who coined the term robotics and in what context was it first used

Science-fiction author Isaac Asimov is often given credit for being the first person to use the term robotics in a short story composed in the 1940s. In the story, Asimov suggested three principles to guide the behavior of robots and smart machines. Asimov's Three Laws of Robotics, as they are called, have survived to the present:

Robotics

Robotics is an interdisciplinary branch of engineering and science that includes mechanical engineering, electronics engineering, computer science, and others. Robotics deals with the design, construction, operation, and use of robots, as well as computer systems for their control, sensory feedback, and information processing.

These technologies are used to develop machines that can substitute for humans and replicate human actions. Robots can be used in any situation and for any purpose, but today many are used in dangerous environments (including bomb detection and de-activation), manufacturing processes, or where humans cannot survive. Robots can take on any form but some are made to resemble humans in appearance. This is said to help in the acceptance of a robot in certain replicative behaviors usually performed by people. Such robots attempt to replicate walking, lifting, speech, cognition, and basically anything a human can do. Many of today's robots are inspired by nature, contributing to the field of bio-inspired robotics.

The concept of creating machines that can operate autonomously dates back to classical times, but research into the functionality and potential uses of robots did not grow substantially until the 20th century.[1] Throughout history, it has been frequently assumed that robots will one day be able to mimic human behavior and manage tasks in a human-like fashion. Today, robotics is a rapidly growing field, as technological advances continue; researching, designing, and building new robots serve various practical purposes, whether domestically, commercially, or militarily. Many robots are built to do jobs that are hazardous to people such as defusing bombs, finding survivors in unstable ruins, and exploring mines and shipwrecks. Robotics is also used in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) as a teaching aid.

Robotics is a branch of engineering that involves the conception, design, manufacture, and operation of robots. This field overlaps with electronics, computer science, artificial intelligence, mechatronics, nanotechnology and bioengineering.

The word robotics was derived from the word robot, which was introduced to the public by Czech writer Karel Čapek in his play R.U.R. (Rossum's Universal Robots), which was published in 1920.[2] The word robot comes from the Slavic word robota, which means labour. The play begins in a factory that makes artificial people called robots, creatures who can be mistaken for humans – very similar to the modern ideas of androids. Karel Čapek himself did not coin the word. He wrote a short letter in reference to an etymology in the Oxford English Dictionary in which he named his brother Josef Čapek as its actual originator.[2]

According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the word robotics was first used in print by Isaac Asimov, in his science fiction short story "Liar!", published in May 1941 in Astounding Science Fiction. Asimov was unaware that he was coining the term; since the science and technology of electrical devices is electronics, he assumed robotics already referred to the science and technology of robots. In some of Asimov's other works, he states that the first use of the word robotics was in his short story Runaround (Astounding Science Fiction, March 1942).[3][4] However, the original publication of "Liar!" predates that of "Runaround" by ten months, so the former is generally cited as the word's origin.

In 1942, the science fiction writer Isaac Asimov created his Three Laws of Robotics.

In 1948, Norbert Wiener formulated the principles of cybernetics, the basis of practical robotics.

Fully autonomous only appeared in the second half of the 20th century. The first digitally operated and programmable robot, the Unimate, was installed in 1961 to lift hot pieces of metal from a die casting machine and stack them. Commercial and industrial robots are widespread today and used to perform jobs more cheaply, more accurately and more reliably, than humans. They are also employed in some jobs which are too dirty, dangerous, or dull to be suitable for humans. Robots are widely used in manufacturing, assembly, packing and packaging, mining, transport, earth and space exploration, surgery, weaponry, laboratory research, safety, and the mass production of consumer and industrial goods.[5]

There are many types of robots; they are used in many different environments and for many different uses, although being very diverse in application and form they all share three basic similarities when it comes to their construction:

As more and more robots are designed for specific tasks this method of classification becomes more relevant. For example, many robots are designed for assembly work, which may not be readily adaptable for other applications. They are termed as "assembly robots". For seam welding, some suppliers provide complete welding systems with the robot i.e. the welding equipment along with other material handling facilities like turntables etc. as an integrated unit. Such an integrated robotic system is called a "welding robot" even though its discrete manipulator unit could be adapted to a variety of tasks. Some robots are specifically designed for heavy load manipulation, and are labelled as "heavy duty robots".

Current and potential applications include:

At present, mostly (lead–acid) batteries are used as a power source. Many different types of batteries can be used as a power source for robots. They range from lead–acid batteries, which are safe and have relatively long shelf lives but are rather heavy compared to silver–cadmium batteries that are much smaller in volume and are currently much more expensive. Designing a battery-powered robot needs to take into account factors such as safety, cycle lifetime and weight. Generators, often some type of internal combustion engine, can also be used. However, such designs are often mechanically complex and need a fuel, require heat dissipation and are relatively heavy. A tether connecting the robot to a power supply would remove the power supply from the robot entirely. This has the advantage of saving weight and space by moving all power generation and storage components elsewhere. However, this design does come with the drawback of constantly having a cable connected to the robot, which can be difficult to manage.[32] Potential power sources could be:

Actuators are the "muscles" of a robot, the parts which convert stored energy into movement. By far the most popular actuators are electric motors that rotate a wheel or gear, and linear actuators that control industrial robots in factories. There are some recent advances in alternative types of actuators, powered by electricity, chemicals, or compressed air.

The vast majority of robots use electric motors, often brushed and brushless DC motors in portable robots or AC motors in industrial robots and CNC machines. These motors are often preferred in systems with lighter loads, and where the predominant form of motion is rotational.

Various types of linear actuators move in and out instead of by spinning, and often have quicker direction changes, particularly when very large forces are needed such as with industrial robotics. They are typically powered by compressed and oxidized air (pneumatic actuator) or an oil (hydraulic actuator).

A flexure is designed as part of the motor actuator, to improve safety and provide robust force control, energy efficiency, shock absorption (mechanical filtering) while reducing excessive wear on the transmission and other mechanical components. The resultant lower reflected inertia can improve safety when a robot is interacting with humans or during collisions. It has been used in various robots, particularly advanced manufacturing robots and[33] walking humanoid robots.[34]

Pneumatic artificial muscles, also known as air muscles, are special tubes that expand(typically up to 40%) when air is forced inside them. They are used in some robot applications.[35][36][37]

Muscle wire, also known as shape memory alloy, Nitinol® or Flexinol® wire, is a material which contracts (under 5%) when electricity is applied. They have been used for some small robot applications.[38][39]

EAPs or EPAMs are a new[when?] plastic material that can contract substantially (up to 380% activation strain) from electricity, and have been used in facial muscles and arms of humanoid robots,[40] and to enable new robots to float,[41] fly, swim or walk.[42]

Recent alternatives to DC motors are piezo motors or ultrasonic motors. These work on a fundamentally different principle, whereby tiny piezoceramic elements, vibrating many thousands of times per second, cause linear or rotary motion. There are different mechanisms of operation; one type uses the vibration of the piezo elements to step the motor in a circle or a straight line.[43] Another type uses the piezo elements to cause a nut to vibrate or to drive a screw. The advantages of these motors are nanometer resolution, speed, and available force for their size.[44] These motors are already available commercially, and being used on some robots.[45][46]

Elastic nanotubes are a promising artificial muscle technology in early-stage experimental development. The absence of defects in carbon nanotubes enables these filaments to deform elastically by several percent, with energy storage levels of perhaps 10 J/cm3 for metal nanotubes. Human biceps could be replaced with an 8 mm diameter wire of this material. Such compact "muscle" might allow future robots to outrun and outjump humans.[47]

Sensors allow robots to receive information about a certain measurement of the environment, or internal components. This is essential for robots to perform their tasks, and act upon any changes in the environment to calculate the appropriate response. They are used for various forms of measurements, to give the robots warnings about safety or malfunctions, and to provide real-time information of the task it is performing.

