Formation and development of Soviet robotics

2024 Author: Seth Attwood | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 15:55

A good overview article on the formation and development of Soviet robotics.

Robotization in the USSR

In the XX century, the USSR was actually one of the world leaders in robotics. Contrary to all the assertions of bourgeois propagandists and politicians, the Soviet Union in several decades was able to turn from a country with a people who did not know how to read and write into an advanced space power.

Let's consider some - but by no means all - examples of the formation and development of robotic solutions.

In the 1930s, one of the Soviet schoolchildren, Vadim Matskevich, created a robot that could move with his right hand. The creation of the robot lasted 2 years, all this time the boy spent in the turning workshops of the Novocherkassk Polytechnic Institute. At the age of 12, Vadim was already distinguished by his ingenuity. He created a radio-controlled small armored car that launched fireworks.

Also during these years, automatic lines for the processing of bearing parts appeared, and then, at the end of the 40s, a complex production of pistons for tractor engines was created for the first time in the world. All processes were automated: from loading raw materials to packaging products.

At the end of the 40s, Soviet scientist Sergei Lebedev completed the development of the first in the Soviet Union electronic digital computer MESM, which appeared in 1950. This computer became the fastest in Europe. A year later, the Soviet Union issued an order on the development of automatic control systems for military equipment and the creation of the Department of Special Robotics and Mechatronics.

In 1958, Soviet scientists developed the world's first semiconductor AVM (analog computer) MN-10, which won the guests of the exhibition in New York. At the same time, cybernetic scientist Viktor Glushkov expressed the idea of "brain-like" computer structures that would connect billions of processors and facilitate the fusion of data memory.

Analog computer MN-10

In the late 1950s, Soviet scientists were able to photograph the far side of the moon for the first time. This was done using the automatic station "Luna-3". And on September 24, 1970, the Soviet spacecraft Luna-16 delivered soil samples from the Moon to Earth. This was then repeated with the Luna-20 apparatus in 1972.

One of the most notable achievements of domestic robotics and science was the creation of the design bureau named after V. I. Lavochkin apparatus "Lunokhod-1". This is a second generation sensed robot. It is equipped with sensor systems, among which the main one is the technical vision system (STZ). Lunokhod-1 and Lunokhod-2, developed in 1970-1973, controlled by a human operator in supervisory mode, received and transmitted valuable information about the lunar surface to Earth. And in 1975 the automatic interplanetary stations Venera-9 and Venera-10 were launched in the USSR. With the help of repeaters, they transmitted information about the surface of Venus, landing on it.

The world's first rover "Lunokhod-1"

In 1962, a humanoid robot "REKS" appeared in the Polytechnic Museum, which conducted excursions for children.

Since the end of the 60s, the mass introduction of the first domestic robots into industry began in the Soviet Union, the development of scientific and technical foundations and organizations related to robotics. The exploration of underwater spaces by robots began to develop rapidly, military and space developments were improved.

A special achievement in those years was the development of a long-range unmanned reconnaissance aircraft DBR-1, which could carry out missions throughout Western and Central Europe. Also, this drone received the designation I123K, its serial production has been established since 1964.

DBR - 1

In 1966, Voronezh scientists invented a manipulator for stacking metal sheets.

As mentioned above, the development of the underwater world kept pace with other technical breakthroughs. So, in 1968, the Institute of Oceanology of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR, together with the Leningrad Polytechnic Institute and other universities, created one of the first robots for the exploration of the underwater world - a computer-controlled device "Manta" (of the "Octopus" type). Its control system and sensory apparatus made it possible to capture and pick up an object pointed to by the operator, bring it to the "tele-eye" or put it into a bunker for study, as well as search for objects in troubled water.

In 1969, at the Central Research Institute of the Ministry of Defense Industry under the leadership of B. N. Surnin began to create an industrial robot "Universal-50". And in 1971, the first prototypes of industrial robots of the first generation appeared - robots UM-1 (created under the leadership of P. N. Belyanin and B. Sh. Rozin) and UPK-1 (under the leadership of V. I. Aksenov), equipped with software systems controls and designed to perform machining operations, cold stamping, electroplating.

