高中英语 Unit 2 Robots 背景知识拓展 新人教版选修7 .doc

unit 2 robots4robots in factories dont resemble r2-d2, the charming electronic handyman in star wars films. they tend to be faceless machines doing heavy, repetitive chores. often they are sealed in cages so they dont knock someones head off when they swing a steel arm.now, cheaper and more advanced sensor technology promises to let robots work in closer proximity to people, without maiming or bumping into them.companies including japans kawada industries inc. and fanuc corp. (6954.to) and switzerland-based abb ltd. (abb, abbn.vx) are developing dexterous robots to perform such delicate tasks as assembling smart phonessomething now typically done by nimble-fingered women in china.if these experimental robots pan out, they may cut the labor costs of consumer-electronic product companies, reducing the allure of low-wage countries.the aim isnt to shoo humans out of factories. it is to give people more efficient tools, says nicolas de keijser, abbs global product manager for small robots. there are things that people do better than robots, such as improvising or quickly adapting to design changes, he says. that will remain so.today, robots are used mostly in making cars and semiconductors or other goods produced in high volumes and requiring force or precision beyond human levels. they are good in warehouses, too. in march, a inc. (amzn) announced it is paying $775 million to buy kiva systems inc., a maker of squat, cube-shaped robots that move products around shipping centers.kawadas new nextage robot, whose sensor eyes give it a passing resemblance to the movie character wall-e, is capable of replacing or collaborating with humans. the robots cost about $90,000 for the basic model.工厂里的机器人长得并不像影片星球大战(star wars)里那个好玩的机器人阿图(r2-d2)，而是一些没有脸部的机器，从事一些重复性的重型工作。它们往往被封闭在铁笼之内，以免钢臂挥动时磕碰到旁边的工人。如今，随着传感器技术的进步和成本降低，机器人将能在更贴近人类的区域工作，而不会伤及到人类同事。日本的川田工业株式会社(kawada industries inc.)、发那科公司(fanuc corp.)和总部位于瑞士的abb公司等企业都在研究动作灵巧的机器人，使其从事一些精细化的工作，如装配智能手机等。目前，这种组装工作一般都依靠中国女工的灵巧双手来完成。如果这些目前还处于试验阶段的机器人能够普及推广，将有可能降低消费类电子企业的用工成本，从而放缓发达国家将生产线移往低成本国家的趋势。abb公司的小型机器人全球产品经理尼古拉斯德凯瑟(nicolas de keijser)说，使用机器人的目的并不是要把工人赶出工厂，而是为人类提供更有效率的工具。德凯瑟说，“有些事情由人来做要比机器做得更好”，比如即兴调整或快速适应产品设计变化等，“而且今后也将会这样。”现在，机器人主要应用于汽车和半导体等产品的制造上。这类产品的产量很高，要求的加工力量或精细程度超出人类的水平。此外，机器人在仓储管理中也很管用。2012年3月，亚马逊公司(a inc.)宣布斥资7.75亿美元收购kiva systems inc.公司，后者专门生产在运输中心用于移动仓储物品的矮胖结实的立方形机器人。川田公司新推出的nextage机器人有一双传感器眼睛，外型与电影机器人总动员中的清扫型机器人瓦力(wall-e)很相似，它能“替代人类从事特定工作，或与人类协作完成一项工作。”这款机器人的基本款售价约为九万美元。japanese industrial conglomerate hitachi ltd. (6501.to) introduced a nextage robot last september to a factory outside of tokyo that makes computer storage products. there, nextage puts a cover over each hard-disk drives fan and tightens screws. this simple task, once handled by a person, shaves off nearly a minute of production per disk drivea big time saver over the span of thousands of devicesand lets the human workers assemble other types of parts.another japanese company, glory ltd. (6457.ok), started using nextage in november 2010 to install a tiny part in its money-sorting equipment for retail stores. the company found that using the robot saves labor costs and brings the defect rate near zero, which is not possible for human workers, a glory spokesman said. glory now has 10 nextage robots in the factory north of tokyo.abb is also developing a humanoid-like robot that can squeeze into small work spaces and learn new tasks quickly. the dual-arm concept robot will be agile enough to assemble consumer-electronic products, among other things, abb says.in some cases, mr. de keijser says, these robots will be interchangeable with people, who could fill in on assembly work while the robots are being reprogrammed for a new product design, for instance. abb hopes to introduce new robots and related equipment to assemble small parts within the next 12 to 36 months, he says.fanuc, meanwhile, says its new m-1ia robots are being used to assemble such things