Current robotic and prosthetic hands receive far less tactile information than the human hand. Recent research has developed a tactile sensor array that mimics the mechanical properties and touch receptors of human fingertips.[48][49] The sensor array is constructed as a rigid core surrounded by conductive fluid contained by an elastomeric skin. Electrodes are mounted on the surface of the rigid core and are connected to an impedance-measuring device within the core. When the artificial skin touches an object the fluid path around the electrodes is deformed, producing impedance changes that map the forces received from the object. The researchers expect that an important function of such artificial fingertips will be adjusting robotic grip on held objects.

Scientists from several European countries and Israel developed a prosthetic hand in 2009, called SmartHand, which functions like a real oneâ€”allowing patients to write with it, type on a keyboard, play piano and perform other fine movements. The prosthesis has sensors which enable the patient to sense real feeling in its fingertips.[50]

Computer vision is the science and technology of machines that see. As a scientific discipline, computer vision is concerned with the theory behind artificial systems that extract information from images. The image data can take many forms, such as video sequences and views from cameras.

In most practical computer vision applications, the computers are pre-programmed to solve a particular task, but methods based on learning are now becoming increasingly common.

Computer vision systems rely on image sensors which detect electromagnetic radiation which is typically in the form of either visible light or infra-red light. The sensors are designed using solid-state physics. The process by which light propagates and reflects off surfaces is explained using optics. Sophisticated image sensors even require quantum mechanics to provide a complete understanding of the image formation process. Robots can also be equipped with multiple vision sensors to be better able to compute the sense of depth in the environment. Like human eyes, robots' "eyes" must also be able to focus on a particular area of interest, and also adjust to variations in light intensities.

There is a subfield within computer vision where artificial systems are designed to mimic the processing and behavior of biological system, at different levels of complexity. Also, some of the learning-based methods developed within computer vision have their background in biology.

Other common forms of sensing in robotics use lidar, radar, and sonar.[citation needed]

Robots need to manipulate objects; pick up, modify, destroy, or otherwise have an effect. Thus the "hands" of a robot are often referred to as end effectors,[51] while the "arm" is referred to as a manipulator.[52] Most robot arms have replaceable effectors, each allowing them to perform some small range of tasks. Some have a fixed manipulator which cannot be replaced, while a few have one very general purpose manipulator, for example, a humanoid hand.[53] Learning how to manipulate a robot often requires a close feedback between human to the robot, although there are several methods for remote manipulation of robots.[54]

One of the most common effectors is the gripper. In its simplest manifestation, it consists of just two fingers which can open and close to pick up and let go of a range of small objects. Fingers can for example, be made of a chain with a metal wire run through it.[55] Hands that resemble and work more like a human hand include the Shadow Hand and the Robonaut hand.[56] Hands that are of a mid-level complexity include the Delft hand.[57][58] Mechanical grippers can come in various types, including friction and encompassing jaws. Friction jaws use all the force of the gripper to hold the object in place using friction. Encompassing jaws cradle the object in place, using less friction.

Vacuum grippers are very simple astrictive[59] devices that can hold very large loads provided the prehension surface is smooth enough to ensure suction.

Pick and place robots for electronic components and for large objects like car windscreens, often use very simple vacuum grippers.

Some advanced robots are beginning to use fully humanoid hands, like the Shadow Hand, MANUS,[60] and the Schunk hand.[61] These are highly dexterous manipulators, with as many as 20 degrees of freedom and hundreds of tactile sensors.[62]

For simplicity, most mobile robots have four wheels or a number of continuous tracks. Some researchers have tried to create more complex wheeled robots with only one or two wheels. These can have certain advantages such as greater efficiency and reduced parts, as well as allowing a robot to navigate in confined places that a four-wheeled robot would not be able to.

Balancing robots generally use a gyroscope to detect how much a robot is falling and then drive the wheels proportionally in the same direction, to counterbalance the fall at hundreds of times per second, based on the dynamics of an inverted pendulum.[63] Many different balancing robots have been designed.[64] While the Segway is not commonly thought of as a robot, it can be thought of as a component of a robot, when used as such Segway refer to them as RMP (Robotic Mobility Platform). An example of this use has been as NASA's Robonaut that has been mounted on a Segway.[65]

A one-wheeled balancing robot is an extension of a two-wheeled balancing robot so that it can move in any 2D direction using a round ball as its only wheel. Several one-wheeled balancing robots have been designed recently, such as Carnegie Mellon University's "Ballbot" that is the approximate height and width of a person, and Tohoku Gakuin University's "BallIP".[66] Because of the long, thin shape and ability to maneuver in tight spaces, they have the potential to function better than other robots in environments with people.[67]

Several attempts have been made in robots that are completely inside a spherical ball, either by spinning a weight inside the ball,[68][69] or by rotating the outer shells of the sphere.[70][71] These have also been referred to as an orb bot[72] or a ball bot.[73][74]

Using six wheels instead of four wheels can give better traction or grip in outdoor terrain such as on rocky dirt or grass.

Tank tracks provide even more traction than a six-wheeled robot. Tracked wheels behave as if they were made of hundreds of wheels, therefore are very common for outdoor and military robots, where the robot must drive on very rough terrain. However, they are difficult to use indoors such as on carpets and smooth floors. Examples include NASA's Urban Robot "Urbie".[75]

Walking is a difficult and dynamic problem to solve. Several robots have been made which can walk reliably on two legs, however, none have yet been made which are as robust as a human. There has been much study on human inspired walking, such as AMBER lab which was established in 2008 by the Mechanical Engineering Department at Texas A&M University.[76] Many other robots have been built that walk on more than two legs, due to these robots being significantly easier to construct.[77][78] Walking robots can be used for uneven terrains, which would provide better mobility and energy efficiency than other locomotion methods. Hybrids too have been proposed in movies such as I, Robot, where they walk on two legs and switch to four (arms+legs) when going to a sprint. Typically, robots on two legs can walk well on flat floors and can occasionally walk up stairs. None can walk over rocky, uneven terrain. Some of the methods which have been tried are:

The zero moment point (ZMP) is the algorithm used by robots such as Honda's ASIMO. The robot's onboard computer tries to keep the total inertial forces (the combination of Earth's gravity and the acceleration and deceleration of walking), exactly opposed by the floor reaction force (the force of the floor pushing back on the robot's foot). In this way, the two forces cancel out, leaving no moment (force causing the robot to rotate and fall over).[79] However, this is not exactly how a human walks, and the difference is obvious to human observers, some of whom have pointed out that ASIMO walks as if it needs the lavatory.[80][81][82] ASIMO's walking algorithm is not static, and some dynamic balancing is used (see below). However, it still requires a smooth surface to walk on.

