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03-06-89/foot

This website contains an archive of files for the Acorn Electron, BBC Micro, Acorn Archimedes, Commodore 16 and Commodore 64 computers, which Dominic Ford has rescued from his private collection of floppy disks and cassettes.

Some of these files were originally commercial releases in the 1980s and 1990s, but they are now widely available online. I assume that copyright over them is no longer being asserted. If you own the copyright and would like files to be removed, please contact me.

Tape/disk: Home » CEEFAX disks » telesoftware16.adl
Filename: 03-06-89/foot
Read OK: ✔
File size: 1D77 bytes
Load address: 0000
Exec address: FFFFFFFF
File contents
The Bird and the Robot exhibit
at Walt Disney's Epcot centre
in Florida uses a small
industrial robot and a
specially designed mechanical
bird.�The lighting changes, sound,
back projection and all the
movements of both mechanical
actors are sequenced by a
central microcomputer.�The bird is controlled through
relays which operate pneumatic
pistons.�Robotics has been described as
"the intelligent connection of
perception to action".�

You may or may not think that
this is a good example.��The Puma 600, is one of the
smallest industrial robots
commercially available.�The number of joints a robot
has determines its 'degrees of
freedom'.�

Most have five or six joints
driven by electric motors. The
jaws work by compressed air.�Industrial robots are jointed
arms which move precisely under
computer control.

(They are more expensive than
they look, but are useful for
repetitive jobs, and jobs that
require precise movements).�The Puma has six degrees of
freedom from its five joints.     
Note the small, precise
movements, unlike the bird we
saw earlier.  It has seven
controlling computers, one for
each joint, and one larger
computer to calculate where
all the joint motors need to
be at any one time.�Small robots like this are most
useful for 'picking and
placing' and simple assembly
work.

This type of robot could not
carry the heavy loads required
for welding, nor has it enough
'reach' for painting.�HOLD DOWN THE COPY KEY AND
STOP THE TAPE FOR MORE DETAIL
ABOUT WHAT YOU HAVE SEEN�The Fisher Technik kit robot
has only 3 degrees of freedom,
a couple of controlling motors
and just one computer.

Most of the principles on which
large industrial robots operate
still apply, but a home micro
takes the place of specially
designed control computers.�The movement of the arms is
driven by a motor which moves    
until an infra-red photo cell
has counted the appropriate
number of stripes on the
rotating wheels.�This robot at British Aerospace
uses proximity sensors to keep
the sensor floating over the
surface of the rocket, looking
for cracks.��Most robots are not
tremendously accurate, they
don't have to be. But they do
have to be very 'precise',
capable of returning again and
again to the same point.��Most robots are 'blind'.
Without sensors they cannot
cope with uncertainty.�Vision is a very complex sense,
most vision systems can not
cope with depth or colour, many
not even with shades of grey.
They simplify everything to
black and white.�For simple vision systems to
work objects need to be
separated out and placed on a
high contrast background.��This ping pong robot uses
'stereo' vision, two cameras to
grab two images of the ball,
then 'triangulates' to decide
where the ball is.�To make it easier to find, the
ball is made blinding white
against deepest black.

The system relies on the fact
that as it knew where the ball
was a moment ago, it can
predict where it will probably
be now.�They had to build a special
chip to calculate, very
quickly, where the centre of
the ball was, from the camera's
blurred image.��In this General motors factory
they're using robots to insert
the windscreens into cars.

A vision system looks at each
car as it comes along the line,
and tells the robot where to
put the screen.��A computer vision system has to
solve a similar problem to that
of the ping pong robot, again
using 'stereo' vision.�The computer scans through the
video signal, looking for a  
'threshold' in intensity which
signals the edge of the window
opening.�It has to decide which are the
most feasible of all the
jumbled  edges, looking for the
longest, and the greatest
changes in intensity.��This clip show how an advanced
laser vision system uses depth 
information to help distinguish
overlapped objects in a bin.�This is called 'model based'
vision because the computer has 
a 'model', some idea of what
the objects its looking for
look like, stored in its
memory.�It looks at the jumble of
circles and lines, trying to
match features like circles of
particular radii, with features
of its 'model' casting.�

