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Expert sees far-reaching changes in future robots

Staff Reporter

Seminar on robotics held at Roland Institute of Technology

— Photo: Lingaraj Panda

WORKING WONDERS: Small robots on display at the Robotech 07 in Berhampur on Saturday.

BERHAMPUR: Developments in artificial intelligence (AI) are expected to provide robots the ability to accept very high-level instructions rather than the detailed step-by-step programming required of today's programmable machines, opined experts at the Robotech-07 organised at Roland Institute of Technology on the suburb of the city on Saturday.

Attending as guests at the inaugural session of the seminar on robotics, Commanding Officer of INS Chilka, Commodore M.V.S. Kumar and Deputy General Manager, Indian Rare Earths' Limited, V.S. Rao elaborated how robotics are rapidly changing from a thing of laboratories to practical applications in the industry and defence.

In the technical session, S. Bhowmik and Amar Patnaik from the National Institute of Technology (NIT) of Rourkela described how the most dramatic changes in future robots will arise from their increasing ability to reason.

Modelling

Participants from the National Institute of Science and Technology (NIST) demonstrated small robots designed and constructed by their Robotics Club. Students and faculties from different technical institutions took part in the seminar.

Prof. Bhowmik's address on the topic `Intelligent robot motion navigation' described modelling of a robot's physical properties, modelling its environment, planning its actions, directing its mechanisms efficiently, using sensors to provide feedback to the controlling programme, and ensuring the safety of its behaviour. He showed how multiple data based memory programme could provide robots more dexterity and adaptability.

Speaking on design of robots Prof. Patnaik described how robots have started duplicating the function of muscles and tendons by hydraulic systems or electric motors, and have started reproducing sensory organs by electronic sensors. Efforts are on to imitate the human comprehension, reasoning skills and neural network using computer programs. All agreed, `humanoids' would become part of our day-to-day life in near future. Robots are being developed that can perform cognitive tasks, such as strategic planning and learning from experience. Increasingly, diagnosis of failures in aircraft or satellites, management of a battlefield, surgeries or the work at large factories will be performed by intelligent robots.

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