第1章 欢迎来到机器人世界 / Chapter 1 Welcome to the World of Robotics

你有没有见过家里那个圆滚滚、会自己在地上“巡逻”的小机器？它会灵活地绕开你扔在地上的乐高积木，把地板缝隙里的灰尘都吸干净，甚至在你出门上班、上学的时候，自己跑回充电座“补充能量”——这个不用你遥控、能自己完成任务的小伙伴，就是我们这本书要讲的机器人（Robot）。 > Have you ever seen that round little machine that patrols around your house? It deftly dodges the Lego bricks you left on the floor, sucks up all the dust in the cracks, and even runs back to the charging dock to “recharge” on its own when you go to work or school — this little partner that doesn’t need a remote control and can complete tasks on its own is the Robot we are going to talk about in this book.

很多人会把机器人和普通家电搞混：电风扇插上电、打开开关就会转，但你让它往左边吹它不会照做；洗衣机设定好程序就会洗衣服，但如果衣服卡住了它不会自己拿出来。而机器人最特别的地方是：它像有生命一样，能自己看、自己听、自己思考、自己动手，不需要你时刻盯着，就能完成任务。这种“自主性”，就是机器人和普通家电最大的区别。 > Many people confuse robots with ordinary household appliances: a fan will spin as soon as you plug it in and turn on the switch, but it won’t turn to blow to the left if you ask it to; a washing machine will wash clothes as soon as you set the program, but it won’t take the clothes out on its own if they get stuck. The most special thing about a robot is that it is like a living thing: it can *see, hear, think and act on its own*, and can complete tasks without you watching it all the time. This “autonomy” is the biggest difference between robots and ordinary household appliances.

如果你仔细看那个扫地机器人，会发现它身上装着很多“小零件”：前面有两个圆圆的小“眼睛”，边上还有几个不起眼的小孔，底部藏着会转的小刷子和吸尘器，肚子里还有一个小电脑。这些零件组合起来，刚好对应机器人完成任务的三个核心步骤：感知（Perception）、规划（Planning）、控制（Control）——这也是我们整本书要讲的核心内容。 > If you look carefully at that sweeping robot, you will find that it has many “small parts” on its body: there are two round little “eyes” in front, and several inconspicuous small holes on the side, and small rotating brushes and a vacuum cleaner hidden at the bottom, and a small computer in its belly. These parts combine exactly to correspond to the three core steps for a robot to complete a task: Perception, Planning, and Control — this is also the core content of our whole book.

1.1 机器人的前世今生：从木牛流马到火星探险家

> 1.1 The Past and Present of Robots: From the Wooden Ox and Flowing Horse to Mars Explorers

人类对“能自己动的机器”的向往，已经有几千年的历史了。中国三国时期的木牛流马，就是人类最早的自动运输装置尝试：传说它不用喂草，能自己沿着山路走，把粮食运到前线，虽然现在还不知道它到底是怎么工作的，但可以肯定的是，它是用齿轮、杠杆等机械结构实现的，并不是真正的智能机器人。 > Humanity’s desire for “machines that can move on their own” has a history of thousands of years. The Wooden Ox and Flowing Horse from the Three Kingdoms period in China is one of the earliest attempts at automatic transportation devices: legend has it that it could walk along mountain roads to transport food to the front line without being fed. Although we still don’t know exactly how it worked, it is certain that it was realized using mechanical structures such as gears and levers, and was not a real intelligent robot.

在国外，古希腊的发明家曾经制造过能自动开门的装置，18世纪的欧洲工匠做了很多会动的自动人偶：有的会画画，有的会弹钢琴，有的甚至会倒茶，这些装置靠发条和齿轮驱动，动作非常精巧，但只能按照固定的程序走，不能根据环境变化调整。 > Abroad, ancient Greek inventors once made devices that could open doors automatically, and European craftsmen in the 18th century made many moving automatons: some could draw, some could play the piano, and some could even pour tea. These devices were driven by springs and gears, and their movements were very exquisite, but they could only follow fixed procedures and could not adjust according to changes in the environment.

现代机器人的开端，要追溯到1954年。美国的工程师乔治·戴沃尔（George Devol）发明了世界上第一台可编程工业机器人（Programmable Industrial Robot），名字叫Unimate。1959年，第一台Unimate被安装在美国通用汽车的工厂里，负责搬运温度极高的金属铸件——这个工作以前要工人来做，非常危险，而且工人干几个小时就会累，Unimate可以24小时不停工作，而且从来不会喊累。 > The beginning of modern robotics can be traced back to 1954. American engineer George Devol invented the world’s first Programmable Industrial Robot, named Unimate. In 1959, the first Unimate was installed in a factory of General Motors in the United States, responsible for handling extremely hot metal castings — this job used to be done by workers, which was very dangerous, and workers would get tired after a few hours. Unimate can work 24 hours a day without stopping, and never complains of fatigue.

