A factory robot arm must reach any position and orientation in 3D space to weld car body panels. What is the minimum number of degrees of freedom (DOF) the arm needs?

3 DOF 4 DOF 6 DOF 9 DOF

An electronics manufacturer needs a robot to rapidly place surface-mount components onto circuit boards — a flat, horizontal, highly repetitive task requiring speed and rigidity. Which robot configuration is best suited?

Articulated SCARA Cartesian gantry Delta

A food packaging line picks individual chocolates from a conveyor and places them in trays at 150 picks per minute. The chocolates are very light. Which robot type is optimised for this ultra-high-speed, lightweight pick-and-place scenario?

Articulated robot Delta robot Tracked robot Cartesian gantry

A warehouse robot must navigate through narrow aisles and be able to move sideways without turning to slot into a tight parking bay. Which drive system should the designers choose?

Differential drive Tracked drive Holonomic (omnidirectional wheel) drive Legged locomotion

The Da Vinci surgical robot allows a surgeon to operate a patient's internal organs through tiny keyhole incisions. What key capability makes this system safer than a human hand performing the same motion directly?

The robot operates faster than any human surgeon The robot scales down and filters tremor from the surgeon's hand movements The robot replaces the surgeon's judgment with AI decision-making The robot uses X-ray vision to see through tissue

An offshore oil company needs to inspect the underside of a subsea pipeline at 300 m depth over several hours. Which robot platform is most appropriate, and why?

Quadcopter drone — best camera and manoeuvrability Legged robot — best for walking on the seabed Tethered ROV — the tether provides continuous power and high-bandwidth communication without battery range limits Fixed-wing UAV — most efficient for long distances

A robot's joint is classified as having 1 DOF. Which type of joint is this most likely to be?

A ball-and-socket joint that rotates freely in all directions A revolute (hinge) joint that rotates about a single axis A planar joint that slides in two directions A cylindrical joint that both rotates and slides

Which of the following is the most accurate distinction between an automated machine (like a CNC mill) and a robot?

A CNC mill is more precise than any robot A robot always moves faster than a CNC mill A robot can sense its environment and adapt its behaviour; a CNC mill executes a fixed pre-programmed sequence regardless of what it detects CNC mills are not computer-controlled, but robots are

A robot arm specification states: payload 10 kg, reach 1,400 mm. A customer wants to use this arm to pick steel billets weighing 8 kg, but also wants to attach a 3 kg gripper. Can the arm safely do this job?

Yes — 8 kg is under the 10 kg limit so the arm is fine No — the gripper mass plus the payload mass (11 kg) exceeds the 10 kg rated payload Yes — payload only refers to the object, not the tool No — the reach of 1,400 mm is too short for any industrial task

A Boston Dynamics Spot robot can walk across a rubble-strewn disaster site and step over debris that would stop a wheeled robot. What fundamental advantage does legged locomotion provide in this environment?

Legs provide much higher speed on flat ground than wheels Legs can place feet on discrete footholds and step over obstacles, allowing navigation across terrain with gaps and uneven surfaces Legged robots consume far less energy than wheeled robots Legs allow the robot to carry heavier payloads than any wheeled platform

A fixed-wing UAV and a quadcopter are both considered aerial robots. An agricultural company needs to survey 500 hectares of cropland in a single flight. Which platform is more appropriate and why?

Quadcopter — its ability to hover allows it to inspect any crop row precisely Fixed-wing UAV — far more energy-efficient in cruising flight, giving much longer range and endurance to cover large areas on one battery charge Quadcopter — it carries heavier sensor payloads than fixed-wing UAVs Fixed-wing UAV — it can take off and land vertically in any field

The first industrial robot, Unimate, was installed at a General Motors plant in 1961. What was its primary task, and what was significant about using a robot for this job?

Painting car exteriors — robots could achieve perfectly smooth paint finishes Spot welding of car bodies — a hot, repetitive, and hazardous task that robots could perform consistently without fatigue or risk of injury Assembling engines — robots had more dexterity than human hands Transporting parts between stations — robots were faster than forklifts