Various automatic devices occupy such a strong place in human life that it is almost impossible to imagine modern civilization without them. However, the history of robotics is very long, people have been learning how to create various machines for almost their entire history. Of course, ancient machines cannot be compared with modern ones, they were rather their likenesses. However, they demonstrate that the ideas of creating machines, in particular the artificial imitation of man, can be traced back to the most ancient layers of human history.
The appearance of the word "robot"
This word was coined by the famous Czech writer Karel Capek. He first used the term in the title of his 1920 play Rossum's Universal Robots. However, he cannot be considered the author of the word "robot", it only comes from the Czech robota, meaning only "work". According to the writer himself, his brother Joseph offered the floor, while Capek himself could not decide how to name his characters.
The plot of Čapek's play to manywill seem familiar: at first, people exploit their mechanical servants in various hard jobs, then they rebel and, in turn, enslave people.
In the modern sense, a “robot” is a mechanical device that operates according to a given program on its own, without human help.
The concept of robotics and its laws
In 1941, Isaac Asimov's famous laws of robotics were formulated in the story "The Liar", which are designed to regulate the behavior of these machines.
- A robot cannot inflict damage on a person or, by its inaction, allow this damage to be inflicted.
- A robot must obey a human as long as it doesn't go against the first law.
- A robot can defend itself as long as it doesn't contradict the first two laws.
Subsequently, starting from these laws, Asimov himself and other authors created a huge layer of works devoted to the relationship between people and machines.
Azimov introduced the concept of "robotics". The word, once used in a fantasy story, is now the name of a serious scientific branch, engaged in the development and construction of various mechanisms, process automation, etc.
Machines of the ancient world
The history of robotics is rooted in antiquity. Some kind of robots were invented in ancient Egypt more than four thousand years ago, when the priests hid inside the statues of the gods and talked to people from there. At the same time, the hands of the statues moved andheads.
If you give some free rein to your imagination, you can find references to robots, for example, in the myths of Ancient Greece. Even Homer mentions the mechanical servants that the ancient Greek god Hephaestus created for himself, the giant Talos, created by him from bronze to protect Crete from the enemy. Plato tells of the scientist Archytas of Tarentum, who made an artificial dove capable of flying.
Archimedes in the 3rd century BC allegedly made an apparatus very reminiscent of a modern planetarium: a transparent ball driven by water, which displayed the movement of all celestial bodies known at that time.
In the Middle Ages, people already began to create real machines capable of doing many interesting things. Attempts to create the first humanoid machines also belong to the Middle Ages.
Albert the Great, a famous alchemist of the 13th century, created an android that acted as a gatekeeper, opening the door to knocking and bowing to guests (an android is a robot that copies a person in appearance and behavior). He also designed a mechanism capable of speaking with a human voice, the so-called talking head.
Who was the first to create a robot?
The project of the first robot, about which reliable information has been preserved, was created by Leonardo da Vinci. It was an android that looked like a knight in armor. According to Leonardo's drawings, he could move his arms and head. The question remains why the famous inventor did not endow his knight with the ability to move his legs, i.e. walk. Perhaps he considered this a technically difficult problem (whichis completely true). Or it was assumed that the knight should ride a horse, and the mobility of the legs is not necessary for him.
It is not known for sure whether da Vinci was able to build his "terminator", but he designed a lion robot that, when the king appeared, tore his chest with his claws, showing the coat of arms of France hidden in it.
In addition, Leonardo also had ideas about the interaction of mechanisms with human organs, i.e. already at the turn of the 15th-16th centuries he anticipated the modern development of prostheses controlled directly by the human nervous system.
Mechanical musicians and walking engines
During the 16th century, many devices were created in Europe, mainly using winding (watch) mechanisms. For example, in Germany, an artificial fly and an eagle were made that could fly, and in Italy, a female robot who played the lute.
