In general, robots seem to be broadly classified into “industrial robots” and “service robots”. Industrial robots are robots that are used at manufacturing sites in factories. They are mainly in the form of a robot arm, and have the function of attaching parts to products carried on a conveyor belt, or processing such as welding or painting. Service robots refer to all robots other than those for industrial use. For example, they are used for security, reception, and other applications.
On the other hand, in this kind of classification, there are cases that fall under both industrial robots and service robots, even if the basic functions are the same. An example is the automated traveling robot. An automated driving robot in a factory is called an AGV (Automated Guided Vehicle), while a robot moving on the road may be called an automated vehicle or an automated delivery robot. Cleaning robots that run inside houses and buildings also belong to robots with automated driving functions. Although the degree of difficulty of the task and the configuration of the robot are very different in the factory and other situations, the basic function of recognizing obstacles and reaching the destination is the same.
It is a bit cumbersome to have different biggest classification items for the same kind of functions. Therefore, in this website, we will not use the classification of industrial robots and service robots. We will try to classify robot types on two axes: “by function” and “by application”.
The functional categories are as follows.
- Mobile Robots
- Wheels (ground)
- Armored Vehicle Type (on the ground)
- Walking Type (ground)
- Drone (short-range aerial)
- Long-range Aerial (airplane, helicopter, rocket)
- Automatic Carrier (Water)
- Underwater Drone (Underwater)
- Automatic Train (Rail Movement)
- Wire Movement
- Robot arm
- Articulated Robot
- Parallel Link
- Communication
- Nanomachines
- Power Assist (Suit)
The different applications are listed below.
- Industrial use (for factories)
- Security
- Cleaning
- Agriculture
- Disaster (search, operation, transportation)
- Medical care
- Communication *Duplication of functions
- Infrastructure inspection
- Construction
- Food and beverage (lunch box packing, coffee maker)
- Toys (games)
- Entertainment (live production, program filming)