Automation in those years even reached the point that a robotic cutter was introduced in one of the ateliers. It was programmed for a pattern, measuring the size of the customer's figure up to cutting the fabric.

In the early 70s, many factories switched to automated lines. For example, the Petrodvorets watch factory "Raketa" refused to manually assemble mechanical watches and switched to robotic lines that carry out these operations. Thus, more than 300 workers were freed from tedious work and increased labor productivity by 6 times. The quality of the products has improved and the number of rejects has decreased dramatically. For advanced and rational production, the plant was awarded the Order of the Red Banner of Labor in 1971.

Petrodvorets Watch Factory "Raketa"

In 1973, the first in the USSR mobile industrial robots MP-1 and "Sprut" were assembled and put into production at the OKB TC at the Leningrad Polytechnic Institute, and a year later they even held the first world chess championship among computers, where the winner was the Soviet program "Kaissa ".

In the same 1974, the Council of Ministers of the USSR in a government decree of July 22, 1974 "On measures to organize the production of automatic programmed manipulators for mechanical engineering" indicated: to appoint the OKB TK as the main organization for the development of industrial robots for mechanical engineering. In accordance with the decree of the USSR State Committee for Science and Technology, the first 30 serial industrial robots were created to service various industries: for welding, for servicing presses and machine tools, etc. Development of the Kedr, Invariant and Skat magnetic navigation systems for spaceships, submarines and airplanes began in Leningrad.

The introduction of various computing systems did not stand still. So, in 1977 V. Burtsev created the first symmetric multiprocessor computer complex (MCC) "Elbrus-1". For interplanetary research, Soviet scientists have created an integral robot "Centaur" controlled by the M-6000 complex. The navigation of this computing complex consisted of a gyroscope and a dead reckoning system with an odometer; it was also equipped with a laser scanning distance meter and a tactile sensor that made it possible to obtain information about the environment.

The best samples created by the end of the 70s include industrial robots such as "Universal", PR-5, Brig-10, MP-9S, TUR-10 and a number of other models.

In 1978, the USSR issued a catalog "Industrial robots" (M.: Min-Stankoprom of the USSR; Ministry of Higher Education of the RSFSR; NIIMash; Design Bureau of Technical Cybernetics at the Leningrad Polytechnic Institute, 109 p.), Which presented the technical characteristics of 52 models of industrial robots and two manipulators with manual control.

From 1969 to 1979, the number of comprehensively mechanized and automated workshops and industries increased from 22, 4 to 83, 5 thousand, and mechanized enterprises - from 1, 9 to 6, 1 thousand.

In 1979, in the USSR, they began to produce high-performance multiprocessor UVKs with a reconfigurable PS 2000 structure, which made it possible to solve many mathematical and other problems. A technology for parallelizing tasks was developed, which allowed the idea of an artificial intelligence system to develop. At the Institute of Cybernetics, under the leadership of N. Amosov, the legendary robot "Kid" was created, which was controlled by a learning neural network. Such a system, with the help of which a number of significant studies in the field of neural networks were carried out, revealed advantages in the management of the latter over traditional algorithmic ones. At the same time, the Soviet Union developed a revolutionary model of the second generation computer - BESM-6, in which the prototype of modern cache memory first appeared.

BESM-6

Also in 1979 at the Moscow State Technical University. N. E. Bauman, by order of the KGB, a device for the disposal of explosive objects was developed - an ultralight mobile robot MRK-01 (the characteristics of the robot can be viewed at the link).

By 1980, about 40 new models of industrial robots entered serial production. Also, in accordance with the program of the USSR State Standard, work began on the standardization and unification of these robots, and in 1980 the first pneumatic industrial robot with positional control, equipped with MP-8 technical vision, appeared. It was developed by the OKB TC of the Leningrad Polytechnic Institute, where the Central Research and Development Institute of Robotics and Technical Cybernetics (TsNII RTK) was created. Also, scientists have attended to the issues of creating sentient robots.

In general, in 1980 the number of industrial robots in the USSR exceeded 6,000 pieces, which was more than 20% of the total number in the world.