During the 17th century, Europeans developed and improved the first mechanical "calculators". At first they can only add and subtract, but by the end of the century they are already capable of division and multiplication.
This moment can be considered a turning point in the history of robotics, as two branches of knowledge begin to develop in parallel, which in the future will be used to create modern robots:
- development of machines that imitate and replace a person and his actions;
- creation of devices designed to store and process information.
In parallel, mechanicalhumanoid devices capable of playing musical instruments, writing and drawing.
The onset of the 19th century was marked by the beginning of the "friendship" of people with electricity. It begins to spread rapidly and penetrate into many spheres of human activity. At the same time, various mechanical computers and analytical machines were being improved, the telephone and telegraph were invented.
Stories are known of various humanoid machines allegedly invented and used in the US during the 19th century:
- in 1865, the designer Johnny Brainard created the so-called steam man, who was harnessed to a wagon instead of a horse. It was, in fact, a locomotive that looked like a person (only much larger). It had to be constantly "drowned", and it was controlled, like a horse, by reins. It was claimed that he could "walk" at speeds up to 50 km/h.
- After a while, Frank Reid is already testing an "electric man", but little is known about this invention.
- In 1893, Archie Campion introduced a model of an artificial steam-powered soldier called the Boilerplate, which was allegedly repeatedly used in practice, i.e. in battles.
All this information is interesting, but raises some doubts, because, despite the seemingly outstanding characteristics, these products never went into mass production, unlike steam locomotives, steamships and so on. Most likely, they existed only in the form of prototypes and never found their application,being, in fact, toys for adults.
The 20th century is the heyday of robotics
In the 20th century, the history of robotics enters its final stage, which led to the creation of those robots that mankind knows now.
Breakthroughs are made in the field of electronics, diodes and triodes appear. The first tube computers are first developed in theory and then implemented.
At the same time, the first electronic humanoid robot is created, controlled from a distance, able to move and talk. Then comes an electronic dog that reacts to light and can bark.
By the end of the first third of the 20th century, radio-controlled androids are learning to talk on the phone, walk, even act as lecturers at an exhibition, smoke cigarettes and so on. At that moment, many already thought that there was not much left - and robots would replace people. However, later it becomes clear that it will not be possible to use the androids of that time for any kind of work due to the insufficient development of technologies at that time.
But these findings do not stop the inventors - androids continued to appear and are still being developed.
In the 1940s-1950s, the improvement of electronics, computers and computer programming continues, the concept of "artificial intelligence" appears, after which there is a significant leap in the development of robotics, robots begin to "get smart" quickly.
Finally, from the beginning of the 60s, the dream of mankind begins to come true - machines begin to replace people with heavy, dangerous anduninteresting jobs. The first robotic manipulators of the modern type appear. First, they perform only the most inconvenient operations for a human, then automatic assembly lines are created.
Over time, the craze of people with robots begins. Many circles and schools of robotics are opened for children, various educational toys and constructors are produced. The entertainment industry also does not stand aside - in 1986, the first part of the film "Terminator" was released, which made a splash all over the world.
Domestic robotics
The history of robotics in Russia, as well as in Europe, has more than one century. For some time now, Russian scientists have been keeping up with their European counterparts in the design of various automata: in the last third of the 18th century, a computing machine called the Jacobson machine was created in Russia, and in 1790 Ivan Petrovich Kulibin created his famous “egg” clock. Several human figures were built into them, which performed certain actions, the clock also played a hymn and other melodies.
It was Russian scientists who made several significant discoveries in the history of robotics. Semyon Nikolayevich Korsakov laid the foundations of computer science in 1832. He developed several machines capable of performing intelligent calculations by using punched cards to program them.
Boris Semenovich Jacobi in 1838 invented and tested the first electric motor, the fundamental design of which remains relevant to this day. Jacobi,having installed it on a boat, he took a walk along the Neva with its help.
Academician P. L. ChebyshevIn 1878, he presented the first prototype of a walking vehicle - a walking car.
