汽車(chē)公司也跨足機(jī)器人技術(shù)領(lǐng)域－－他們透過(guò)磨練其機(jī)器人技能，以提高生產(chǎn)線效率。 日本本田汽車(chē)公司(Honda)甚至更進(jìn)一步開(kāi)發(fā)出一款可愛(ài)的人形機(jī)器人 Asimo 。但 Asimo 機(jī)器人對(duì)于制造產(chǎn)線的幫助不大。其目的只在于吸引群眾以及展現(xiàn)日本汽車(chē)公司在酷炫機(jī)器人技術(shù)方面的專(zhuān)長(zhǎng)。 如今，機(jī)器人正準(zhǔn)備大顯身手，在汽車(chē)公司中擔(dān)任試駕車(chē)手。 福特汽車(chē)公司(Ford)最近宣布，該公司的工程師已經(jīng)發(fā)展出首項(xiàng)機(jī)器人駕駛測(cè)試計(jì)劃，“目前正用于福特在密西根州的試驗(yàn)場(chǎng)，以滿足福特商用車(chē)對(duì)于更艱巨的 Built Ford Tough 耐力測(cè)試要求，”福特汽車(chē)表示。 從理論上來(lái)看，以機(jī)器人駕車(chē)進(jìn)行極度測(cè)試的想法并不令人意外。畢竟，誰(shuí)愿意冒著個(gè)人生命危險(xiǎn)來(lái)進(jìn)行汽車(chē)撞擊等試駕測(cè)試呢？ 福特強(qiáng)調(diào)，其機(jī)器人計(jì)劃的目標(biāo)“并不在于開(kāi)發(fā)一款能在市區(qū)道路上自動(dòng)駕駛的完全自主汽車(chē)，而是要打造一款測(cè)試追蹤解決方案，讓這一類(lèi)的極度測(cè)試能使福特的汽車(chē)突破最極端的工程技術(shù)限制，同時(shí)確保各項(xiàng)安全性?！?

你注意到了嗎？福特測(cè)試車(chē)內(nèi)并沒(méi)有試駕車(chē)手，它完全透過(guò)機(jī)器人技術(shù)進(jìn)行各種加速、高速?zèng)_撞、道路與越野等項(xiàng)目的耐久性測(cè)試。
Mdlesmc

那么，內(nèi)部有哪些行動(dòng)組件呢？其中包括了機(jī)器人控制模塊、攝影機(jī)、GPS追蹤機(jī)制，以及板上傳感器。 安裝在測(cè)試車(chē)中的機(jī)器人控制模塊可控制車(chē)輛的轉(zhuǎn)向、加速與煞車(chē)。福特解釋說(shuō)，它被設(shè)定為按照預(yù)先設(shè)定的測(cè)試項(xiàng)目，而汽車(chē)的位置可由位于中央控制室的攝影機(jī)以及精確的GPS裝置加以追蹤。 如果車(chē)輛偏離其預(yù)先設(shè)定的路程，工程師可使車(chē)輛暫停下來(lái)，校正測(cè)試程序后再重新激活測(cè)試。當(dāng)有行人或其它車(chē)輛接近至前方道路路徑時(shí)，板上傳感器也會(huì)下令暫停動(dòng)作。 由 于機(jī)器人駕駛的車(chē)輛能反復(fù)地在崎嶇路面上進(jìn)行測(cè)試，福特聲稱這項(xiàng)測(cè)試“透過(guò)一連串破損的水泥、鵝卵石、金屬柵、粗砂石與泥濘的路面以及超速的顛簸路況，能在短短幾百碼的距離內(nèi)壓縮實(shí)現(xiàn)正常汽車(chē)行駛要花十年才能達(dá)到的磨損狀況。”透過(guò)利用機(jī)器人駕駛測(cè)試技術(shù)，工程師可進(jìn)行無(wú)限次的重復(fù)測(cè)試，從而加速測(cè)試過(guò)程，從而讓福特開(kāi)發(fā)出更具挑戰(zhàn)性的耐久性測(cè)試，打造出更強(qiáng)悍耐久的汽車(chē)產(chǎn)品。 在開(kāi)發(fā)這項(xiàng)計(jì)劃時(shí)，福特的工程師還與猶他州Autonomous Solutions Inc.公司(ASI)合作，共同設(shè)計(jì)軟件與組件，以實(shí)現(xiàn)自動(dòng)化的機(jī)器人駕駛汽車(chē)測(cè)試。ASI是無(wú)人駕駛汽車(chē)系統(tǒng)、組件與服務(wù)供貨商，瞄準(zhǔn)軍事、農(nóng)業(yè)、產(chǎn)業(yè)/采礦與汽車(chē)應(yīng)用領(lǐng)域。 根據(jù)福特汽車(chē)公司表示，這項(xiàng)測(cè)試計(jì)劃已經(jīng)用于福特2014年推出的全新商用車(chē)進(jìn)行耐久性測(cè)試。 本文授權(quán)編譯自EE Times，版權(quán)所有，謝絕轉(zhuǎn)載 編譯：Susan Hong 參考英文原文：For Durability Testing, Ford Turns to Robots，by Junko Yoshida