In October 1982, the USSR became the organizer of the Industrial Robots-82 international exhibition. In the same year, a catalog was published "Industrial robots and manipulators with manual control" (Moscow: NIIMash USSR Ministry of Machine-Tool Industry, 100 p.), Which provided data on industrial robots produced not only in the USSR (67 models), but also in Bulgaria, Hungary, East Germany, Poland, Romania and Czechoslovakia.

In 1983, the USSR adopted a unique P-700 "Granit" complex developed specifically for the Navy, developed by NPO Mashinostroyenia (OKB-52), in which missiles could independently line up in battle formation and distribute targets during flight among themselves.

In 1984, systems were developed to rescue information from crashed aircraft and designate crash sites "Maple", "Marker" and "Call".

At the Institute of Cybernetics, by order of the USSR Ministry of Defense, an autonomous robot "MAVR" was created during these years, which could freely head towards the target through rugged, difficult terrain. "MAVR" possessed a high cross-country ability and a reliable protection system. Also during these years, the first fire robot was designed and implemented.

In May 1984, the government issued a decree "On the acceleration of work on the automation of machine-building production on the basis of advanced technological processes and flexible readjustable complexes", which gave a new leap in robotization in the USSR. Responsibilities for the implementation of the policy in the field of creation, introduction and maintenance of flexible automated production were assigned to the USSR Ministry of Machine-Tool Industry. Most of the work was carried out at mechanical engineering and metalworking enterprises.

In 1984, there were already more than 75 automated workshops and sections equipped with robots, the process of integrated implementation of industrial robots as part of technological lines and flexible automated production facilities that were used in mechanical engineering, instrument making, radio and electronic industries was gaining strength.

At many enterprises of the Soviet Union, flexible production modules (FPM), flexible automated lines (GAL), sections (GAU) and workshops (GAC) with automated transport and storage systems (ATSS) were put into operation. By the beginning of 1986, the number of such systems numbered more than 80, they included auto control, tool change and chip removal, thanks to which the production cycle time was reduced by 30 times, the saving of production area increased by 30-40%.

Flexible Manufacturing Modules

In 1985, TsNII RTK began developing a system of onboard robots for the ISS "Buran", equipped with two manipulators 15 m long, lighting, television and telemetry systems. The main tasks of the system were to perform operations with multi-ton cargo: unloading, docking with the orbital station. And in 1988 the ISS Energia-Buran was launched. The authors of the project were V. P. Glushko and other Soviet scientists. The ISS Energia-Buran became the most significant and advanced project of the 1980s in the USSR.

ISS "Energia-Buran"

In 1981-1985. in the USSR there was a certain decline in the production of robots due to the world crisis in relations between the countries, but by the beginning of 1986, more than 20,000 industrial robots were already functioning at the enterprises of the USSR Ministry of Instruments.

By the end of 1985, the number of industrial robots in the USSR approached 40,000, which made up about 40% of all robots in the world. For comparison: in the USA this number was several times less. Robots have been widely introduced into the economy and industry.

After the tragic events at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, Moscow State Technical University named after Bauman, Soviet engineers V. Shvedov, V. Dorotov, M. Chumakov, A. Kalinin quickly and successfully developed mobile robots that helped carry out the necessary research and work after the disaster in hazardous areas - MRK and Mobot-ChKhV. It is known that at that time robotic devices were used both in the form of radio-controlled bulldozers and special robots for disinfecting the surrounding area, the roof and the building of the emergency unit of the nuclear power plant.

Mobot-CHHV (mobile robot, Chernobyl, for chemical troops)

By 1985, the USSR had developed Gosstandards for industrial robots and manipulators: standards such as GOST 12.2.072-82 “Industrial robots. Robotic technological complexes and sections. General safety requirements ", GOST 25686-85" Manipulators, auto-operators and industrial robots. Terms and definitions "and GOST 26053-84" Industrial robots. Acceptance rules. Test methods ".

By the end of the 80s, the task of robotizing the national economy acquired great urgency: mining, metallurgical, chemical, light and food industries, agriculture, transport and construction. The technology of instrument making was widely developed, which passed to the microelectronic base.