M. A. Bonch-Bruevich invented the trigger in 1918, thanks to which the creation of the first computers became possible, and V. K. Zworykin a little later demonstrates an electronic tube that gave rise to television.
The first computer appears in the USSR in 1948, and already in 1950 the MESM (small electronic calculating machine) was released, at that time the fastest in Europe.
Officially, the history of robotics in Russia can be counted from 1971. Then the department of special robotics and mechatronics was created at the Bauman Moscow Higher Technical School, headed by Academician E. P. Popov. He became the founder of the national school of engineering robotics.
Domestic science adequately competed with foreign. Back in 1974, a Soviet computer became the world champion in a chess tournament among machines. And the Elbrus-3 supercomputer, created in 1994, was twice as fast as the most powerful American computer of that time. However, it was not put into mass production, perhaps due to the difficult situation in the country at that time.
Russian automatic cosmonauts
Officially, the beginning of robotics in Russia dates back to 1971. It was then that it was officially recognized as a science in the USSR. Although by that time, Russian-made assault rifles were already plowing the expanses of space with might and main.
In 1957, the world's firstartificial earth satellite. In 1966, the Luna-9 station transmitted a radio signal to Earth from the surface of the Moon, and the Venera-3 apparatus, having successfully reached the planet, installed a pennant of the USSR there.
In just four years, two more lunar stations were launched and both completed their mission successfully. Lunokhod-1, delivered by the Luna-17 station, worked three times longer than planned, and gave Soviet scientists a lot of valuable information.
In 1973, another station of the same series delivered another lunar rover to the Moon, which also coped with its task perfectly.
Robotics in our time
Modern robots have penetrated into many areas of human life. Their diversity is amazing: here are just children's toys, and entire automated factories, surgical complexes, artificial pets, military and civilian unmanned vehicles. Their constant development and improvement is carried out by many organizations in the world. In Russia, the leading position in scientific robotics is occupied by the Central Research Institute of Robotics and Technical Cybernetics (Central Research Institute of Robotics and Technical Cybernetics) in St. Petersburg, founded in 1961 as a design bureau at the Polytechnic Institute. In this largest center, electronic systems were developed for the Buran spacecraft, stations of the Luna series and the international space station.
The speci alty "Mechatronics and Robotics" and similar ones are present in many technicaluniversities of the world. Specialists with such an education are in high demand in the labor market, because automation is penetrating deeper and deeper into many areas of human activity. For those who are fond of the subject in their free time, many books on robotics have been published, both in Russia and in other countries.
Despite the fact that the current technology has reached unprecedented heights, and robots are actively used by people, their humanoid representatives - androids - are still "out of work". They are being improved, more and more complex models are being developed, but in practical application they are still hopelessly losing to their wheeled, tracked and even stationary "colleagues" and remain, by and large, toys. The fact is that human walking is a very complex process, which is not so easy for a machine to imitate.
Besides, from a practical point of view, there is no urgent need for humanoid robots. In industry, stationary manipulators combined into automatic production lines are successfully operating. Where movement is required, whether it's loading a warehouse, demining bombs, inspecting destroyed buildings, a wheeled and tracked drive is much easier and more effective than imitation human legs.
Nevertheless, people do not refuse to work on androids, competitions are regularly held around the world, where representatives of various schools of robotics demonstrate their skills in controlling their products. Tournaments are constantly organized directly between machines, for example, in chessor football.
Classification of robots
There are several classification methods. By the nature of the work performed, the machines are divided into industrial, construction, for agriculture, for transportation, household, military, security, medical and research.
According to the type of control, they are divided into operator-controlled, semi-autonomous and fully autonomous.
Cars of the first type are simply remote-controlled cars (the simplest example is a children's radio-controlled car or helicopter). Semi-autonomous can perform some of the operations on their own, but human intervention is still required at key points. Fully autonomous robots perform the entire range of operations independently (for example, manipulators of automatic assembly lines).