Several robots, built in the 1980s by Marc Raibert at the MIT Leg Laboratory, successfully demonstrated very dynamic walking. Initially, a robot with only one leg, and a very small foot could stay upright simply by hopping. The movement is the same as that of a person on a pogo stick. As the robot falls to one side, it would jump slightly in that direction, in order to catch itself.[83] Soon, the algorithm was generalised to two and four legs. A bipedal robot was demonstrated running and even performing somersaults.[84] A quadruped was also demonstrated which could trot, run, pace, and bound.[85] For a full list of these robots, see the MIT Leg Lab Robots page.[86]

A more advanced way for a robot to walk is by using a dynamic balancing algorithm, which is potentially more robust than the Zero Moment Point technique, as it constantly monitors the robot's motion, and places the feet in order to maintain stability.[87] This technique was recently demonstrated by Anybots' Dexter Robot,[88] which is so stable, it can even jump.[89] Another example is the TU Delft Flame.

Perhaps the most promising approach utilizes passive dynamics where the momentum of swinging limbs is used for greater efficiency. It has been shown that totally unpowered humanoid mechanisms can walk down a gentle slope, using only gravity to propel themselves. Using this technique, a robot need only supply a small amount of motor power to walk along a flat surface or a little more to walk up a hill. This technique promises to make walking robots at least ten times more efficient than ZMP walkers, like ASIMO.[90][91]

A modern passenger airliner is essentially a flying robot, with two humans to manage it. The autopilot can control the plane for each stage of the journey, including takeoff, normal flight, and even landing.[92] Other flying robots are uninhabited and are known as unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). They can be smaller and lighter without a human pilot on board, and fly into dangerous territory for military surveillance missions. Some can even fire on targets under command. UAVs are also being developed which can fire on targets automatically, without the need for a command from a human. Other flying robots include cruise missiles, the Entomopter, and the Epson micro helicopter robot. Robots such as the Air Penguin, Air Ray, and Air Jelly have lighter-than-air bodies, propelled by paddles, and guided by sonar.

Several snake robots have been successfully developed. Mimicking the way real snakes move, these robots can navigate very confined spaces, meaning they may one day be used to search for people trapped in collapsed buildings.[93] The Japanese ACM-R5 snake robot[94] can even navigate both on land and in water.[95]

A small number of skating robots have been developed, one of which is a multi-mode walking and skating device. It has four legs, with unpowered wheels, which can either step or roll.[96] Another robot, Plen, can use a miniature skateboard or roller-skates, and skate across a desktop.[97]

Several different approaches have been used to develop robots that have the ability to climb vertical surfaces. One approach mimics the movements of a human climber on a wall with protrusions; adjusting the center of mass and moving each limb in turn to gain leverage. An example of this is Capuchin,[98] built by Dr. Ruixiang Zhang at Stanford University, California. Another approach uses the specialized toe pad method of wall-climbing geckoes, which can run on smooth surfaces such as vertical glass. Examples of this approach include Wallbot[99] and Stickybot.[100] China's Technology Daily reported on November 15, 2008, that Dr. Li Hiu Yeung and his research group of New Concept Aircraft (Zhuhai) Co., Ltd. had successfully developed a bionic gecko robot named "Speedy Freelander". According to Dr. Li, the gecko robot could rapidly climb up and down a variety of building walls, navigate through ground and wall fissures, and walk upside-down on the ceiling. It was also able to adapt to the surfaces of smooth glass, rough, sticky or dusty walls as well as various types of metallic materials. It could also identify and circumvent obstacles automatically. Its flexibility and speed were comparable to a natural gecko. A third approach is to mimic the motion of a snake climbing a pole.[citation needed].

It is calculated that when swimming some fish can achieve a propulsive efficiency greater than 90%.[101] Furthermore, they can accelerate and maneuver far better than any man-made boat or submarine, and produce less noise and water disturbance. Therefore, many researchers studying underwater robots would like to copy this type of locomotion.[102] Notable examples are the Essex University Computer Science Robotic Fish G9,[103] and the Robot Tuna built by the Institute of Field Robotics, to analyze and mathematically model thunniform motion.[104] The Aqua Penguin,[105] designed and built by Festo of Germany, copies the streamlined shape and propulsion by front "flippers" of penguins. Festo have also built the Aqua Ray and Aqua Jelly, which emulate the locomotion of manta ray, and jellyfish, respectively.

In 2014 iSplash-II was developed by PhD student Richard James Clapham and Prof. Huosheng Hu at Essex University. It was the first robotic fish capable of outperforming real carangiform fish in terms of average maximum velocity (measured in body lengths/ second) and endurance, the duration that top speed is maintained.[106] This build attained swimming speeds of 11.6BL/s (i.e. 3.7Â m/s).[107] The first build, iSplash-I (2014) was the first robotic platform to apply a full-body length carangiform swimming motion which was found to increase swimming speed by 27% over the traditional approach of a posterior confined waveform.[108]

Sailboat robots have also been developed in order to make measurements at the surface of the ocean. A typical sailboat robot is Vaimos[109] built by IFREMER and ENSTA-Bretagne. Since the propulsion of sailboat robots uses the wind, the energy of the batteries is only used for the computer, for the communication and for the actuators (to tune the rudder and the sail). If the robot is equipped with solar panels, the robot could theoretically navigate forever. The two main competitions of sailboat robots are WRSC, which takes place every year in Europe, and Sailbot.

Though a significant percentage of robots in commission today are either human controlled or operate in a static environment, there is an increasing interest in robots that can operate autonomously in a dynamic environment. These robots require some combination of navigation hardware and software in order to traverse their environment. In particular, unforeseen events (e.g. people and other obstacles that are not stationary) can cause problems or collisions. Some highly advanced robots such as ASIMO and Meinü robot have particularly good robot navigation hardware and software. Also, self-controlled cars, Ernst Dickmanns' driverless car, and the entries in the DARPA Grand Challenge, are capable of sensing the environment well and subsequently making navigational decisions based on this information. Most of these robots employ a GPS navigation device with waypoints, along with radar, sometimes combined with other sensory data such as lidar, video cameras, and inertial guidance systems for better navigation between waypoints.

The state of the art in sensory intelligence for robots will have to progress through several orders of magnitude if we want the robots working in our homes to go beyond vacuum-cleaning the floors. If robots are to work effectively in homes and other non-industrial environments, the way they are instructed to perform their jobs, and especially how they will be told to stop will be of critical importance. The people who interact with them may have little or no training in robotics, and so any interface will need to be extremely intuitive. Science fiction authors also typically assume that robots will eventually be capable of communicating with humans through speech, gestures, and facial expressions, rather than a command-line interface. Although speech would be the most natural way for the human to communicate, it is unnatural for the robot. It will probably be a long time before robots interact as naturally as the fictional C-3PO, or Data of Star Trek, Next Generation.

