自考英語（二）閱讀輔導（6）

Improving Industrial efficiency through Robotics

　　Robots, becoming increasingly prevalent in factories and industrial plants throughout the developed world, are programmed and engineered to perform industrial tasks without human intervention.

　　Most of today's robots are employed in the automotive industry, where they are programmed to take over such jobs as welding and spray painting automobile and truck bodies. They also load and unload hot, heavy metal forms used in machines casting automobile and truck frames.

　　Robots, already taking over human tasks in the automotive field, are beginning to be seen, although to a lesser degree, in other industries as well.
　　There they build electric motors, small appliances, pocket calculators, and even watches. The robots used in nuclear power plants handle the radioactive materials, preventing human personnel from being exposed to radiation. These are the robots responsible for the reduction in job-related injuries in this new industry.

　　What makes a robot a robot and not just another kind of automatic machine? Robots differ from automatic machines in that after completion of one specific task, they can be reprogrammed by a computer to do another one. As an example, a robot doing spot welding one month can be reprogrammed and switched to spray painting the next.

　　Automatic machine, on the other hand, are not capable of many different uses; they are built to perform only one task.

　　The next generation of robots will be able to see objects, will have a sense of touch, and will make critical decisions. Engineers skilled in microelectronics and computer technology are developing artificial vision for robots. With the ability to "see", robots can identify and inspect one specific class of objects out of a stack of different kinds of materials. One robot vision system used electronic digital cameras containing many rows of light-sensitive materials.

　　When light from an object such as a machine part strikes the camera, the sensitive materials measure the intensity of light and convert the light rays into a range of numbers. The numbers are part of a grayscale system in which brightness is measured in a range of values.

　　One scale ranges from 0 to 15, and another from 0 to 255. The 0 is represented by black. The highest number is white. The numbers is between represent different shades of gray. The computer then makes the calculations and converts the numbers into a picture that shows an image of the object in question. It is not yet known whether robots will one day have vision as good as human vision. Technicians believe they will, but only after years of development.

　　Engineers working on other advances are designing and experimenting with new types of metal hands and fingers, giving robots a sense of touch. Other engineers are writing new programs allowing robots to make decisions such as whether to discard defective parts in finished products. To do this, the robot will also have to be capable of identifying those defective parts.

　　These future robots, assembled with a sense of touch and the ability to see and make decisions, will have plenty of work to do.

　　They can be used to explore for minerals on the ocean floor or in deep areas of mines too dangerous for humans to enter. They will work as gas station attendants, firemen, housekeepers, and security personnel.

　　Anyone wanting to understand the industry of the future will have to know about robotics.

　　利用機器人技術提高工業(yè)效率

　　機器人在所有發(fā)達國家的工廠日益普及，它們被編程、設計，在無人情況下執(zhí)行工業(yè)任務?，F(xiàn)今大多數(shù)機器人用于汽車工業(yè)，人們對其編程，從事如汽車卡車車身焊接、噴漆之類的工作。它們也裝卸汽車和卡車框架的機器中所有的熾熱、笨重的金屬鑄模。

　　機器人已經在汽車行業(yè)接任了人類工作，在其行業(yè)也開始看到它們的身影，雖然使用程度低一些。在那里它們制造電動馬達、小型設備、袖珍計算器，甚至手表。用于核電站的機器人處理輻射材料，使職員不暴露于輻射。這些機器人可以減少這一新型工業(yè)中與工作有關的傷害。

　　什么使機器變成機器人，而不是其他的自動化機器呢？機器人與自動化機器的區(qū)別在于完成一項特定工作后，它們可以被電腦重新編程去執(zhí)行一項任務。

　　比如說，一個機器人做了一個月的點焊，可以重新編程，下個月轉向噴漆。相反，自動化機器卻沒有許多不同用途，它們只是為了招待一項任務而被建造。下一代機器人將能看見物體，具有觸覺，能作出關鍵性的決定。精通于微電子和電腦技術的工程師正在為機器人開發(fā)人造視力，有了"看"的能力，機器人就能從一推不同的材料中鑒別檢查出具體的一類物體。機器人禮堂系統(tǒng)采用包含多行感官材料的電子數(shù)碼相機。當一個物體上的光，如機器零件，照射到相機上時，敏感材料就可測量出光的強度，把光線轉換為一組數(shù)字。這些數(shù)字是灰度系統(tǒng)的一部分，其亮度由一系列數(shù)值測量。一個刻度范圍是0到15，另一個是0到 225。0用黑色表示，最高值用白色，其間的數(shù)值用不同的灰色陰影來表示。然后計算機進行計算，并將數(shù)字轉換為表明該無題形象的圖像。現(xiàn)在還不知道有一天機器人是否具有人類一樣的好視力。技術人員想信它們會的，只是需要多年的開發(fā)。

　　在其他方面取得進展的工程技術人員正在設計和試驗新型金屬手臂和手指，使機器人具有觸覺。其他工程人員正在編寫新的程序使機器人做出如是否拋棄成品中有缺陷的零件的決定。要做到這點，機器人還必須具有鑒別有缺陷零件的能力。

　　集觸覺、看和做決定的能力于一體的這些未來機器人將會做大量的工作。它們可以用于海底探礦或探測對人類太危險的深層區(qū)域的礦物。它們可以做加油站服務人員、消防人員、房屋管理員和安全人員的工作。任何想了解未來工業(yè)的人必須懂機器人。