The present invention relates to improvements in robots.
Numerous branches of activity currently employ robots for performing certain functions, either because the function to be performed is repetitive and it may very easily be entrusted to an automatic device, or because the function must be performed in a medium hostile or inaccessible to man (manipulations of dangerous products, radioactive products, taking of samples from a planet). Each robot is most often intended to solve a particular problem which corresponds to a specific and unique case, and in the present state of technology, a solution is found for all the particular problems.
Robots are generally constituted by a chain of a plurality of members articulated to one another, each point of articulation comprising drive means for controlling the relative movement of two members and monitoring means, for example a coder. A central computer receives the data from the coders and controls the drive means to cause the robot to make the desired gestures.
This arrangement has the drawback of making the mobile units heavy. This is a minor disadvantage for high-power robots intended for displacing heavy loads, the weight of the drive means remaining negligible with respect to the load displaced. On the other hand, it is a serious drawback for small robots, intended for manipulating pieces weighing a few grams within small places. The weight and dimensions of the drive means and the coders are then disproportionate with respect to those of the loads displaced and often to the place available.