When it finds a match of some
features, it guesses where
others  should then lie, and
trys to match them up with what
it sees.��Computer aided design can
considerably cut 'lead times',
the time it takes between
thinking up a product and
getting it to market.�Once you've captured your
design in software you can
de-bug it more quickly, and
replicate it at great speed.��With programmable machines and
programmable conveyers to move 
parts about, production lines
can rapidly switch from making
one product, to making 
something completely different.�This is called 'Flexible
Manufacturing'. It allows
companies to respond rapidly to
changes in market demand.��This model of a Volkswagen
plant was used to debug the
control software for the real
car plant.��General Motors had a big
problem with incompatability.
They had thousands of machines
which didn't work together
because they couldn't  talk to
one another.��GM have tried to develop a
protocol called MAP,for passing 
information between different
machines.�The messages are converted into
a kind of machine Esperanto
piped around the factory, and
converted back again inside
each machine.��The idea with 'just in time' is
that material arrives at the
factory gates 'just in time' to
be used, (instead of arriving
early and being stored in
warehouses)....�....then the people who are
going to ship the finished
product out arrive 'just in
time' to take it away.�This works perfectly as long as
the flow is smooth, but get   
one hiccup in the supply and
there are big penalties
involved.��This three fingered hand was
designed purely along
engineering principles, there
was no attempt to try and
recapitulate nature.

The hand is interfaced to a
vision system, allowing it to
plan where to pick things up.
It also has sensors in its
fingertips.�The fingers also have
'programmed compliance' - that
means the stiffness of the
fingers, and the direction of
the stiffness, can be
controlled by computer.�This hand from Utah is based on
the design of the human hand.
It needs 32 tendons to drive
its 16 degrees of freedom.