Interpreting the continuous flow of sounds coming from a human, in real time, is a difficult task for a computer, mostly because of the great variability of speech.[110] The same word, spoken by the same person may sound different depending on local acoustics, volume, the previous word, whether or not the speaker has a cold, etc.. It becomes even harder when the speaker has a different accent.[111] Nevertheless, great strides have been made in the field since Davis, Biddulph, and Balashek designed the first "voice input system" which recognized "ten digits spoken by a single user with 100% accuracy" in 1952.[112] Currently, the best systems can recognize continuous, natural speech, up to 160 words per minute, with an accuracy of 95%.[113]

Other hurdles exist when allowing the robot to use voice for interacting with humans. For social reasons, synthetic voice proves suboptimal as a communication medium,[114] making it necessary to develop the emotional component of robotic voice through various techniques.[115][116]

One can imagine, in the future, explaining to a robot chef how to make a pastry, or asking directions from a robot police officer. In both of these cases, making hand gestures would aid the verbal descriptions. In the first case, the robot would be recognizing gestures made by the human, and perhaps repeating them for confirmation. In the second case, the robot police officer would gesture to indicate "down the road, then turn right". It is likely that gestures will make up a part of the interaction between humans and robots.[117] A great many systems have been developed to recognize human hand gestures.[118]

Facial expressions can provide rapid feedback on the progress of a dialog between two humans, and soon may be able to do the same for humans and robots. Robotic faces have been constructed by Hanson Robotics using their elastic polymer called Frubber, allowing a large number of facial expressions due to the elasticity of the rubber facial coating and embedded subsurface motors (servos).[119] The coating and servos are built on a metal skull. A robot should know how to approach a human, judging by their facial expression and body language. Whether the person is happy, frightened, or crazy-looking affects the type of interaction expected of the robot. Likewise, robots like Kismet and the more recent addition, Nexi[120] can produce a range of facial expressions, allowing it to have meaningful social exchanges with humans.[121]

Artificial emotions can also be generated, composed of a sequence of facial expressions and/or gestures. As can be seen from the movie Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within, the programming of these artificial emotions is complex and requires a large amount of human observation. To simplify this programming in the movie, presets were created together with a special software program. This decreased the amount of time needed to make the film. These presets could possibly be transferred for use in real-life robots.

Many of the robots of science fiction have a personality, something which may or may not be desirable in the commercial robots of the future.[122] Nevertheless, researchers are trying to create robots which appear to have a personality:[123][124] i.e. they use sounds, facial expressions, and body language to try to convey an internal state, which may be joy, sadness, or fear. One commercial example is Pleo, a toy robot dinosaur, which can exhibit several apparent emotions.[125]

The Socially Intelligent Machines Lab of the Georgia Institute of Technology researches new concepts of guided teaching interaction with robots. The aim of the projects is a social robot that learns task and goals from human demonstrations without prior knowledge of high-level concepts. These new concepts are grounded from low-level continuous sensor data through unsupervised learning, and task goals are subsequently learned using a Bayesian approach. These concepts can be used to transfer knowledge to future tasks, resulting in faster learning of those tasks. The results are demonstrated by the robot Curi who can scoop some pasta from a pot onto a plate and serve the sauce on top.[126]

The mechanical structure of a robot must be controlled to perform tasks. The control of a robot involves three distinct phases â€“ perception, processing, and action (robotic paradigms). Sensors give information about the environment or the robot itself (e.g. the position of its joints or its end effector). This information is then processed to be stored or transmitted and to calculate the appropriate signals to the actuators (motors) which move the mechanical.

The processing phase can range in complexity. At a reactive level, it may translate raw sensor information directly into actuator commands. Sensor fusion may first be used to estimate parameters of interest (e.g. the position of the robot's gripper) from noisy sensor data. An immediate task (such as moving the gripper in a certain direction) is inferred from these estimates. Techniques from control theory convert the task into commands that drive the actuators.

At longer time scales or with more sophisticated tasks, the robot may need to build and reason with a "cognitive" model. Cognitive models try to represent the robot, the world, and how they interact. Pattern recognition and computer vision can be used to track objects. Mapping techniques can be used to build maps of the world. Finally, motion planning and other artificial intelligence techniques may be used to figure out how to act. For example, a planner may figure out how to achieve a task without hitting obstacles, falling over, etc.

Control systems may also have varying levels of autonomy.

Another classification takes into account the interaction between human control and the machine motions.

Much of the research in robotics focuses not on specific industrial tasks, but on investigations into new types of robots, alternative ways to think about or design robots, and new ways to manufacture them. Other investigations, such as MIT's cyberflora project, are almost wholly academic.

A first particular new innovation in robot design is the open sourcing of robot-projects. To describe the level of advancement of a robot, the term "Generation Robots" can be used. This term is coined by Professor Hans Moravec, Principal Research Scientist at the Carnegie Mellon University Robotics Institute in describing the near future evolution of robot technology. First generation robots, Moravec predicted in 1997, should have an intellectual capacity comparable to perhaps a lizard and should become available by 2010. Because the first generation robot would be incapable of learning, however, Moravec predicts that the second generation robot would be an improvement over the first and become available by 2020, with the intelligence maybe comparable to that of a mouse. The third generation robot should have the intelligence comparable to that of a monkey. Though fourth generation robots, robots with human intelligence, professor Moravec predicts, would become possible, he does not predict this happening before around 2040 or 2050.[128]

The second is evolutionary robots. This is a methodology that uses evolutionary computation to help design robots, especially the body form, or motion and behavior controllers. In a similar way to natural evolution, a large population of robots is allowed to compete in some way, or their ability to perform a task is measured using a fitness function. Those that perform worst are removed from the population and replaced by a new set, which have new behaviors based on those of the winners. Over time the population improves, and eventually a satisfactory robot may appear. This happens without any direct programming of the robots by the researchers. Researchers use this method both to create better robots,[129] and to explore the nature of evolution.[130] Because the process often requires many generations of robots to be simulated,[131] this technique may be run entirely or mostly in simulation, then tested on real robots once the evolved algorithms are good enough.[132] Currently, there are about 10 million industrial robots toiling around the world, and Japan is the top country having high density of utilizing robots in its manufacturing industry.[citation needed]

The study of motion can be divided into kinematics and dynamics.[133] Direct kinematics refers to the calculation of end effector position, orientation, velocity, and acceleration when the corresponding joint values are known. Inverse kinematics refers to the opposite case in which required joint values are calculated for given end effector values, as done in path planning. Some special aspects of kinematics include handling of redundancy (different possibilities of performing the same movement), collision avoidance, and singularity avoidance. Once all relevant positions, velocities, and accelerations have been calculated using kinematics, methods from the field of dynamics are used to study the effect of forces upon these movements. Direct dynamics refers to the calculation of accelerations in the robot once the applied forces are known. Direct dynamics is used in computer simulations of the robot. Inverse dynamics refers to the calculation of the actuator forces necessary to create a prescribed end-effector acceleration. This information can be used to improve the control algorithms of a robot.

In each area mentioned above, researchers strive to develop new concepts and strategies, improve existing ones, and improve the interaction between these areas. To do this, criteria for "optimal" performance and ways to optimize design, structure, and control of robots must be developed and implemented.

Bionics and biomimetics apply the physiology and methods of locomotion of animals to the design of robots. For example, the design of BionicKangaroo was based on the way kangaroos jump.

