of robots and computer systems for their control, sensory feedback, and information processing.

Importance of robotics
The concept and creation of machines that could operate autonomously dates back to classical times, but research into the functionality and potential uses of robots did not grow substantially until the 20th century. Today, robotics is a rapidly growing field, as we continue to research, design, and build new robots that serve various practical purposes, whether domestically, commercially, or militarily. Many robots do jobs that are hazardous to people such as defusing bombs, exploring shipwrecks, and mines.

Some of the robots we have today:

Industrial robots
Robots exhibit varying degrees of autonomy: Some robots are programmed to faithfully carry out specific actions over and over again (repetitive actions) without variation and with a high degree of accuracy. These actions are determined by programmed routines that specify the direction, acceleration, velocity, deceleration, and distance of a series of coordinated motions. Other robots are much more flexible as to the orientation of the object on which they are operating or even the task that has to be performed on the object itself, which the robot may even need to identify. For example, for more precise guidance, robots often contain machine vision sub-systems acting as their "eyes", linked to powerful computers or controllers. Artificial intelligence or what passes for it, is becoming an increasingly important factor in the modern industrial robot.

The humanoid robot robo nova Robo nova is humanoid robot, that can move its arms and legs in all possible degrees. its a computer operated robot.

Segway the human carrier

Segway is a two wheeled self balancing robot that can be used by a man to travel for short distances.

Kismet the human interaction robot

kismet is a human interaction robot that can interact with people.it can produce a variety of facial expression,gestures,ar tifical emotions.it can also recognize voice using voice recognition sofware.

The basic components

Having seen some variety of robots now lets move onto the basic electrical and electronic components used in them

Resistors
Resistors are are used to obstruct the flow of current. Here are two types of resistors: Surface mount resistor: can be mounted on a electrical circuit hole resistor: can be inserted into holes on a circuit chip

Battery
A battery is a portable type of power supply that uses cells to store electrical charge.cells can be used in different orders to produce specific voltage levels.

switch
A simple switch is used to open or close a circuit. this type of switch is a momentary button switch closes the circuit when the button is pushed.upon releasing the button the circuit will be open again.these are used for low power applications.

Diode
The diode acts a one way valve-there are many different types of diodes,and they can also be used

LED(light emitting diode) LED are most commonly used in electronic circuits as indicator lights because they consume little current,last for longer time,very bright for small size.

Variable resistor(potentiomete r)
A variable resistor uses a wiper mechanism to slide a contactor across a plane of linear variable resistance. Typically, there are three pins on a potentiometer and the outer two are connected to +5v and GND (in either order), whereas the center tab is the variable analog voltage output of the potentiometer the center tab should be connected to the input , or other control circuitry.

Transistor switch NPN

A transistor is the simplest type of digital switch. There are several different variations of transistors, but we use only BJT and Mosfet types. The BJT is commonly used as a high-frequency, low-power electronic switch that is easily controlled . The N-type transistor is considered a low-side switch that is often used in conjunction with P-type transistors.

Transistor switch PNP

The PNP transistor is similar to the NPN type, but it can be used only as a high-side switch. By combining PNP and NPN transistors together, you can create an amplifying circuit or signal buffer

Capacitor
A capacitor is a device that can hold a specific amount of electrical charge, used to supply current to the rest of the circuit or absorb voltage spikes for signal smoothing. You should always select a capacitor with a voltage rating that is at least 10v higher than the system operating voltage. Exceeding the voltage limit results in an exploding capacitor!

Ceramic resonator

This ceramic resonator takes the place of a crystal and two capacitors, because it has two capacitors built-in.

Motor

This symbol usually indicates a standard twowire DC motor. This DC motor with gearbox attached is a small hobby type motor that can be used in a robotic project. There are typically two wires used to operate this type of motor, where reversing the polarity to the wires will reverse the direction of the motor output shaft.

Voltage regulator voltage regulator chip is useful to convert any DC voltage input into a regulated output .

These are the basic electrical and electronic components which can be seen in any typical robot.

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