In comparison, the human hand
has something like 47 degrees
of freedom, and has 10,000
little tendons with its muscle
fibres.�This robot hand is complex,
requiring 3 kw of power, and a 
mainframe computer to control
it, but it is miniscule in
complexity compared with the
human hand.��This robot uses a vison system
to recognise objects in its
path, like Snoopy, and then is
able to navigate around them.��A lot of research work looks at
how to get robots to respond to
external forces. - To bring
them into 'graceful collision'
with the outside world.�This is a special robot 'end
effector', designed for
shearing sheep. It has to
respond very quickly to changes
in the surface of the sheep.�The speed of response required
is so fast that the main arm is
used just to get the 'end
effector' into about the right
position.�The 'end effector' is then
effectively a very fast,
seperate robot, with a sensor,
motor, and very 'tight' control
dedicated to following the
sheep's surface.��This hopping robot can now can
do various kind of gymnastics,
(forward flips). The running
robot can now gallop at over 20
mph.�Note the umbilical cord which
carries the pneumatic power and
the large amounts of
information needed to control
the robot and keep it balanced.��That is the end of the Micro
Live Programme.  To continue
please press the ESCAPE key.�
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00000010  65 20 52 6f 62 6f 74 20  65 78 68 69 62 69 74 0d  |e Robot exhibit.|
00000020  61 74 20 57 61 6c 74 20  44 69 73 6e 65 79 27 73  |at Walt Disney's|
00000030  20 45 70 63 6f 74 20 63  65 6e 74 72 65 0d 69 6e  | Epcot centre.in|
00000040  20 46 6c 6f 72 69 64 61  20 75 73 65 73 20 61 20  | Florida uses a |
00000050  73 6d 61 6c 6c 0d 69 6e  64 75 73 74 72 69 61 6c  |small.industrial|
00000060  20 72 6f 62 6f 74 20 61  6e 64 20 61 0d 73 70 65  | robot and a.spe|
00000070  63 69 61 6c 6c 79 20 64  65 73 69 67 6e 65 64 20  |cially designed |
00000080  6d 65 63 68 61 6e 69 63  61 6c 0d 62 69 72 64 2e  |mechanical.bird.|
00000090  ff 0c 54 68 65 20 6c 69  67 68 74 69 6e 67 20 63  |..The lighting c|
000000a0  68 61 6e 67 65 73 2c 20  73 6f 75 6e 64 2c 0d 62  |hanges, sound,.b|
000000b0  61 63 6b 20 70 72 6f 6a  65 63 74 69 6f 6e 20 61  |ack projection a|
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000000f0  72 65 20 73 65 71 75 65  6e 63 65 64 20 62 79 20  |re sequenced by |
00000100  61 0d 63 65 6e 74 72 61  6c 20 6d 69 63 72 6f 63  |a.central microc|
00000110  6f 6d 70 75 74 65 72 2e  ff 0c 54 68 65 20 62 69  |omputer...The bi|
00000120  72 64 20 69 73 20 63 6f  6e 74 72 6f 6c 6c 65 64  |rd is controlled|
00000130  20 74 68 72 6f 75 67 68  0d 72 65 6c 61 79 73 20  | through.relays |
00000140  77 68 69 63 68 20 6f 70  65 72 61 74 65 20 70 6e  |which operate pn|
00000150  65 75 6d 61 74 69 63 0d  70 69 73 74 6f 6e 73 2e  |eumatic.pistons.|
00000160  ff 0c 52 6f 62 6f 74 69  63 73 20 68 61 73 20 62  |..Robotics has b|
00000170  65 65 6e 20 64 65 73 63  72 69 62 65 64 20 61 73  |een described as|
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00000190  74 20 63 6f 6e 6e 65 63  74 69 6f 6e 20 6f 66 0d  |t connection of.|
000001a0  70 65 72 63 65 70 74 69  6f 6e 20 74 6f 20 61 63  |perception to ac|
000001b0  74 69 6f 6e 22 2e ff 0d  0d 59 6f 75 20 6d 61 79  |tion"....You may|
000001c0  20 6f 72 20 6d 61 79 20  6e 6f 74 20 74 68 69 6e  | or may not thin|
000001d0  6b 20 74 68 61 74 0d 74  68 69 73 20 69 73 20 61  |k that.this is a|
000001e0  20 67 6f 6f 64 20 65 78  61 6d 70 6c 65 2e ff 0c  | good example...|
000001f0  ff 0c 54 68 65 20 50 75  6d 61 20 36 30 30 2c 20  |..The Puma 600, |
00000200  69 73 20 6f 6e 65 20 6f  66 20 74 68 65 0d 73 6d  |is one of the.sm|
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00000230  69 61 6c 6c 79 20 61 76  61 69 6c 61 62 6c 65 2e  |ially available.|
00000240  ff 0c 54 68 65 20 6e 75  6d 62 65 72 20 6f 66 20  |..The number of |
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000002b0  20 65 6c 65 63 74 72 69  63 20 6d 6f 74 6f 72 73  | electric motors|
000002c0  2e 20 54 68 65 0d 6a 61  77 73 20 77 6f 72 6b 20  |. The.jaws work |
000002d0  62 79 20 63 6f 6d 70 72  65 73 73 65 64 20 61 69  |by compressed ai|