Robotics engineers design robots, maintain them, develop new applications for them, and conduct research to expand the potential of robotics.[134] Robots have become a popular educational tool in some middle and high schools, particularly in parts of the USA,[135] as well as in numerous youth summer camps, raising interest in programming, artificial intelligence, and robotics among students. First-year computer science courses at some universities now include programming of a robot in addition to traditional software engineering-based coursework.[54]

Universities offer bachelors, masters, and doctoral degrees in the field of robotics.[136] Vocational schools offer robotics training aimed at careers in robotics.

The Robotics Certification Standards Alliance (RCSA) is an international robotics certification authority that confers various industry- and educational-related robotics certifications.

Several national summer camp programs include robotics as part of their core curriculum. In addition, youth summer robotics programs are frequently offered by celebrated museums and institutions.

There are lots of competitions all around the globe. One of the most important competitions is the FLL or FIRST Lego League. The idea of this specific competition is that kids start developing knowledge and getting into robotics while playing with Legos since they are 9 years old. This competition is associated with Ni or National Instruments.

Many schools across the country are beginning to add robotics programs to their after school curriculum. Some major programs for afterschool robotics include FIRST Robotics Competition, Botball and B.E.S.T. Robotics.[137] Robotics competitions often include aspects of business and marketing as well as engineering and design.

The Lego company began a program for children to learn and get excited about robotics at a young age.[138]

Robotics is an essential component in many modern manufacturing environments. As factories increase their use of robots, the number of robotics–related jobs grow and have been observed to be steadily rising.[139] The employment of robots in industries has increased productivity and efficiency savings and is typically seen as a long term investment for benefactors. A paper by Michael Osborne and Carl Benedikt Frey found that 47 per cent of US jobs are at risk to automation "over some unspecified number of years".[140] These claims have been criticized on the ground that social policy, not AI, causes unemployment.[141]

A discussion paper drawn up by EU-OSHA highlights how the spread of robotics presents both opportunities and challenges for occupational safety and health (OSH).[142]

The greatest OSH benefits stemming from the wider use of robotics should be substitution for people working in unhealthy or dangerous environments. In space, defence, security, or the nuclear industry, but also in logistics, maintenance, and inspection, autonomous robots are particularly useful in replacing human workers performing dirty, dull or unsafe tasks, thus avoiding workers' exposures to hazardous agents and conditions and reducing physical, ergonomic and psychosocial risks. For example, robots are already used to perform repetitive and monotonous tasks, to handle radioactive material or to work in explosive atmospheres. In the future, many other highly repetitive, risky or unpleasant tasks will be performed by robots in a variety of sectors like agriculture, construction, transport, healthcare, firefighting or cleaning services.[143]

Despite these advances, there are certain skills to which humans will be better suited than machines for some time to come and the question is how to achieve the best combination of human and robot skills. The advantages of robotics include heavy-duty jobs with precision and repeatability, whereas the advantages of humans include creativity, decision-making, flexibility and adaptability. This need to combine optimal skills has resulted in collaborative robots and humans sharing a common workspace more closely and led to the development of new approaches and standards to guarantee the safety of the "man-robot merger". Some European countries are including robotics in their national programmes and trying to promote a safe and flexible co-operation between robots and operators to achieve better productivity. For example, the German Federal Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (BAuA) organises annual workshops on the topic "human-robot collaboration".

In future, co-operation between robots and humans will be diversified, with robots increasing their autonomy and human-robot collaboration reaching completely new forms. Current approaches and technical standards[144][145] aiming to protect employees from the risk of working with collaborative robots will have to be revised.


what is the most popular car in russia

The number of cars on Russian roads reached 40,629,200 in 2016. Lada cars accounted for 34.6% of the total,[58] down from 41.6% five years earlier.[59] Almost half of those cars were over ten years old, and the single most popular car model was still the classic Lada Riva.[58]

Automotive industry in Russia

Automotive production is a significant industry in Russia, directly employing around 600,000 people or 1% of the country's total workforce. Russia produced 1,303,989 vehicles in 2016, ranking 16th among car-producing nations in 2016, and accounting for 1.4% of the worldwide production.[1] The main local brands are light vehicle producers AvtoVAZ and GAZ, while KamAZ is the leading heavy vehicle producer. Eleven foreign carmakers have production operations or are constructing their plants in Russia.

The Russian Empire had a long history of progress in the development of machinery. As early as in the eighteenth century Ivan I. Polzunov constructed the first two-cylinder steam engine in the world,[2] while Ivan P. Kulibin created a human-powered vehicle that had a flywheel, a brake, a gearbox, and roller bearings.[3] One of the world's first tracked vehicles was invented by Fyodor A. Blinov in 1877.[4] In 1896, the Yakovlev engine factory and the Freze carriage-manufacturing workshop manufactured the first Russian petrol-engine automobile, the Yakovlev & Freze.[5]

The turn of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries was marked by the invention of the earliest Russian electrocar, nicknamed the “Cuckoo”, which was created by the engineer Hippolyte V. Romanov in 1899. Romanov also constructed a battery-electric omnibus.[6] In the years preceding the 1917 October Revolution, Russia produced a growing number of Russo-Balt, Puzyryov, Lessner, and other vehicles, held its first motor show in 1907[7] and had car enthusiasts who successfully participated in international motor racing. A Russo-Balt car placed 9th in the Monte Carlo Rally of 1912, despite the extreme winter conditions that threatened the lives of the driver and riding mechanic on their way from Saint Petersburg,[8] 2nd in the San Sebastián Rally and covered more than 15,000 km in Western Europe and Northern Africa in 1913. The driver of the car, Andrei P. Nagel, was personally awarded by Emperor Nicholas II for increasing the prestige of the domestic car brand.[9]

By 1915, about 1,000 motor vehicles had been built in Russia.[10] Imported vehicles vastly exceeded domestic production, with the latter accounting for less than 10% of total stock by 1914.[10]

In February 1916 the Tsarist government allocated funds for the construction of six automotive plants: AMO in Moscow, Russo-Balt in the village of Fili, the State Plant of Military Self-Propelled Vehicles (KZVS) in Mytishchi, Russian Renault in Rybinsk, Aksai in Nakhichevan-on-Don, and Lebedev in Yaroslavl. None of the plants were completed before the October Revolution.[11]

After the 1917 October Revolution, Russo-Balt was nationalised on August 15, 1918, and renamed to Prombron by the new leadership. It continued the production of Russo-Balt cars and launched a new model on October 8, 1922, while AMO built FIAT 15 Ter trucks under licence and released a more modern FIAT-derived truck developed by a team of AMO designers, the AMO-F-15. About 6,000–6,500 F-15s were built in the years 1924–1931.[12][13]

In 1927, engineers from the Scientific Automobile & Motor Institute (NAMI) created the first original Soviet car NAMI-I, which was produced in small numbers by the Spartak State Automobile Factory in Moscow, between 1927 and 1931.[14] In 1929, due to a rapidly growing demand for automobiles and in cooperation with its trade partner, the Ford Motor Company, the Supreme Soviet of the National Economy established GAZ.[15][16] A year later, a second automobile plant was founded in Moscow, which would become a major Soviet car maker after World War II and earn nationwide fame under the name Moskvitch.

