Training robot

B. Volpe, H. Krebs, N. Hogan, L. Edelstein, C. Diels, and M. Aisen (1999), Robot training enhanced motor outcome in patients with stroke maintained over 3 years. Neurology 53 1874-1876. 

Analytical chemistry in the new millennium will continue to develop greater degrees of sophistication. The use of automation, especially involving robots, for routine work will increase and the role of ever more powerful computers and software, such as intelligent expert systems, will be a dominant factor. Extreme miniaturisation of techniques (the analytical laboratory on a chip ) and sensors designed for specific tasks will make a big impact. Despite such advances, the importance of, and the need for, trained analytical chemists is set to continue into the foreseeable future and it is vital that universities and colleges play a full part in the provision of relevant courses of study. 

A laboratory robot can operate unattended for 24 hours a day, releasing skilled technicians and scientists for more important and challenging work. Process workers can often be trained to bring the samples to the robot for analysis on a static mode operation. This provides valuable results with a fast timescale. 

Detection dogs, manual and mechanical demining, robotics, custom-designed machinery, many photos, training, networking, demining projects all over Africa. 

Special power and commnnications lines, access ways, and deployment equipment may be necessary. Extensive training is reqnired if the robot is to be operated and/or maintained by site personnel. Some exposnre of personnel may be necessary to decontaminate the equipment prior to storage. Removed materials wiU reqnire treatment or stabilization using some other remediation technology prior to disposal. 

Jet-cutting systems need to be compact and suitable for robotic action in automated trains of production. Usually the hyper-pressure plunger pumps for water-jet cutting purposes are based on hydraulic amplifiers, of double-cylinder design, and provide high pressure water of up to 5000 bar. 

Often, the robotic process takes longer than the manual process however, significant savings and acceleration of the process is realized by overnight or around-the-clock operation. In these cases, the routine operations can be performed by the automated system, leaving the highly trained scientist to perform the more detailed aspects of the analysis that require experience and real-time decisions. Clearly, standard methods provide a necessary step toward the implementation of automated methods via their focus on routine process steps. The automated approach is implemented and validated by careful inspection and observation of performance. 

When designing a mobile radiological unit one has to take into account different scenarios and tasks. Options for the design of mobile radiological units include satellite, helicopter, boat, train, truck, car, robots, portable devices. 

Obviously, robotic techniques are more complex than other automated laboratory analytical techniques. Laboratory robots were originally marketed as do-it-yourself technology. Some of the first practitioners were chemists who were not skilled in the engineering and software aspects, so highly trained, dedicated personnel were needed. In many applications, the overall lead times to implementation became excessive and chemists were often sidelined for months awaiting the tools they needed to do their job. 

The scope of the transfer should be provided with respect to what laboratories and analysts are affected by the transfer. In some cases, direct analyst-to-analyst transfer might be necessary due to method complexity or the use of new or unfamiliar equipment. In the case of automated methods, transfer from specific robots or workstations in R D to comparable systems within operations would need to be performed. The subject of analyst training and certification will be discussed later in this chapter. 

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