Newsgroups: comp.robotics
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From: altenbur@plains (Karl Altenburg)
Subject: Re: "That's not robotics; that's toy building"
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Date: Mon, 9 Aug 1993 17:51:17 GMT
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Carl M Kadie (kadie@cs.uiuc.edu) wrote:
: One criticism I've heard of building little robots (such as those
: build for the AAAI on-site building contest) it is not real robotics
: but "toy building".

: I think the problem here merely vocabulary. Does the field of robotics
: have good phrases that distinish between robotics research and robot
: building/customization?

: So:

: Computer science is to programming as "_____" is to "_____".

:                                    "Robotics is to robot building"?
:                                    "Robot research is to robotics"?
:                                    ???

Sounds like the difference between engineering and science, which is....?
If you're going to build a robot of any size you're going to have to do some
research on sensors, actuators, and control relative to the applied
environment.  If you're doing robotics research (vision, planning, etc.)
you are going to have to build sensors, environments,  and software.
As far as being a toy or not, its in the eye of the beholder.  Size is
definately not a criteria (a power book is a toy but a PDP-11 is not?)

As far as the comparision goes maybe its something like this:

Computer science is to programming as:

	Mechanical engineering is to simple machines (levers, pulleys, etc.)
	Simple machines are the tools of mechanical engineers, they use
	them to transform their ideas into physical structures

as:

	Chemisty is to chemicals
	chemicals are the tools of chemists, they use them to test their
	ideas as to how matter interacts

as:	

	Robotics is to robots
	robots (sensors, actuactor, control) are the tools of roboticists, 
	they use them to test and transform their ideas

I think you get the idea already.

Well, anyway, someone once said that you can't understand something until you
can build it, so maybe building a toy sized robot is a good start to being
able to reseach robotics.

---
Karl R Altenburg				altenbur@plains.NoDak.edu
North Dakota State University, Fargo, ND  58105

All things are artificial, for nature is the art of God.  SIR THOMAS BROWNE