The beginning of the 1960s saw the release of the Moskvitch 408, intended to be an economy car that would spread the use of cars among the population.[17] Other manufacturers such as MZMA, GAZ and ZAZ were offering a variety of cars intended for the mass market. The Soviet government opted to build an even larger car manufacturing plant that would produce a people's car and help to meet the demand for personal transport.[18] For reasons of cost-efficiency, it was decided to produce the car on the basis of an existing, modern foreign model. After considering several options, the Fiat 124 was chosen because of its simple and sturdy design, being easy to manufacture and repair.

The plant was built in just 4 years (1966â€“1970) in the small town of Stavropol Volzhsky, which later grew to a population of more than half a million and was renamed Togliatti to commemorate Palmiro Togliatti.[18][19] At the same time, the Izhmash car plant was established in the city of Izhevsk as part of the Izhevsk Mechanical Plant, with the initiative coming from the Minister of Defence[20] and in order to increase the overall production of cars in the Soviet Union. It produced Moskvitchs and Moskvitch-based kombi hatchbacks. KaMAZ, Europe's largest heavy truck plant, was built in Naberezhnye Chelny, while GAZ, ZIL, UralAZ, KrAZ, MAZ, BelAZ, and plants continued to produce other types of trucks.

By the early 1980s, Soviet automobile industry consisted of several main plants, which produced vehicles for various market segments. In late 1987, the industry produced 2 million cars, satisfying 45% of the domestic demand.[21]

In the early 1990s the Russian car market expanded dramatically, largely due to a drastic cut on import duties, so that by 1993 foreign-made imported cars made up 49% of all sales.[22] At the same time, Russian automakers were integrated into a market economy and immediately hit by a crisis due to the loss of financial support, economic turmoil, criminal activities[23][24][25] and stiffer competition in the domestic market during the 1990s.

The main domestic manufacturers in the early 1990s were AvtoVAZ, AZLK, IzhAvto, GAZ and UAZ.[26] Some of them, like AvtoVAZ, turned to cooperation with other companies (such as GM-AvtoVAZ) in order to obtain substantial capital investment and overcome the crisis.[27]

By 1993, total output was down 14% compared to 1990 levels. Lada's declining sales during the 1990s, and toughening European Union emissions requirements, saw exports to Western Europe discontinued by the end of the decade. Lada had enjoyed particularly strong sales in Britain, peaking at more than 30,000 sales a year in the late 1980s, but had failed to remain competitive with other budget brands over the subsequent few years.

850,000 cars were sold in 1996.[28] As demand kept rising, local brands continued to be affected by a reputation for poor manufacturing quality. In was estimated in 1996 that a newly bought AvtoVAZ car needed $1-2,000 worth of repairs to bring it to a comfortable level of safety.[28]

The 1998 Russian financial crisis affected the industry, as car manufacturers stopped using imported components because of higher import prices. Nevertheless, the industry quickly recovered in subsequent years.[29]

In 1997, car production increased by 13.2% in comparison with 1996 and achieved 981,000. AvtoVAZ and UAZ extended their output by 8.8 and 52 percent respectively, whereas KamAZ doubled it. The overall truck production in Russia increased by 7 percent, reaching 148,000 in 1997[30] and 184,000 in 2000.[31] The overall production of cars rose from about 800,000 in 1993 to more than 1.16 million in 2000,[32] or 965,000[33] (969,235 according to OICA[34]) excluding commercial vehicles.

Throughout the 1990s, the unavailability of dealer financing meant that cars had to be purchased in cash.[22]

In the early 2000s, the Russian economy recovered. Russian metal companies, having achieved significant profits on foreign markets, sought to invest in Russia's automotive sector.[35] Siberian Aluminum initially bought Pavlovo Bus Factory and accumulated increasing ownership stakes in GAZ. At the same time, Severstal gained control of UAZ.[35]

In 2001 Ford became the first western manufacturer to establish its own assembly plant in Russia, investing $150 million in their Vsevolozhsk factory, manufacturing the Ford Focus, which briefly became the best-selling foreign-branded car in Russia.[36]

In 2003 Russian manufacturers still accounted for over 90% of car production in Russia, either under their own brand or in partnership with a foreign company. The six main automotive groups were AvtoVAZ, SOK Group, Kamaz, RusPromAvto, SeverstalAvto and AZLK.[37] Just 11,000 cars were locally assembled by foreign manufacturers in 2002.[38]

Macroeconomic trends were strong and growing incomes of the population led to a surging demand, and by 2005 the Russian car market was booming. In 2005, 1,446,525 new cars were sold, including 832,200 Russian models and 614,325 foreign ones.

During the first quarter of 2005, foreign-branded cars outsold local ones for the first time in Russian history (including used imports).[36] Foreign companies started to massively invest in production in Russia: the number of foreign cars produced in the Russian Federation surged from 157,179 in 2005 to 456,500 in 2007.[39] To keep up with the competition, local brands launched more modern-looking models, such as Lada Kalina.[36]

The value of the Russian market grew at a brisk pace: 14% in 2005, 36% in 2006 and 67% in 2007â€”making it the world's fastest growing automotive market by 2008.[40] Foreign companies started flocking to enter Russia in the 2000s, seeing it as a local production location and export powerhouse. Russia's labour, material and energy costs were only 1/6 compared to those in Western Europe.[41][42]

To boost the market share of locally produced vehicles, the Russian government implemented several protectionist measures and launched programs to attract foreign producers into the country. In late 2005, the Russian leadership enacted legislation to create special economic zones (SEZ) with the aim of encouraging investments by foreign automotive companies. The benefits of operating in the special economic zones include tax allowances, exemption from asset and land taxes and protection against changes in the tax regime. Some regions also provide extensive support for large investors (over $100Â million.) These include Saint Petersburg/Leningrad Oblast (Toyota, GM, Nissan) and Kaluga Oblast (VW). Kaluga has been especially successful in attracting foreign companies, as has been Kaliningrad Oblast.[40]

Russia's automotive industry was hit hard by the late 2000s recession. Production of passenger cars dropped from 1,470,000 units in 2008 to just 597,000 units in 2009. Lorry production fell from 256,000 to 91,000 in the same period.[43]

In late 2008, the Russian government introduced protectionist measures, worth $5 billion, to improve the situation in the industry. This included $2 billion of bailouts for troubled companies and $3 billion of credits for buyers of Russian cars.[44] Prime minister Vladimir Putin described the move as vital in order to save jobs.[45] The tariffs for imported foreign cars and trucks were increased to a minimum of 50% and go up to 100%. The tariffs are linked to the engine size of the vehicle. The increased duties led to protests in Russian cities, most notably in Vladivostok, where the importation of Japanese cars is an important sector of the city's economy.[46] To compensate for the losses of the Vladivostok businesses, Prime Minister Putin ordered the car manufacturing company Sollers to move one of its factories from Moscow to Vladivostok. The move was completed in 2009, and the factory now employs about 700 locals. It was planned to produce 13,200 cars in Vladivostok in 2010.[47]

The most efficient anti-crisis measure executed by the Russian government was the introduction of a car scrappage scheme in March 2010. Under the scheme, buyers of new cars could receive a subsidy of up to 600,000 rubles (20,000 USD).[48] Sales of Russia's largest carmaker Avtovaz doubled in the second quarter of 2010 as a result, and the company returned to profit.[49][50]