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00000530  62 6f 74 20 63 6f 75 6c  64 20 6e 6f 74 0d 63 61  |bot could not.ca|
00000540  72 72 79 20 74 68 65 20  68 65 61 76 79 20 6c 6f  |rry the heavy lo|
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00000590  2e ff 0c 48 4f 4c 44 20  44 4f 57 4e 20 54 48 45  |...HOLD DOWN THE|
000005a0  20 43 4f 50 59 20 4b 45  59 20 41 4e 44 0d 53 54  | COPY KEY AND.ST|
000005b0  4f 50 20 54 48 45 20 54  41 50 45 20 46 4f 52 20  |OP THE TAPE FOR |
000005c0  4d 4f 52 45 20 44 45 54  41 49 4c 0d 41 42 4f 55  |MORE DETAIL.ABOU|
000005d0  54 20 57 48 41 54 20 59  4f 55 20 48 41 56 45 20  |T WHAT YOU HAVE |
000005e0  53 45 45 4e ff 0c 54 68  65 20 46 69 73 68 65 72  |SEEN..The Fisher|
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000006b0  20 6d 69 63 72 6f 0d 74  61 6b 65 73 20 74 68 65  | micro.takes the|
000006c0  20 70 6c 61 63 65 20 6f  66 20 73 70 65 63 69 61  | place of specia|
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00000760  72 6f 70 72 69 61 74 65  0d 6e 75 6d 62 65 72 20  |ropriate.number |
00000770  6f 66 20 73 74 72 69 70  65 73 20 6f 6e 20 74 68  |of stripes on th|
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00000790  73 2e ff 0c 54 68 69 73  20 72 6f 62 6f 74 20 61  |s...This robot a|
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000007e0  6f 61 74 69 6e 67 20 6f  76 65 72 20 74 68 65 0d  |oating over the.|
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00000800  6f 63 6b 65 74 2c 20 6c  6f 6f 6b 69 6e 67 0d 66  |ocket, looking.f|
00000810  6f 72 20 63 72 61 63 6b  73 2e ff 0c ff 0c 4d 6f  |or cracks.....Mo|
00000820  73 74 20 72 6f 62 6f 74  73 20 61 72 65 20 6e 6f  |st robots are no|
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00000850  6e 27 74 20 68 61 76 65  20 74 6f 20 62 65 2e 20  |n't have to be. |
00000860  42 75 74 20 74 68 65 79  20 64 6f 0d 68 61 76 65  |But they do.have|
00000870  20 74 6f 20 62 65 20 76  65 72 79 20 27 70 72 65  | to be very 'pre|
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00000890  66 20 72 65 74 75 72 6e  69 6e 67 20 61 67 61 69  |f returning agai|
000008a0  6e 20 61 6e 64 0d 61 67  61 69 6e 20 74 6f 20 74  |n and.again to t|
000008b0  68 65 20 73 61 6d 65 20  70 6f 69 6e 74 2e ff 0c  |he same point...|
000008c0  ff 0c 4d 6f 73 74 20 72  6f 62 6f 74 73 20 61 72  |..Most robots ar|
000008d0  65 20 27 62 6c 69 6e 64  27 2e 0d 57 69 74 68 6f  |e 'blind'..Witho|
000008e0  75 74 20 73 65 6e 73 6f  72 73 20 74 68 65 79 20  |ut sensors they |
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00000940  6d 73 20 63 61 6e 20 6e  6f 74 0d 63 6f 70 65 20  |ms can not.cope |
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00000960  6c 6f 75 72 2c 20 6d 61  6e 79 0d 6e 6f 74 20 65  |lour, many.not e|
00000970  76 65 6e 20 77 69 74 68  20 73 68 61 64 65 73 20  |ven with shades |
00000980  6f 66 20 67 72 65 79 2e  0d 54 68 65 79 20 73 69  |of grey..They si|
00000990  6d 70 6c 69 66 79 20 65  76 65 72 79 74 68 69 6e  |mplify everythin|
000009a0  67 20 74 6f 0d 62 6c 61  63 6b 20 61 6e 64 20 77  |g to.black and w|
000009b0  68 69 74 65 2e ff 0c 46  6f 72 20 73 69 6d 70 6c  |hite...For simpl|
000009c0  65 20 76 69 73 69 6f 6e  20 73 79 73 74 65 6d 73  |e vision systems|
000009d0  20 74 6f 0d 77 6f 72 6b  20 6f 62 6a 65 63 74 73  | to.work objects|
000009e0  20 6e 65 65 64 20 74 6f  20 62 65 0d 73 65 70 61  | need to be.sepa|
000009f0  72 61 74 65 64 20 6f 75  74 20 61 6e 64 20 70 6c  |rated out and pl|
00000a00  61 63 65 64 20 6f 6e 20  61 0d 68 69 67 68 20 63  |aced on a.high c|
00000a10  6f 6e 74 72 61 73 74 20  62 61 63 6b 67 72 6f 75  |ontrast backgrou|
00000a20  6e 64 2e ff 0c ff 0c 54  68 69 73 20 70 69 6e 67  |nd.....This ping|
00000a30  20 70 6f 6e 67 20 72 6f  62 6f 74 20 75 73 65 73  | pong robot uses|
00000a40  0d 27 73 74 65 72 65 6f  27 20 76 69 73 69 6f 6e  |.'stereo' vision|
00000a50  2c 20 74 77 6f 20 63 61  6d 65 72 61 73 20 74 6f  |, two cameras to|
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00001920  6d 70 6c 65 78 69 74 79  20 63 6f 6d 70 61 72 65  |mplexity compare|
00001930  64 20 77 69 74 68 20 74  68 65 0d 68 75 6d 61 6e  |d with the.human|
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00001950  6f 62 6f 74 20 75 73 65  73 20 61 20 76 69 73 6f  |obot uses a viso|
