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in the 1960s unum 8 became the first
digital and programmable robot to
replace humans in an industrial factory
in 1961 it was installed at General
Motors and it carried out assembly line
tasks that were dangerous for humans
like picking up hot metals you know mate
was basically a big mechanical are much
less advanced than some of the tech we
have today but even now robots are often
built to perform the dangerous mundane
or difficult tasks humans perform to do
that a lot of these machines are
developed to physically replicate our
actions and behavior to have things like
a bipedal balanced walk a large range of
motion and the ability to perceive and
interact with the environment but maybe
not to your surprise that is a lot more
difficult to replicate than some viral
robot videos might make you think and
without these five groundbreaking
inventions much of modern robotics would
not be possible one of humanity's most
noteworthy traits is our ability to
sense our physical environment and react
intelligently to that information
I mean sometimes our brains are
constantly working to synthesize input
from things like our eyes nose skin and
even internal organs robots however work
on a much simpler level in many cases
the main information we need them to
understand and respond to is visual for
instance is the path to their
destination open where is something in
the way can they climb over that thing
or move it to make these decisions
robots use machine vision which uses
cameras and image processing algorithms
to measure and inspect the environment
the first image processing programs that
were applied to real-life images and
environments came around in the 1970s
but they were pretty inefficient since
then advances with both cameras and
image processing have caused some major
breakthroughs in machine vision today
robots can use multiple 3d and 2d
cameras to sense the world around them
and those images can be processed and
analyzed to detect
objects this information is communicated
to the brain or the robots centralized
computer which then decides based on its
programming what action it should take
this kind of Tech has allowed robotics
to move forward by leaps and bounds and
today it's often used on assembly lines
for quality control but it also has some
more flashy applications for example on
an Irving Lee cute robot called pepper
uses its machine vision for social
purposes it uses complex algorithms to
analyze the facial expressions of people
around it and it can guess emotions and
modify its conversation tactics as a
result because of its unique skills
pepper is being snapped up for use in
customer service to help customers
resolve simple easily solved issues a
human isn't needed for with machine
vision we can build robots that can
accurately see and respond to their
environment but that alone isn't enough
to be practical for robots to really
mimic and help us we also need them to
monitor their worlds continuously
especially if the robot moves that way
they can detect if something blocks
their path and adjust accordingly and
that brings us to our second innovation
robots that can monitor their world like
this are said to have closed-loop
control that means they're constantly on
the lookout for changes and can update
their internal maps and actions if new
obstacles arise now this general idea
has been around for a long time like
watchmakers we're building things with
closed-loop control in the 18th century
but it continued to grow as engineering
advanced nowadays we have amazing
computers with huge processing
capabilities and pretty efficient
algorithms and they're great at
calculating and incorporating feedback
this is helpful to stop robots from say
running into people but it's also super
important for simple things like keeping
a robot balanced as it moves the machine
needs constant feedback about its weight
distribution so that it can adjust its
alignment and center of gravity and not
fall over which honestly a lot of robots
fail at it's really hard for them to
navigate precisely and small errors and
calculations or coding bugs can cause
big problems in locomotion to achieve
balance and self
the most advanced robots are absolutely
decked out in sensors which measure
everything from weight to temperature to
posture and that helps them achieve
their incredibly dexterous human-like
movements a great example of this is
NASA's Valkyrie robots engineers began
developing Valkyrie in 2013 and they
originally intended it as an emergency
response robot but now it's been
redeveloped to one day set up habitats
on Mars prior to human arrival to help
us Valkyrie would have to perform a
number of detailed tasks without any
help like picking up boxes and walking
up stairs and to do this it is covered
in sensors like there are dozens of them
in Valkyries hands alone which is why
it's fine motor skills are so advanced
for a bot so although this thing is a
long way from the Red Planet it's still
one of the coolest robots being
developed today closed loop systems are
consistently becoming more advanced as
we develop faster more powerful
computers to help them with their
calculations but of course the computers
aren't the only factor here control
theory in general is still being
developed which means there might be
some fundamental lessons left to learn
so someday robots like Valkyrie might
just be the norm now just because your
robot has closed-loop control doesn't
mean it can move like a human after all
it might be able to adjust its position
in real time but that doesn't mean it
has the grace that we do reducing that
kind of fluid motion is actually one of
the unique obstacles for many robots and
it's an important one we need robots to
have precise motions so they can do
tasks that require a little finesse like
holding a glass beaker or even shaking
someone's hand if you have the power to
crush a person's hand you don't want to
make a mistake here a lot of robots are
getting closer to this fine movement