By the end of 2010, automotive production had returned to pre-crisis levels.[51][52] Nine out of the ten most sold models in Russia in 2010 were domestically produced, with Avtovaz's Lada models topping the list.[51] In the first 7 months of 2010, sales of Lada cars increased by 60%, the Korean KIA reported a jump of 101%, and Chevrolet's sales rose by 15%.[53]

In 2010, Russia was the world's 15th largest producer of cars. The Russian automotive industry currently (as of 2010) accounts for about 2% of worldwide car production.[54]

The market share of Russian-branded vehicles fell to 34% in 2010 and to 21% in 2012. At the same time, the market share of foreign-branded cars made in Russia kept rising, reaching 45% in 2012.[55] Imported vehicles account for a sizable portion of the Russian automotive market: in 2014 they made up 27% of cars and 46% of trucks.[56]

The 2014 economic crisis led to a new fall in car sales and production levels, and reduced forecasts for future growth.[57]

The Russian automotive industry can be divided into four types of companies: local brand producers, foreign OEMs, joint ventures and Russian companies producing foreign brands.[60] In 2008, there were 5,445 companies manufacturing vehicles and related equipment in Russia. The volume of production and sales amounted to 1,513Â billion rubles.[43]

Cars with diesel engines are not popular in Russia, accounting for just 7.6% of all sales as of 2015, compared to half of the market in much of Western Europe.[61] There are 145,000 natural gas vehicles in Russia as of 2016, or 0.3% of all vehicles in the country.[62] The sale of leaded gasoline was outlawed in 2003.[63]

The four most popular cars in Russia in 2009 were all AvtoVAZ models. The economy car Lada Priora topped the list with 84,779 sold units. Lada Samara was second with 77,679 units sold in Russia, and the classic Lada 2105/2107 was third with sales of 57,499. Lada 2105 was expected to considerably increase sales following the car scrappage scheme launched in March 2010. The higher-end Lada Kalina was the fourth most sold car in Russia in 2009, selling 52,499 units that year.[64]

In the light commercial vehicle sector, the GAZelle van, manufactured by GAZ has been very popular, occupying a market share of 49% in 2009 and selling 42,400 units. The Avtoperevozchik magazine declared GAZelle as the most successful vehicle of 2009 in the Russian automotive market.[65]

The largest company of Russia's automotive industry is Avtovaz, located in the city of Tolyatti. It currently employs more than 130,000 people, and its Lada models dominate the Russian car market. Avtovaz models account for about 50% of Russia's total car production.[48]

Russian car manufacturing companies are represented by two associations, ASM-Holding (АСМ-холдинг) and the Association of Russian Automakers (Объединением автопроизводителей России).[66]

Russia's second largest car manufacturer is Avtotor, located in Kaliningrad Oblast. Avtotor performs SKD, CKD or full-cycle assembly of foreign models, such as BMW, Kia, and General Motors' Cadillac and Chevrolet vehicles. In 2009, Avtotor produced 60,000 cars and accounted for 10% of Russian car production.[48]

Avtoframos, the third largest car manufacturer, produced 49,500 cars in 2009. Its plant is located in the south-east part of the city of Moscow. Avtoframos is a joint venture between France's Renault and the Moscow city administration, but is majority owned by Renault.[48] The company manufactures Renault Logan and Renault Sandero models. The ratio of Russian-made parts is 54%. The figure was expected to rise to 74% by 2012.[67]

The fourth and fifth largest carmakers in Russia are Volkswagen and Ford, respectively. In total, the five largest companies of the industry account for 80% of all cars made in Russia.[48] In 2016, Hyundai Solaris became the first foreign-branded car to be the best-selling vehicle in the country since sales statistics began in 1970.[68]

In the heavy vehicle sector, the largest company is the truckmaker KaMAZ. It is also one of the largest companies in the whole Russian automotive industry. In 2010, KaMAZ sold a total of 32,293 trucks; 28,254 in Russia and 4,039 in foreign countries.[69]

Another very important company is GAZ, which makes vans, trucks and busses, among other products. Its most popular product is the GAZelle van, which has a market share of 49% in the light commercial vehicle market. In 2009, the company launched an improved version, called GAZelle Business.

In the bus sector, the GAZ Group Bus Division occupied a market share of 77%. In 2009 it sold 6,169 buses in the small-class, 1,806 in the medium class and 1,156 in the large class.[65]

Russia's largest tractor maker, and one of the largest machine building companies in the world, is Concern Tractor Plants, located in Cheboksary. The company employs around 45,000 people.

The Marussia brand, produced by Marussia Motors, became the first modern sports car and the first supercar produced in Russia. The Marussia B1 was launched on 16 December 2008 in the New Manezh Hall in Moscow. On 10 September 2010 the first Marussia Motors show room opened in Moscow.[70] Marussia Motors was led by Nikolay Fomenko, a notable Russian showman, singer, actor and racer. His company acquired a'significant stake' in the Virgin Racing Formula One team, which was renamed Marussia Virgin Racing from 2011.[71] This team is to become the first ever Russian-owned team in Formula One. Marussia Motors declared bankruptcy and ceased both support for their F1 team[72] and overall trading in 2014.

Another short-lived project was the Yo-mobile, a city car that could burn both gasoline and natural gas and was connected to a pair of electric motors. The car was introduced on 13 December 2010 in Moscow, a product of a joint venture between Yarovit, a producer of trucks based in St. Petersburg, Russia and the Onexim investment group, headed by Mikhail Prokhorov, who was the leader and financier of the project.[73][74] In 2014 the entire project was sold to the Russian government for a nominal sum, thus signalling the abandonment of the idea.[75] No actual vehicles other than a few concept cars were ever produced.

Russia's automotive industry is a significant economic sector. It directly employs 600,000 people and supports around 2–3 million people in related industries.[52] It is politically a very important part of the country's economy: firstly, due to the large number of employed people and secondly, because many citizens depend on the social services provided by automotive companies. For example, the well-being of the giant AvtoVAZ factory in Tolyatti is massively important to the city or to the region of Samara Oblast.[76] Tolyatti is a typical monotown, a city whose economy is dependent on a single company. The factory employed around 100,000 people of the city's population of 700,000 in 2009.[77]

In 2009, former President Dmitry Medvedev launched the Medvedev modernisation programme, which aims to diversify Russia's raw materials and energy-dominated economy, turning it into a modern high-tech economy based on innovation. Following this, Russia's automotive industry has been in the spotlight due to its great potential for modernisation.