as electrical fuses and chainsaws.in theory, robots already can make just about everything. but they arent very flexible. if a part isnt exactly where it is supposed to be, the robot cant adapt as a person would. another problem is that programming them to do assembly work can take months. because product life cycles are short in consumer electronics, manufacturers cant wait for reprogramming every time a design changes. at carnegie mellon university, robotics professor david bourne and some of his students are working on software that enables a robot to cope2011年9月，日本大型产业集团日立公司(hitachi ltd.)在东京郊外一家生产计算机内存的工厂投入使用nextage机器人，由机器人来给硬盘驱动器的风扇加上盖子并拧紧螺丝。这项工作很简单，以前由人工完成，由机器人接手后，每个硬盘的生产时间减少近一分钟考虑到硬盘数以千计的产量，这可以节约大量时间解放出来的人力则用于组装其他零部件。另一家日本企业光荣公司(glory ltd.)于2010年11月开始使用nextage机器人，用于安装其为零售商店生产的货币处理设备上的一个小部件。该公司发现，使用机器人能节省大量人力成本，并使产品瑕疵率降至接近于零，该公司发言人说，“这是人工制造所无法企及的高度。”现在，光荣公司位于东京北部的工厂配备了10台nextage机器人。abb公司也在研发一种人型机器人，它能在狭小的场所工作，并迅速学会新的工作任务。公司表示，这款“双臂概念型机器人”十分灵巧，能够用于组装消费类电子产品，还能从事其他一些工作。德凯瑟说，在有些情况下，这类机器人将可与工人交替使用。比如说，在对机器人重新编程以适应新的产品设计时，可以由工人先顶一阵子。abb公司希望在未来一到三年内推出能够装配小型零部件的新款机器人及相关设备。发那科公司表示，其新款的m-1ia机器人能用于装配电子熔线和链锯等产品。从理论上讲，机器人已经几乎可以从事任何工作，只是不太灵活而已。如果某个零部件没有装配好，机器人不会像工人那样去主动调整。另一个问题是，给机器人编程以从事装配工作需要花上好几个月的时间。由于消费类电子产品的生命周期很短，制造商不可能一有设计变化，就等机器人重新编程再投入生产。卡内基梅隆大学(carnegie mellon university)的机器人学教授戴维伯恩(david bourne)正带领学生研发一款软件，以便让机器人有能力判断应该with uncertainty over where a part will be on the assembly table, and to experiment with ways to put things together until they find the optimum methods. using this learning method, a robot at cmu is able to pick up a battery from various angles and, sometimes, snap it into a blackberrya job most people can do intuitively. as the software improves, robots will learn faster, prof. bourne says.will robots be able to bring production of such things as the iphone to america? thats what were working towards, prof. bourne said. its not going to happen instantly.in another part of his lab, prof. bournes students are working on sensors that allow a robot to show a human colleague where to place parts so the robot can assemble them.rodney brooks, a former massachusetts institute of technology robotics professor who helped launch the roomba home-vacuuming robot a decade ago as a founder of irobot corp., believes industrial robots need to be updated to not only be smaller and nimbler, but also easier to control.his boston-based start-up, heartland robotics inc., plans to introduce its first robots later this year. dr. brooks says they will be affordable for small manufacturers and include controls more akin to an iphone than a mainframe computer.dr. brooks refuses to say much about the machines but the goal is to introduce robots into places that have not been automated before, making manufacturers more efficient, their workers more productive and keeping jobs from migrating to low-cost regions. he plans to make the robots in the u.s. one of dr. brookss former students, aaron edsinger, has become a potential rival. when mr. edsinger was a doctoral student at mit six years ago, he programmed a robot to help make a margarita. the point wasnt to replace bartenders but to show that a robot could deal with a somewhat unpredictable environment. now mr. edsinger heads a san francisco-based company, redwood robotics, trying to develop low-cost robot arms for manufacturing and other applications.把零部件放到什么位置，并能够探索不同的装配方式以确定最优途径。通过这种学习模式，卡内基梅隆大学研发的机器人可以从多个角度拾起一块电池，有时候甚至能把电池装到黑莓手机上。这项工作如果由人来做的话，应该是举手之劳，但机器人若能完成实属不易。伯恩教授表示，随着软件的不断完善，机器人的学习能力还会加快。机器人的应用能够促使iphone这类电子产品的制造回流到美国本土吗？伯恩教授表示，“这正是我们的目标，但短期之内还无法实现。”在伯恩教授实验室的另一处，他的学生们还在研究传感器技术，以便让机器人能在人类的指点下学会将一个零部件装配到特定位置。罗德尼布鲁克斯(rodney brooks)以前是麻省理工学院(massachusetts institute of technology)的机器人学教授，协助推出了roomba家用清洁机器人，他在10年前创立了irobot corp.公司。布鲁克斯认为，工业机器人需要进一步的升级换代，不但要更小巧灵活，还要更易于控制。布鲁克斯在波士顿新创的heartland robotics inc.公司计划于今年推出第一款机器人。他说这款机器人的价格将能为小型制造商所接受，其控制界面不像大型计算机那样复杂，而是接近iphone式的简洁方式。布鲁克斯不愿透露太多关于这款机器人的信息，但其目标是“让机器人进入从未涉及过的领域，让制造过程更有效率，提高工人产能，避免生产过程和就业岗位流向低成本国家。”布