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{pagination} For Durability Testing, Ford Turns to Robots Junko Yoshida MADISON, Wis. — Automotive companies are known as pioneers in robotic technologies. They've honed their robotic skills to improve their production lines. Japan's Honda has gone even further by creating a cute, Asimo humanoid robot. But Asimo isn't a little helping hand on a manufacturing line. Its purpose is to appeal to the masses and show off the Japanese auto company's cool robotic expertise. (Asimo even has its own website.) Now, robots are going to work as test drivers for auto companies. Ford recently announced that its engineers have developed "the industry's first robotic test driving program." It is now in use at Ford's Michigan Proving Grounds in Romeo, Mich., "in order to meet demands that Ford trucks undergo ever more strenuous Built Ford Tough testing with greater frequency," said the auto company. Logically. There's no surprise at the idea of robotically driven vehicles for intense testing purposes. After all, who wants to sacrifice a human test driver's life and limb in the name of building a "tough" car? Ford emphasized that its robotic program's goal is: Not to develop a truly autonomous vehicle that can drive itself on city streets... [but] to create a test track solution that allows for this type of intense testing that could take our vehicles to the most extreme limits of their engineering while ensuring the safety of all involved. You'll find no test drivers inside Ford’s testing vehicles. Its robotic technology is at work, operating the auto company’s new accelerated, high-impact, on-road and off-road durability testing. So, what are the moving parts here? They include a robotic-control module, cameras, a GPS tracking mechanism, and on-board sensors. The robotic control module installed in the test vehicle controls vehicle steering, acceleration, and braking. It is set to follow a preprogrammed course, and the vehicle's position is tracked via cameras in a central control room and a GPS unit accurate to plus/minus one inch, Ford explained. If the vehicle strays from its programmed course, engineers can stop the vehicle, course-correct, and restart the test. Onboard sensors can command a full stop if a pedestrian or another vehicle strays into the path, according to Ford. With robotically driven vehicles repeatedly performing tests on torturous surfaces, Ford claims that the tests "can compress 10 years of daily driving abuse into courses just a few hundred yards long, with surfaces that include broken concrete, cobblestones, metal grates, rough gravel, mud pits and oversized speed bumps." In developing this program, Ford engineers collaborated with Utah-based Autonomous Solutions Inc. (ASI) to design the software and components that enable autonomous, robotic operation of the test vehicle. ASI, an expert in unmanned ground vehicle systems and components, serves clients in military, agriculture, industrial/mining, and automotive. The pilot program, according to Ford, has been used most recently for durability testing of Ford's all-new full-size Transit van, which launches in 2014.