Former Prime Minister and current President Vladimir Putin has taken a personal interest in the automotive industry. In a symbolic gesture of support, Putin made a highly publicized road trip on the new Amur Highway in August 2010, driving 2,165 kilometers in a Lada Kalina Sport.[78] Putin described the car as "excellent, even beyond my expectations", and praised it as "comfortable" and "almost noise-free."[79] The event was intended to show support for AvtoVAZ, which was recovering from the serious economic crisis.[80]

Top ten manufacturers and car models on the Russian market according to AEB sales figures for 2016:[81]


what we call the members of rajya sabha

A Member of Parliament of the Rajya Sabha (abbreviated: MP) is the representative of the Indian states to the upper house of the Parliament of India (Rajya Sabha). Rajya Sabha MPs are elected by the electoral college of the elected members of the State Assembly with a system of proportional representation by a single transferable vote. Parliament of India is bicameral with two houses; Rajya Sabha (Upper house i.e. Council of States) and the Lok Sabha (Lower house i.e. House of the People). Total number of members of Rajya Sabha are lesser than Member of Parliament of the Lok Sabha and have more restricted power than the lower house (Lok Sabha).[1] Unlike membership to the Lok Sabha, membership to the Rajya Sabha is permanent for a term of six years cannot be dissolved at any time.[2]

Member of Parliament, Rajya Sabha

———————
Executive:

———————
 Legislature:

———————
Political parties

National coalitions:

———————
State governments

———————
Local governments:
Rural bodies:

Urban bodies:

Broad responsibilities of the Members of Parliament of Rajya Sabha are;

Rajya Sabha enjoys certain special powers which in effect gives special powers and responsibilities to the Rajya Sabha MPs. The special powers are;

A person must satisfy all following conditions to be qualified to become a Member of Parliament of the Rajya Sabha;

A person would be ineligible for being a Member of the Rajya Sabha if the person;

"Strength of Member of parliament in Lok Sabha as defined in Article 80 of the Constitution of India",


rod stewart a wink is as good as a nod

A Nod's As Good As a Wink... to a Blind Horse was the third album by British rock group Faces, and their second album of 1971. Bolstered somewhat by lead singer Rod Stewart's recent solo success with "Maggie May", it was their most successful album worldwide, peaking at No. 6 in the US,[2] and reaching No. 2 in the UK. It also contains their biggest US hit, the swaggering "Stay with Me" (No. 6 in the UK, No. 17 in the US), and the album itself would be certified gold by the RIAA in 1972.[3]

A Nod Is As Good As a Wink... to a Blind Horse

Generally regarded as the Faces' definitive statement, and the most consistent, balanced album of the group's career in terms of songwriting and of mood, thanks largely to the decision to share production duties with Glyn Johns. Johns' judicious decisions here ensure that not a single one of the nine tracks on the album outstays its welcome. The album also features two sensitively-sequenced ballads and an endearingly ramshackle Chuck Berry cover among its cast of bluesy rockers and rollicking bar-room swing-alongs. Bassist Ronnie Lane, often left frustrated by the division of vocal duties in the band, gets his fair share of the limelight here, singing lead on three of his own contributions (one co-written with Keyboardist Ian McLagan), including the moving examination of father-son relationships, 'Debris'.

The original issue of the album came with a large poster consisting of a picture collage, including images of pills and pharmaceutical capsules, as well as polaroid photos apparently taken on tour of band and crew members reveling with naked groupies in hotel rooms. Within weeks of release, the record company had second thoughts about the poster and re-issued the album without it, turning original copies with the poster into collectors' items overnight.[4]

On 28 August 2015, the album was reissued in a remastered and expanded form, with the bonus tracks being two songs from a previously unreleased BBC session. The new vinyl reissue even replicated the poster included with the first-pressing vinyl release.

The album was included in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.[5]

2015 Reissue bonus tracks


what is the meaning of the name regan

The family name Regan, and its cognates O'Regan, O Regan, Reagan, O'Reagan, is an Anglicized form of the Irish surname Ó Riagáin or Ó Ríogáin, from Ua Riagáin. The meaning is likely to originate in ancient gaelic from ri "sovereign, king" and the diminutive -in, "the king's child", transliterating as "little king".  [4]
Descendant of Riagán'; the name of two distinct families: one seated in ancient Meath, and the other in Thomond. The O'Regans of Meath were a branch of the southern Ui Neill and one of the four Tribes of Tara. Before the Anglo-Norman invasion, they were lords of south Breagh in Meath and the north of the present Co. Dublin, and apparently a powerful family. They took a leading part in the wars against the Danes. The annalists, under the year 1029, record a notable triumph of Mathghamhain Ó Riagáin, king of Breagh, over the foreigners, when he made prisoner Amhlaoibh, son of Sitric, king of Dublin, and only released him on payment of an enormous ransom, including the celebrated Sword of Carlus. The O'Regans were dispossessed soon after the Anglo-Norman invasion and dispersed through Ireland. The O'Regans of Thomond are a dalcassian family said to be descended from Riagán, son of Donncuan, the brother of Brian Boru. The O'Regans are now numerous all over Ireland. The name is often pronounced Ó Réagáin.
[5]
The feminine unisex forename, Regan, is likely to have derived sometime later from the English royal name Regina.[2]

Regan


who plays lori weston on hawaii five o

Lauren Christine German (born November 29, 1978) is an American actress. She had her first major role in the 2002 romantic drama film A Walk to Remember, followed by roles in the horror films The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2003) and Hostel: Part II (2007). From 2011 to 2012, German had a main role as DHS agent Lori Weston in the second season of the CBS police drama Hawaii Five-0, and from 2012 to 2014, she starred as Leslie Shay in the NBC drama Chicago Fire. In 2016, she began starring as detective Chloe Decker in the FOX fantasy comedy-drama Lucifer.[1][2]

Lauren German

German was born in Huntington Beach, California.[3] German's father is a vascular surgeon.[4] Her paternal grandfather, James German, was Dutch; born in Amsterdam, Netherlands, in 1909, James immigrated to the United States with his family as a child. The remainder of her ancestry is English. She attended Los Alamitos High School, and Orange County High School of the Arts. She later enrolled at the University of Southern California, studying anthropology.[5]

German's first work was on stage in Peter Pan and Oliver.  In 2000, she made her feature film debut in the romantic comedy Down to You, where she had a small role as a lovestruck woman.

In 2002, German co-starred in the romantic drama A Walk to Remember with Shane West and Mandy Moore, based on Nicholas Sparks' 1999 novel of the same name. She played Belinda, whom Landon Carter (West) breaks up with. Then she appeared in the crime horror film Dead Above Ground, the drama A Midsummer Nightâ€™s Rave and the TV movie The Lone Ranger, in which she had both smaller and bigger roles.  In 2003, she auditioned to star in the horror film The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, a remake of the 1974 film but the role went to Jessica Biel, and German won the role of The Hitchhiker.[6]

German co-starred in the crime drama Born Killers (2005), the thriller Rx (2005), the romantic comedy Standing Still (2005), the drama It Is Fine! Everything Is Fine. (2007), and the musical drama What We Do Is Secret with Shane West again, based on a true story, the latter as original Germs drummer and subsequent The Go-Go's singer Belinda Carlisle.  She starred in the horror film Hostel: Part II, produced by Quentin Tarantino.[7]  She also starred in the French apocalypse thriller The Divide.[8]  German starred in the second season of the CBS police drama Hawaii Five-0 as DHS agent Lori Weston from 2011 to 2012. She starred in the first two seasons of the NBC drama Chicago Fire as Leslie Shay, one of the paramedics from 2012 to 2014. In her final season with the show, her character is killed. The character's name is memorialized to this day, her name imprinted on the door of the ambulance in which she rode.

In 2016, German began appearing with Tom Ellis in the fantasy comedy-drama Lucifer, loosely based on the DC comic book series of the same name,[1] as Chloe Decker, a LAPD homicide detective who finds herself both repulsed and fascinated by Lucifer Morningstar (Ellis).[2] The series premiered on January 25, 2016 on Fox.[9]