In the late Soviet years, a robot could replace from one to three people in production, depending on the shift, increased labor productivity by about 20-40% and replaced mainly low-skilled workers. The challenge for Soviet scientists and developers was to lower the cost of the robot, as this greatly constrained ubiquitous robotics.

In the USSR, a number of scientific and production teams were involved in the development of the theoretical foundations of robotics, the development of scientific and technical ideas, the creation and research of robots and robotic systems in those years: MSTU im. N. E. Bauman, Institute of Mechanical Engineering. A. A. Blagonravova, Central Research and Development Institute of Robotics and Technical Cybernetics (TsNII RTK) of the St. Petersburg Polytechnic Institute, Institute of Electric Welding named after E. O. Paton (Ukraine), Institute of Applied Mathematics, Institute of Control Problems, Research Institute of Mechanical Engineering Technology (St. Rostov), Experimental Research Institute of Metal-Cutting Machine Tools, Design and Technological Institute of Heavy Engineering, Orgstankoprom, etc.

Corresponding members I. M. Makarov, D. E. Okhotsimsky, as well as famous scientists and specialists M. B. Ignatiev, D. A. Pospelov, A. B. Kobrinsky, G. N. Rapoport, B. C. Gurfinkel, N. A. Lakota, Yu. G. Kozyrev, V. S. Kuleshov, F. M. Kulakov, B. C. Yastrebov, E. G. Nahapetyan, A. V. Timofeev, B. C. Rybak, M. S. Voroshilov, A. K. Platonov, G. P. Katys, A. P. Bessonov, A. M. Pokrovsky, B. G. Avetikov, A. I. Korendyasev and others.

Young specialists were trained through a system of university training, special secondary and vocational education and through a system of retraining and advanced training of workers.

Personnel training in the main robotic specialty "Robotic systems and complexes" was carried out at that time in a number of leading universities in the country (MSTU, SPPI, Kiev, Chelyabinsk, Krasnoyarsk Polytechnic Institutes, etc.).

For many years, the development of robotics in the USSR and the countries of Eastern Europe was carried out within the framework of cooperation between the CMEA member countries (Council for Mutual Economic Assistance). In 1982, the heads of delegations signed a General Agreement on Multilateral Cooperation in the Development and Organization of Production of Industrial Robots, in connection with which the Council of Chief Designers (SGC) was created. At the beginning of 1983, the CMEA members signed an Agreement on multilateral specialization and cooperation in the production of industrial robots and manipulators for various purposes, and in December 1985, the 41st (extraordinary) CMEA session adopted the Comprehensive Program of Scientific and Technological Progress of the CMEA Member Countries until 2000, in which industrial robots and robotization of production are included as one of the priority areas for integrated automation.

With the participation of the USSR, Hungary, the German Democratic Republic, Poland, Romania, Czechoslovakia and other countries of the socialist camp, a new industrial robot for electric arc welding "Interrobot-1" was successfully created in those years. With specialists from Bulgaria, scientists from the USSR even founded the production association "Red Proletarian - Beroe", which was equipped with modern robots with electromechanical drives of the RB-240 series. They were designed for auxiliary operations: loading and unloading parts on metal-cutting machines, changing working tools, transporting and palletizing parts, etc.

Summing up, we can say that by the beginning of the 90s, about 100,000 units of industrial robots were produced in the Soviet Union, which replaced more than a million workers, but the released employees still found work. In the USSR, more than 200 models of robots were developed and produced. By the end of 1989, over 600 enterprises and more than 150 research institutes and design bureaus were part of the USSR Ministry of Instrument. The total number of employees in the industry exceeded one million.

Soviet engineers planned to introduce the use of robots in almost all areas of industry: mechanical engineering, agriculture, construction, metallurgy, mining, light and food industries, but this was not destined to come true.

With the destruction of the USSR, the planned work on the development of robotics at the state level stopped, and the serial production of robots ceased. Even those robots that were already used in industry have disappeared: the means of production were privatized, then the factories were completely ruined, and the unique expensive equipment was destroyed or sold for scrap. Capitalism has come.