ot then checks the piece's measurements to the correct measurements. This technique is very fast and usually accurate. Humans aren't really interested in this job. Humans would take longer to fit the pieces into the mold because they are not sure which way to turn the piece. Also, humans can't scan pieces and check the measurements as they go by. ROBOTS IN HAZARDOUS ENVIRONMENTS Master or slave manipulators are robotic arms that humans can control with joy sticks as well as computers. They are use in hazardous land, sea, and space environments. The nuclear industry handles radioactive fuel and wastes with these devices. The mining industry uses them for waster disposal. Sea salvage operations would be impossible to be carried out without these arms. Even the Space Shuttle use an arm that helps theastronauts launch satellites. Three robotic manipulators are used to maintain the linear accelerator, or "atom smasher", at the Los Alamos Meson Physic Facility in New Mexico. When protons are accelerated, strong radioactivity occurs. Even if the machine is off, radiation is still high and hazardous to humans. Workers use the manipulators to maintain the target area. Thearms hang over the area from a large hydraulic system. The operators, which are sitting behind a protective wall, move the controller which moves the arm. The arm has bilateral force sensing which allows the arm to have collisions with objects, and yet continue to work. The arm absorbs the shock the same way a human hand does when catching a ball. With these manipulators, workers can do almost all of the things people can do but without risking the effects of radiation. Soldering, electrical wiring, welding, and handling materials are some of the tasks achieved. In deep-sea activities, the hazard is not the object being retrieved, but depth itself. Humans can withstand depths up to 300 feet. Depths after that can be dangerous and uns...
