With no previous experience required, BASIC ROBOTICS walks readers step by step through the fundamentals of the industrial robot system. It begins with an exploration of the fascinating technological history that led to the modern robot, starting with events from Before the Common Era and ending with a glimpse of what the robots of tomorrow might become. From there the book explores safety, various parts of the robot, tooling, power transmission systems, the basics of programming, troubleshooting, maintenance, and much more. Engaging photos highlight various robotic systems and their parts, while stories of real-world events bring text concepts to life. This innovative First Edition incorporates many of the initiatives of STEM and is the culmination of lessons learned from the author's years of teaching robotics in various formats--from the traditional classroom to the industrial production floor with systems ranging from the LEGO Mindstorms NXT to the FANUC robot.

Giving you insight into real-world practice, INDUSTRIAL ROBOTICS provides an introduction to the industry and basic understanding of the subjects needed for starting a career in industrial robotics. It begins with a background on the history and development of industrial automation, then moves into robot mechanical unit configurations, controller architecture, and general software structure. Basic programming instruction definition and interpretation enable you to break a programming problem into its component parts, solve the component parts, and integrate them into a finished program. Three subjects not typically addressed in robotic texts are discussed: industrial sensors, vision systems, and maintenance. Comprehensive coverage also includes the basic types of tooling and their applications, economic aspects of robots in the workplace, and the issues of human/robot interfaces.

The student activities manual is design to help you retain key chapter content. Included within this resource are chapter objective questions; key-term definition queries; and multiple choice, fill-in-the-blank, and true-or-false problems.