ABSTRACT

Robots are mature products facing enormous competition by international manufacturers and falling unit costs. Robots are representative of mechatronics devices which integrate aspects of manipulation, sensing, control, and communication. Cartesian robots have three prismatic joints whose axes are coincident with a Cartesian coordinate system. The development of robot automation is characterized by a dramatic improvement in functional capabilities as well as rapidly falling price/performance ratios. Once the desired benefits and requirements are identified, specification, commissioning, and the process of putting the robot system into operation must be approached in a systematic manner. Service robots are designed for the execution of specific tasks in specific environments. Some scientists and engineers even predict a future for “personal robots,” and visions depict these robots as companions for household tasks, gardening, leisure, and even entertainment. For many applications, the range of tasks that can be performed by commercially available robots may be limited by their mechanical structures.