with the help of modern linear actuators
an actuator is a mechanical component
that converts energy into physical
motion and a linear actuator is one that
focuses on creating precise forces in a
single direction many actuators use a
hydraulic or pneumatic force which uses
pressurized fluids or gases to create
large amounts of energy whatever the
last
Gator so there have been great
improvements in electromechanical linear
actuators to ones that use electric
motors to produce motion their size cost
and energy usage have been significantly
reduced compared to other types of
actuators and that's allowed us to pack
more punch into a smaller area having
smaller and more precise actuators
allows for more degrees of freedom and
finer control of the robotic appendage
so by combining these pieces in just the
right way you can get a robot that moves
with almost eerie fluid grace if you
want to see an example for yourself you
should watch a video of Boston Dynamics
humanoid robot Atlas it uses four
hydraulic limbs 28 hydraulic joints and
numerous actuators to perform acrobatic
jumps somersaults other robot parkour
it's pretty cool we will have a link in
the description as you might guess
modern robots have a lot of working
parts and 3d printed ones are becoming
more and more commonplace for 3d
printing machine parts were generally
made either by pouring material into a
mold or by removing material to achieve
a desired shape but in 2009 a key patent
for a type of 3d printing expired and
the market began to grow as new
companies were finally able to develop
and release 3d printers since then this
kind of construction has been really
picking up steam because of its ability
to cheaply and quickly produce uniquely
constructed parts with a high
strength-to-weight ratio in other words
they're both light and strong which is
ideal for building robots in 3d printing
different ratios are achieved by using
filaments with different properties
thermoplastics like polycarbonate are
often used because the long chains of
molecules are durable and very easy to
manipulate at high temperatures the
chains of molecules are very loosely
packed now high temperatures their
chemical bonds quickly break down in the
material liquefies this pliability
allows engineers to precisely design
objects and optimize them for
load-bearing so their robots can be as
sturdy and strong as possible you can
find 3d printed parts in all kinds of
machines but to go back to a previous
example Atlas from Boston dynamic
is able to achieve such unique movement
partly thanks to its 3d printed parts
they allow the bot to be light enough to
do all those cool flips finally let's
wrap up with one of the most exciting
and ongoing advancements in robotics the
development of deep learning algorithms
these algorithms allow robots to not
only sense and react to their immediate
environment but also to remember and
recall past experiences to help inform
future decisions in the past
classical programming used static
directions to inform robot
decision-making rules like if you arrive
at a fork in the road always turn right
but deep learning algorithms take this
one step further they use accumulated
experiences to modify their directions
for example after turning right and
walking into a bunch of walls they might
revise their programming to make a rule
if you arrive at a fork in the road
always turn right unless there is an
obstacle the biggest advancement in deep
learning is the implementation of neural
networks inspired by neurons in the
brain these networks are made up of
computer nodes that store information
and send it to other nodes a neural
network gradually adjusts the weight
assigned to each signal as it maps
inputs to the correct outputs the more
weight a signal has the more it will
affect decisions in other parts of the
robots programming using neural networks
robots can put more weight into choices
that result in a positive outcome
allowing them to remember good decisions
and preferentially perform those actions
later most robots being developed today
have some form of deep learning
algorithm integrated into their hardware
but a really cute example is Paro a
therapeutic robot that looks like an
adorable baby seal Haro is meant as an
alternative to animal assisted therapy
it's programmed to respond to people
like a dog or a cat does but it doesn't
require the upkeep of an animal also
it's helpful in situations where someone
has had a bad experience with another
kind of pet
Paro was specifically designed to aid
elderly patients with dementia and
although more rigorous studies are
needed a pilot study indicates that it
might increase their quality of life the
seal can be trained to respond to its
name
and in responds to touch by cuddling
Paro can even try to repeat actions that
are positively enforced in order to
receive more pets Steve learning at work
everyone like if this is how the robot
apocalypse goes down I for one welcome
our adorable baby seal overlords when
you see a new video of a robot doing
something ridiculous it can be easy to
give all the credit to the group that
built it but in reality most of the
things that make robotics possible are
the result of decades or even centuries
of research it really has been a team
effort and there's no doubt that there
are many more advancements like this
coming in the future after all it only
took 50 years to get from unum 8 to a
robot like Valkyrie that could someday
perform on Mars so who knows what the
next 50 years might bring I won't I'll
be dead by then thanks for watching this
episode of scishow one thing that we
didn't talk about in this episode but we
thought about maybe talking about is
biomimicry that's science and
engineering inspired by the natural
world but it's kind of more like a
concept than a specific invention but if
you want to learn more we did an episode
a while back about robots inspired by
animals and you can watch it after this
one there are some pretty cool ones
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