This was the introductory talk about the robotics club, iitk and robotics in general that we did in 2008 or so.

2. what is the roboclub? We are one of many Students Gymkhana clubs. More specifically, one of the 8 that form the Science and Technology council of the Students Gymkhana. We provide technical and logistic support to people involved in robotics and related activities, and generally try to improve – both in quality and quantity – the robotics output from the student community,

3. what is robotics?

4. what is a robot? A robot is a mechanical or virtual, artificial agent. It is usually an electromechanical system, which, by its appearance or movements, conveys a sense that it has intent or agency of its own. The word robot can refer to both physical and virtual software agents, but the latter are usually referred to as bots to differentiate. from wikipedia

5. what is a robot? While there is still discussionabout which machines qualify as robots, a typical robot will have several, though not necessarily all of the following properties: Is not 'natural' i.e. has been artificially created. Can sense its environment. Can manipulate things in its environment. Has some degree of intelligence, or ability to make choices based on the environment, or automatic control / preprogrammed sequence. Is programmable. Can move with one or more axes of rotation or translation. Can make dexterous coordinated movements. from wikipedia

6. what is a robot? There is no one definition of robot which satisfies everyone, and many people have written their own. For example, International standard ISO 8373 defines a "robot" as: An automatically controlled, reprogrammable, multipurpose, manipulator programmable in three or more axes, which may be either fixed in place or mobile for use in industrial automation applications. Joseph Engelberger, a pioneer in industrial robotics, once remarked: I can't define a robot, but I know one when I see one. The Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary defines "robot" as: A machine used to perform jobs automatically, which is controlled by a computer from wikipedia

7. robotics in real life Here are some of the contemporary uses of robotics : Industrial Robots Automobile Manufacturing Packaging Electronics Automatic Guided Vehicles from wikipedia

8. robotics in real life Here are some of the contemporary uses of robotics : Robots helping Science DNA microarrays, automated protein sequencing The use of robotics in molecular biology has expedited the study of genes, proteins, and disease. The human genome project would not have been possible without it. Automated instrumentation in experiment The high levels of accuracy afforded by motorized control systems in various instruments help produce reproducible and reliable data, along with making the process of experiment less tedious. Analysis of new designs, technologies The crash-test dummies used by the automobile industry are an example of devices used to analyze and improve various systems. Space The unmanned landers on the moon, the probes sending in telemetry from the farthest reaches of the solar system, the rovers on Mars.

9. robotics in real life Here are some of the contemporary uses of robotics : Robots in War and Peace(keeping) Surveillance vehicles Unmanned aerial vehicles, which are, of course, used not just in war but also in various remote sensing applications and weather monitoring. Bomb diffusal robot Hundreds of robots such as iRobot's Packbot and the Foster-Miller TALON are being used for in Iraq and Afghanistan by the U.S. military to defuse roadside bombs or improvised explosive devices (IEDs) in an activity known as Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD). .

10. robotics in real life Here are some of the contemporary uses of robotics : Robots in Medicine Laparoscopic surgery robot A laparoscopic surgery robot such as da Vinci allows the surgeon to work inside a human patient on a relatively small scale compared to open surgery, significantly shortening recovery time. Telerobots In as of yet rare cases, robotic devices are being used to conduct operations where the surgeon and the patient are geographically separated by a considerable distance.

11. the three schools There are 3 major aspects to Robotics Mechanical Design Kinds of motors Torque considerations Weight considerations in material selection Mechanisms for driving, gripping, clamping, climbing, lifting. Electronics Microcontrollers (basically a programmable IC, a tiny computer) Driving various kinds of motors. Sensors (Infrared, Laser, touch, etc) Various other components, depending on what you need and want. Programming Microcontroller Programming (we usually use a variation of C++) Communicating with a computer. Communicating between multiple robots. Intelligent Algorithms

12. the three schools You don’t need to be intricately familiar with all the three. Instead, we suggest you concentrate your efforts on maybe (any) two of them, and then learn how to participate in a team. Also, we don’t really expect anyone to know anything when you first get here. While we’ll try our best to introduce you to all the important concepts (more on that later), there is one skill that can’t really be taught. Keep in mind the following The internet is a massive repository of information of all kinds. Google is your guide to this repository, but using it right needs practice.

13. the college/university scene Some Common International Competitions Robocon Asiatic Competition One team from India is selected to participate in the international IIT Kanpur participates in the national level each year. Micromouse An international competition, involving the construction of a robot that autonomously solves a maze. The Indian edition is held in IIT Bombay during Techfest each January. There are a couple of people on campus who have been working on it. Robosoccer A rather advanced competition, involving multiple autonomous robots communicating with a server and playing football. IIT Kanpur does not have a robosoccer team yet. Balancing Bot The competition involves creating a robot which can balance itself on two wheels. Noone we know in India participates in it yet.

14. the college/university scene National Level Competitions A very large number of colleges and universities, including all of the IITs, NITs, BITS, etc. have annual technical festivals, most of which have robotics events. If you want to participate in any of these competitions, you can let us know and we’ll provide all the help we can, both in terms of equipment and technical assistance. Very soon we’ll be putting up a list of some of the known competitions on the club website. The nearest festivals are those of IIT Guwahati in early September and IIT Madras in early October.

15. robotics @ iitk The roboclub organizes various events throughout the year, Everyone can participate, irrespective of program, year, and department, as well as previous experience. While it probably would be easier for you if you attend the basic level workshops also, we don’t require that you do. Lectures & Workshops We hold regular lectures and workshops to introduce you to various concepts of robotics. Look out for a toy-car making workshop very soon to introduce you to the basics of mechanical design and DC motors. Also coming up, probably this month, will be a short lecture series, perhaps over 2 or 3 day, introducing you to microcontrollers.

16. robotics @ iitk Competitions This September, we’re going to be holding a robotics contest where each team will have to consist of one first year student. This competition aims to generally improve the standard of robotics and to help pass on information to the junior batches. Look at the website for the details. Sometime later this semester, or perhaps early in the next one, a competition called Takneek will be held as a precursor to Techkriti. We hope participation in Takneek will help you if you participate in Techkriti. Techkriti will be held sometime in late February. You probably know what it is by now, so just ask if you want any more details.

17. Thank You Gaurav Nigam gaurav@iitk.ac.in G-206, Hall 9 Manish Agarwal magarwal@iitk.ac.in F-201, Hall 5 ChintalagiriShashank chintal@iitk.ac.in D-305, Hall 9 Coordinators, Roboclub