Let's start with the washing machine. This is used every day in some homes, with a constant stream of clothes to wash, spin, and dry. But how is this a robot? Let us understand this by referring to the following diagram:
The humble washing machine as a robot
The preceding diagram represents a washing machine as a block diagram. There is a central controller connected to the display, and with controls to select a program. The lines going out of the controller are outputs, and the lines going into the controller are data coming in from sensors. The dashed lines from outputs to the sensors show a closed loop of output actions ...