从这以后，机器人技术发展得特别快：20世纪70年代，机器人开始进入电子、汽车等行业，做焊接、喷漆、组装等工作；20世纪90年代，服务机器人开始出现，1996年瑞典伊莱克斯公司推出了第一台家用扫地机器人，2002年美国的iRobot公司推出了现在大家都很熟悉的Roomba扫地机器人，从此机器人开始进入普通家庭。 > Since then, robotics technology has developed very rapidly: in the 1970s, robots began to enter industries such as electronics and automobiles to do welding, painting, assembly and other work; in the 1990s, service robots began to appear. In 1996, the Swedish company Electrolux launched the first household sweeping robot, and in 2002, the American company iRobot launched the Roomba sweeping robot that everyone is familiar with now, since then robots have begun to enter ordinary families.

现在的机器人已经能去很多人类去不了的地方了：2021年，中国的祝融号火星车成功登陆火星，它要自己判断哪里能走、哪里不能走，自己规划路线，自己采集火星的土壤和岩石样本，把数据传回地球；医院里的手术机器人能帮医生做非常精细的手术，比如给小朋友做心脏手术，误差不到1毫米，比人手稳得多；还有救灾机器人，能在地震后的废墟里爬行，探测埋在下面的人的生命体征，帮消防员救人。 > Nowadays, robots can go to many places where humans cannot go: in 2021, China’s Zhurong Mars rover successfully landed on Mars. It needs to judge by itself where it can go and where it cannot, plan its own route, and collect Martian soil and rock samples on its own, then transmit the data back to Earth; surgical robots in hospitals can help doctors perform very fine surgeries, such as heart surgery for children, with an error of less than 1 millimeter, which is much more stable than human hands; there are also disaster relief robots that can crawl in the ruins after an earthquake, detect the vital signs of people buried underneath, and help firefighters rescue people.

根据国际机器人联合会（IFR）2024年发布的报告，2023年全球正在使用的机器人已经超过了6500万台，其中工业机器人430万台，服务机器人超过6000万台，家用扫地机器人占了服务机器人的75%——也就是说，平均每100个家庭里，就有差不多20个家庭在用扫地机器人，机器人已经不再是科幻电影里的幻想，而是我们身边实实在在的好帮手。 > According to the report released by the International Federation of Robotics (IFR) in 2024, the number of robots in use worldwide in 2023 exceeded 65 million, including 4.3 million industrial robots and more than 60 million service robots. Household sweeping robots account for 75% of service robots — that is to say, on average, almost 20 out of every 100 families are using sweeping robots. Robots are no longer a fantasy in science fiction movies, but a real helper around us.

> 📜 小历史 Side History：世界上第一个机器人其实是“工人”！1927年，美国西屋电气公司制造了一个叫“Televox”的机器人，它其实是一个装成人形的电话机，能接电话，还能控制家里的灯和收音机，虽然它不能自己走路，但已经是人类最早的机器人尝试了。 > 📜 Little History: The world’s first robot was actually a “worker”! In 1927, the American company Westinghouse Electric made a robot called “Televox”, which was actually a telephone dressed up as a human figure. It could answer phone calls and control the lights and radio at home. Although it could not walk on its own, it was already the earliest attempt at a robot by humans.

1.2 身边的机器人朋友：你见过哪些机器人？

> 1.2 Robot Friends Around You: What Robots Have You Seen?

机器人不是只有工厂里那种大大的、冷冰冰的钢铁手臂，现在我们身边能接触到的机器人，主要分成四大类，每一类都有很多小朋友熟悉的身影。 > Robots are not only the big, cold steel arms in factories. The robots we can come into contact with around us now are mainly divided into four categories, and each category has many familiar figures for children.

1.2.1 工业机器人：工厂里的“大力士”

1.2.1 Industrial Robots: The “Strongmen” in Factories

工业机器人是机器人家族里最早“上班”的成员，它们通常有着粗壮的钢铁手臂，力气比10个成年男子还大，精度能到0.01毫米——比你头发丝的直径还细。汽车工厂里的焊接机器人，一天能焊完100多辆汽车的车身，而且焊出来的缝又整齐又结实，比工人手工焊的效率高10倍，还不会出错。 > Industrial robots are the earliest members of the robot family to “go to work”. They usually have strong steel arms, with strength more than 10 times that of an adult man, and precision up to 0.01 mm — thinner than the diameter of your hair. The welding robots in car factories can weld the bodies of more than 100 cars a day, and the seams they weld are neat and strong, 10 times more efficient than manual welding by workers, and they never make mistakes.

工业机器人通常固定在工厂的生产线上，不需要自己走路，所以它们的感知、规划、控制都是针对固定任务的：感知模块负责检测焊接的位置是不是准确，规划模块负责算焊接的路线，控制模块负责控制焊接枪的温度和移动速度。 > Industrial robots are usually fixed on the production line of the factory and do not need to walk by themsel