00001960  6e 20 73 79 73 74 65 6d  0d 74 6f 20 72 65 63 6f  |n system.to reco|
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00001990  53 6e 6f 6f 70 79 2c 20  61 6e 64 20 74 68 65 6e  |Snoopy, and then|
000019a0  20 69 73 0d 61 62 6c 65  20 74 6f 20 6e 61 76 69  | is.able to navi|
000019b0  67 61 74 65 20 61 72 6f  75 6e 64 20 74 68 65 6d  |gate around them|
000019c0  2e ff 0c ff 0c 41 20 6c  6f 74 20 6f 66 20 72 65  |.....A lot of re|
000019d0  73 65 61 72 63 68 20 77  6f 72 6b 20 6c 6f 6f 6b  |search work look|
000019e0  73 20 61 74 0d 68 6f 77  20 74 6f 20 67 65 74 20  |s at.how to get |
000019f0  72 6f 62 6f 74 73 20 74  6f 20 72 65 73 70 6f 6e  |robots to respon|
00001a00  64 20 74 6f 0d 65 78 74  65 72 6e 61 6c 20 66 6f  |d to.external fo|
00001a10  72 63 65 73 2e 20 2d 20  54 6f 20 62 72 69 6e 67  |rces. - To bring|
00001a20  0d 74 68 65 6d 20 69 6e  74 6f 20 27 67 72 61 63  |.them into 'grac|
00001a30  65 66 75 6c 20 63 6f 6c  6c 69 73 69 6f 6e 27 0d  |eful collision'.|
00001a40  77 69 74 68 20 74 68 65  20 6f 75 74 73 69 64 65  |with the outside|
00001a50  20 77 6f 72 6c 64 2e ff  0c 54 68 69 73 20 69 73  | world...This is|
00001a60  20 61 20 73 70 65 63 69  61 6c 20 72 6f 62 6f 74  | a special robot|
00001a70  20 27 65 6e 64 0d 65 66  66 65 63 74 6f 72 27 2c  | 'end.effector',|
00001a80  20 64 65 73 69 67 6e 65  64 20 66 6f 72 0d 73 68  | designed for.sh|
00001a90  65 61 72 69 6e 67 20 73  68 65 65 70 2e 20 49 74  |earing sheep. It|
00001aa0  20 68 61 73 20 74 6f 0d  72 65 73 70 6f 6e 64 20  | has to.respond |
00001ab0  76 65 72 79 20 71 75 69  63 6b 6c 79 20 74 6f 20  |very quickly to |
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00001ad0  75 72 66 61 63 65 20 6f  66 20 74 68 65 20 73 68  |urface of the sh|
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00001b60  73 69 74 69 6f 6e 2e ff  0c 54 68 65 20 27 65 6e  |sition...The 'en|
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00001b90  61 20 76 65 72 79 20 66  61 73 74 2c 0d 73 65 70  |a very fast,.sep|
00001ba0  65 72 61 74 65 20 72 6f  62 6f 74 2c 20 77 69 74  |erate robot, wit|
00001bb0  68 20 61 20 73 65 6e 73  6f 72 2c 0d 6d 6f 74 6f  |h a sensor,.moto|
00001bc0  72 2c 20 61 6e 64 20 76  65 72 79 20 27 74 69 67  |r, and very 'tig|
00001bd0  68 74 27 20 63 6f 6e 74  72 6f 6c 0d 64 65 64 69  |ht' control.dedi|
00001be0  63 61 74 65 64 20 74 6f  20 66 6f 6c 6c 6f 77 69  |cated to followi|
00001bf0  6e 67 20 74 68 65 0d 73  68 65 65 70 27 73 20 73  |ng the.sheep's s|
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00001c10  68 6f 70 70 69 6e 67 20  72 6f 62 6f 74 20 63 61  |hopping robot ca|
00001c20  6e 20 6e 6f 77 20 63 61  6e 0d 64 6f 20 76 61 72  |n now can.do var|
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00001c50  64 20 66 6c 69 70 73 29  2e 20 54 68 65 20 72 75  |d flips). The ru|
00001c60  6e 6e 69 6e 67 0d 72 6f  62 6f 74 20 63 61 6e 20  |nning.robot can |
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00001c90  20 74 68 65 20 75 6d 62  69 6c 69 63 61 6c 20 63  | the umbilical c|
00001ca0  6f 72 64 20 77 68 69 63  68 0d 63 61 72 72 69 65  |ord which.carrie|
00001cb0  73 20 74 68 65 20 70 6e  65 75 6d 61 74 69 63 20  |s the pneumatic |
00001cc0  70 6f 77 65 72 20 61 6e  64 0d 74 68 65 20 6c 61  |power and.the la|
00001cd0  72 67 65 20 61 6d 6f 75  6e 74 73 20 6f 66 0d 69  |rge amounts of.i|
00001ce0  6e 66 6f 72 6d 61 74 69  6f 6e 20 6e 65 65 64 65  |nformation neede|
00001cf0  64 20 74 6f 20 63 6f 6e  74 72 6f 6c 0d 74 68 65  |d to control.the|
00001d00  20 72 6f 62 6f 74 20 61  6e 64 20 6b 65 65 70 20  | robot and keep |
00001d10  69 74 20 62 61 6c 61 6e  63 65 64 2e ff 0c ff 0c  |it balanced.....|
00001d20  54 68 61 74 20 69 73 20  74 68 65 20 65 6e 64 20  |That is the end |
00001d30  6f 66 20 74 68 65 20 4d  69 63 72 6f 0d 4c 69 76  |of the Micro.Liv|
00001d40  65 20 50 72 6f 67 72 61  6d 6d 65 2e 20 20 54 6f  |e Programme.  To|
00001d50  20 63 6f 6e 74 69 6e 75  65 0d 70 6c 65 61 73 65  | continue.please|
00001d60  20 70 72 65 73 73 20 74  68 65 20 45 53 43 41 50  | press the ESCAP|
00001d70  45 20 6b 65 79 2e ff                              |E key..|
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03-06-89/foot.m0
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