According to the level of mobility, the following classes of robots are distinguished: stationary and mobile. Stationary - these are the same manipulators that everyone is used to seeing, for example, in automobile factories. Mobile are further divided into walking, wheeled or caterpillar.
Drummers of modern production
Various industrial productions are the industry in which the main part of modern automatic devices finds practical application.
The history of industrial robotics begins in 1725, when perforated tape was invented in France, used to program looms.
The beginning of production automation took place in the 19th century, whenFrance started mass production of automatic looms on punched cards.
In 1913, Henry Ford installed the first assembly line for car assembly at his factory. The assembly of one car took about an hour and a half. Of course, this line was not yet fully automated, as it is now, but it was an exit to a qualitatively new level of production.
Officially, the use of robots in production begins in 1961, when the first officially manufactured manipulator was installed at the General Motors plant in New Jersey. This machine worked on hydraulic drives and was programmed through a magnetic drum.
The industrial automation boom came in the 1970s. In 1970, the first modern type manipulator was created in the USA for use in industry: it had electric drives with six degrees of freedom and was controlled from a computer. In parallel, developments were carried out in Switzerland, Germany and Japan. In 1977, the first Japanese-made robot was released.
In the early 80s, General Motors began to automate its production, and already in 1984 Russia began it too - AvtoVAZ acquires a license for independent production of robots from the German company KUKA Robotics. However, the palm is still with the Japanese - in the mid-90s, two-thirds of the total number of robots in the world was concentrated in Japan, now it is about half.
Today imagine automotive, and any other in-lineproduction without mechanical assistants is almost impossible. The first place is occupied by automatic welding machines. The accuracy of robotic laser welding is tenths of a millimeter. Such a device is capable of simultaneously cutting metal into parts.
Followed by mechanisms that carry out loading and unloading operations, feeding blanks into machines and storing finished products.
The third place in terms of automation is forging and foundry. At the moment, almost all such workshops in Europe are robotized, as the working conditions there are very difficult for people.
Other operations for which automatic machines are most often used now are pipe bending, hole drilling, milling and surface grinding.
Where can machines replace people?
The answer to the question of whether a person or a robot should do this or that job lies in the differences between people and machines. At the moment, even the most advanced of the machines operate according to certain algorithms (albeit sometimes very complex ones) that are pre-set in the program. They do not have free will, freedom of choice, desires, impulses, nothing that determines the creative component of a person.
A robot can do a job of great complexity and precision, it can do this job in conditions in which a person would not live even an hour. But he will not be able to write a book or a script for a new film, to create a painting, unless it was previously planted in his memory by a person.
Therefore professionscreative, where originality is important, unconventional thinking, of course, remains with people. A robot can be a welder, a loader, a painter, even an astronaut, but he cannot become (at least at the current stage of development) a writer, poet or artist.
Should we be afraid of robots?
The main fear of mankind in relation to machines is the fear that they, having become perfect, will one day stop obeying and begin to live their own lives, turning people into slaves. This fear went hand in hand with the development of robotics. It finds expression both in mythology (for example, the Jewish myth of the golem rebelling against its creator) and in art. The most famous films are "The Matrix", "Terminator", a great many books telling about the uprising of machines. Karel Capek's play, which gave birth to the word "robot", also ends with the enslavement of humanity by its former servants.
However, at the present stage of development of science, these fears are meaningless. Robots do not have a consciousness similar to a human, so they can not have any desires at all, not to mention the desire to take over the world.
In order to reproduce consciousness in a machine, a person must first figure out what his own consciousness is, how and from what it is formed. The answer to this question lies in the depths of the human brain, which is far from being fully explored.
In order to "revolt", robots need to understand what world domination is and why they need it.
And up to this point, any,even the most complex and perfect machine is fundamentally no different from a food processor or coffee grinder. Therefore, the question of who will eventually be the main one on Earth - a robot or a person, is not urgent yet.
