高中英語 Unit 2 Robots 背景知識拓展 新人教版選修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.工廠里的機(jī)器人長得并不像影片星球大戰(zhàn)(star wars)里那個好玩的機(jī)器人阿圖(r2-d2)，而是一些沒有臉部的機(jī)器，從事一些重復(fù)性的重型工作。它們往往被封閉在鐵籠之內(nèi)，以免鋼臂揮動時(shí)磕碰到旁邊的工人。如今，隨著傳感器技術(shù)的進(jìn)步和成本降低，機(jī)器人將能在更貼近人類的區(qū)域工作，而不會傷及到人類同事。日本的川田工業(yè)株式會社(kawada industries inc.)、發(fā)那科公司(fanuc corp.)和總部位于瑞士的abb公司等企業(yè)都在研究動作靈巧的機(jī)器人，使其從事一些精細(xì)化的工作，如裝配智能手機(jī)等。目前，這種組裝工作一般都依靠中國女工的靈巧雙手來完成。如果這些目前還處于試驗(yàn)階段的機(jī)器人能夠普及推廣，將有可能降低消費(fèi)類電子企業(yè)的用工成本，從而放緩發(fā)達(dá)國家將生產(chǎn)線移往低成本國家的趨勢。abb公司的小型機(jī)器人全球產(chǎn)品經(jīng)理尼古拉斯德凱瑟(nicolas de keijser)說，使用機(jī)器人的目的并不是要把工人趕出工廠，而是為人類提供更有效率的工具。德凱瑟說，“有些事情由人來做要比機(jī)器做得更好”，比如即興調(diào)整或快速適應(yīng)產(chǎn)品設(shè)計(jì)變化等，“而且今后也將會這樣?！爆F(xiàn)在，機(jī)器人主要應(yīng)用于汽車和半導(dǎo)體等產(chǎn)品的制造上。這類產(chǎn)品的產(chǎn)量很高，要求的加工力量或精細(xì)程度超出人類的水平。此外，機(jī)器人在倉儲管理中也很管用。2012年3月，亞馬遜公司(a inc.)宣布斥資7.75億美元收購kiva systems inc.公司，后者專門生產(chǎn)在運(yùn)輸中心用于移動倉儲物品的矮胖結(jié)實(shí)的立方形機(jī)器人。川田公司新推出的nextage機(jī)器人有一雙傳感器眼睛，外型與電影機(jī)器人總動員中的清掃型機(jī)器人瓦力(wall-e)很相似，它能“替代人類從事特定工作，或與人類協(xié)作完成一項(xiàng)工作?！边@款機(jī)器人的基本款售價(jià)約為九萬美元。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，日本大型產(chǎn)業(yè)集團(tuán)日立公司(hitachi ltd.)在東京郊外一家生產(chǎn)計(jì)算機(jī)內(nèi)存的工廠投入使用nextage機(jī)器人，由機(jī)器人來給硬盤驅(qū)動器的風(fēng)扇加上蓋子并擰緊螺絲。這項(xiàng)工作很簡單，以前由人工完成，由機(jī)器人接手后，每個硬盤的生產(chǎn)時(shí)間減少近一分鐘考慮到硬盤數(shù)以千計(jì)的產(chǎn)量，這可以節(jié)約大量時(shí)間解放出來的人力則用于組裝其他零部件。另一家日本企業(yè)光榮公司(glory ltd.)于2010年11月開始使用nextage機(jī)器人，用于安裝其為零售商店生產(chǎn)的貨幣處理設(shè)備上的一個小部件。該公司發(fā)現(xiàn)，使用機(jī)器人能節(jié)省大量人力成本，并使產(chǎn)品瑕疵率降至接近于零，該公司發(fā)言人說，“這是人工制造所無法企及的高度?！爆F(xiàn)在，光榮公司位于東京北部的工廠配備了10臺nextage機(jī)器人。abb公司也在研發(fā)一種人型機(jī)器人，它能在狹小的場所工作，并迅速學(xué)會新的工作任務(wù)。公司表示，這款“雙臂概念型機(jī)器人”十分靈巧，能夠用于組裝消費(fèi)類電子產(chǎn)品，還能從事其他一些工作。德凱瑟說，在有些情況下，這類機(jī)器人將可與工人交替使用。比如說，在對機(jī)器人重新編程以適應(yīng)新的產(chǎn)品設(shè)計(jì)時(shí)，可以由工人先頂一陣子。abb公司希望在未來一到三年內(nèi)推出能夠裝配小型零部件的新款機(jī)器人及相關(guān)設(shè)備。發(fā)那科公司表示，其新款的m-1ia機(jī)器人能用于裝配電子熔線和鏈鋸等產(chǎn)品。從理論上講，機(jī)器人已經(jīng)幾乎可以從事任何工作，只是不太靈活而已。如果某個零部件沒有裝配好，機(jī)器人不會像工人那樣去主動調(diào)整。另一個問題是，給機(jī)器人編程以從事裝配工作需要花上好幾個月的時(shí)間。由于消費(fèi)類電子產(chǎn)品的生命周期很短，制造商不可能一有設(shè)計(jì)變化，就等機(jī)器人重新編程再投入生產(chǎn)?？▋?nèi)基梅隆大學(xué)(carnegie mellon university)的機(jī)器人學(xué)教授戴維伯恩(david bourne)正帶領(lǐng)學(xué)生研發(fā)一款軟件，以便讓機(jī)器人有能力判斷應(yīng)該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，并能夠探索不同的裝配方式以確定最優(yōu)途徑。通過這種學(xué)習(xí)模式，卡內(nèi)基梅隆大學(xué)研發(fā)的機(jī)器人可以從多個角度拾起一塊電池，有時(shí)候甚至能把電池裝到黑莓手機(jī)上。這項(xiàng)工作如果由人來做的話，應(yīng)該是舉手之勞，但機(jī)器人若能完成實(shí)屬不易。伯恩教授表示，隨著軟件的不斷完善，機(jī)器人的學(xué)習(xí)能力還會加快。機(jī)器人的應(yīng)用能夠促使iphone這類電子產(chǎn)品的制造回流到美國本土嗎？伯恩教授表示，“這正是我們的目標(biāo)，但短期之內(nèi)還無法實(shí)現(xiàn)?！痹诓鹘淌趯?shí)驗(yàn)室的另一處，他的學(xué)生們還在研究傳感器技術(shù)，以便讓機(jī)器人能在人類的指點(diǎn)下學(xué)會將一個零部件裝配到特定位置。羅德尼布魯克斯(rodney brooks)以前是麻省理工學(xué)院(massachusetts institute of technology)的機(jī)器人學(xué)教授，協(xié)助推出了roomba家用清潔機(jī)器人，他在10年前創(chuàng)立了irobot corp.公司。布魯克斯認(rèn)為，工業(yè)機(jī)器人需要進(jìn)一步的升級換代，不但要更小巧靈活，還要更易于控制。布魯克斯在波士頓新創(chuàng)的heartland robotics inc.公司計(jì)劃于今年推出第一款機(jī)器人。他說這款機(jī)器人的價(jià)格將能為小型制造商所接受，其控制界面不像大型計(jì)算機(jī)那樣復(fù)雜，而是接近iphone式的簡潔方式。布魯克斯不愿透露太多關(guān)于這款機(jī)器人的信息，但其目標(biāo)是“讓機(jī)器人進(jìn)入從未涉及過的領(lǐng)域，讓制造過程更有效率，提高工人產(chǎn)能，避免生產(chǎn)過程和就業(yè)崗位流向低成本國家?！辈?