READING N° 1

UNIVERSIDAD TÉCNICA FEDERICO SANTA MARIA

HCW 311 Inglés Científico Tecnológico II e HIW 311 Inglés para Ingenieros

The robotics revolution

Many of the robots in use today do jobs that are especially difficult for human workers. These are the types of jobs that require great strength or pose danger. For example, robots are particularly useful in the auto-manufacturing industry where parts of automobiles must be welded together. A welding tool used by a human worker weighs about 100 pounds or more and is difficult to handle. As mechanical supermen, robots may be called upon to do anything from moving heavy components between workstations on a factory floor to carrying bags of cement.

Spray painting is another task suited to robots because robots do not need to breathe. Unlike human painters, they are unaffected by the poisonous fumes. Robots are better at this task, not because they are faster or cheaper than humans, but because they work in a place where humans cannot.

Third in the list of useful jobs for robots is the assembly of electronic parts. Robots shine at installing chips in printed circuit boards, because of a capability that robots have that people don’t. A robot, once properly programmed, will not put a chip in the wrong place. This automatic accuracy is particularly valuable in this kind of industry because locating and fixing mistakes is costly.

Earlier robots were usually blind and deaf but newer types of robots are fitted with video cameras and, other sensing devices that can detect heat, texture, size, and sound. These robots are used in space projects, nuclear reactor stations, and underwater exploration research.

In their efforts to expand the range of robotic applications, researchers are looking beyond traditional designs to examine a variety of potential models from the biological world. The industrial arm is a classic example. Scientists have been able to model robots to imitate the vertebrate spine of a snake in order to paint the interior of automobiles. They have simulated the muscle structure and movement of an elephant’s trunk in an attempt to create a robotic arm capable of lifting heavy objects. Scientists have also emulated the flexibility of an octopus where the tentacles can conform to the fragile objects of any shape and hold them with uniform, gentle pressure. A variation of this design can be used to handle animals, turn hospital patients in their beds, or lift a small child.

The challenge of equipping robots with the skills to operate independently, outside of a factory or laboratory, has taxed the ingenuity and creativity of academic, military, and industrial scientists for years. Simply put, robot hands — like robot legs, or eyes, or reasoning powers — have a long way to go before they can approach what biological evolution has achieved over the course of hundreds of millions of years. Much more will have to happen in laboratories around the world before robots can be compared to nature’s handiwork.

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HCW 311 Inglés Científico Tecnológico II e HIW 311 Inglés para Ingenieros

In the meantime, the robotics revolution is already beginning to change the kind of work that people do. The boring and dangerous jobs are now assumed by robots. By the turn of the century, more and more humans will be required for tasks that machines cannot do. There aresome industrialists who hope that by the year 2000 all their employees will be knowledge workers, no longer standing on assembly lines but rather sitting at desks and computer terminals to deal with information. These changes are already under way, and their pace accelerates every year.

Task Summarize the reasons that certain jobs and environments are suitable for robots by completing the table below.

Job or environment ReasonWelding

Carrying components, etc.

Spray painting

Assembling components

In nuclear reactors, underwater, etc.

Task Fill in this table with details of the animals mentioned in the text.1 2 3

AnimalAspect being emulatedReason

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HCW 311 Inglés Científico Tecnológico II e HIW 311 Inglés para Ingenieros

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE (Al). In 1637 the French philosopher-mathematician René Descartes predicted that it would never be possible to make a machine that thinks as humans do. In 1950, the British mathematician and computer pioneer Alan Turing declared that one day there would be a machine that could duplicate human intelligence in every way and prove it by passing a specialized test. In this test, a computer and a human hidden from view would be asked random identical questions. If the computer were successful, the questioner would be unable to distinguish the machine from the person by the answers.

Inspired by Turing’s theory, the first conference on AI convened at Dartmouth College in New Hampshire in 1956. Soon afterwards an Al laboratory was started at Massachusetts Institute of Technology by John McCarthy and Marvin Minsky, two of the nation’s leading Al proponents. McCarthy also invented the Al computer language, Lisp; but by the early 1990s AI itself had not been achieved. However, logic programs called expert systems allow computers to “make decisions” by interpreting data and selecting from among alternatives. Technicians can run programs used in complex medical diagnosis, language translation, mineral exploration, and even computer design.

Machinery can outperform humans physically. So, too, can computers outperform mental functions in limited areas—notably in the speed of mathematical calculations. For example, the fastest computers developed are able to perform roughly 10 billion calculations per second. But making more powerful computers will probably not be the way to create a machine capable of passing the Turing test. Computer programs operate according to set procedures, or logic steps, called algorithms. In addition, most computers do serial processing: operations of recognition and computation are performed one at a time. The brain works in a manner called parallel processing, performing operations simultaneously (see Brain, “How the Brain Works”). To achieve simulated parallel processing, some supercomputers have been made with multiple processors to follow several algorithms at the same time (see Computer).

Critics of this approach insist that solving a computation does not indicate understanding, something a person who solved a problem would have. Human reasoning is not based solely on rules of logic. It involves perception, awareness, emotional preferences, values, evaluating experience, the ability to generalize and weigh options, and more. Some proponents of Al have, therefore, suggested that computers should be patterned after the human brain, which essentially consists of a network of nerve cells.

By the early 1990s, the closest approximation to AI was a special silicon chip built to behave like a human brain cell, It was modeled after the internal workings of neurons in the human cerebral cortex. Unlike the conventional silicon chip, which works in digital mode, the new silicon chip works in analog mode, much the way a human brain cell works.

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RECYCLING DOMESTIC REFUSE

The consumer society produces more and more refuse. A number of solutions to this problem have been proposed. In some countries refuse is burnt to generate electric power. In Germany, producers must take back unwanted packaging for recycling. In other countries, householders are asked to separate out refuse so that it can be recycled more easily. This text describes an experimental plant in Holland designed to recycle domestic refuse.

The rubbish collected from households consists of a mixture of organic materials such as kitchen waste, and inorganic materials such as glass and plastic bottles, tin cans, and packaging.

The rubbish is first passed through a hammer mill to shred it. The mill consists of rotating steel arms which break up any large items to reduce them to amore manageable size. Any items which may cause damage later in the process are rejected at this stage.

The shredded mixture passes under an electromagnet which removes ferrous metals. Much of this is tin cans. Almost all ferrous metals are recovered I this way.

After that, the residue is carried by conveyor belt to an air classifier. A stream of air is blown though the classifier, which has a zig-zag shape. Low density material such as plastic, paper and some organic substances rise to the top of the classifier. Higher density materials such as glass and non-ferrous metals fall to the bottom and are discarded. These could be further separated out using a range of processes. For example, and eddy current mechanism could screen out aluminium waste. Froth flotation techniques could recover glass.

The low density portion is carried to a rotating drum where it is screened. Fine organic materials pass though the screen leaving a mixture which consists mainly of plastic and paper. The organic residue can be used for compost or to make bricks.

The next stage is to separate the plastic from the paper. This was initially a problem since both are similar in density. The solution is to wet the mixture. The paper absorbs water and a s a result becomes denser than the plastic.

In the final stage, the wetted mixture is passed through a second air-classifier where the lighter plastic leaves from the top and the denser wet paper from the bottom. The recovered paper could be fed to pulp mills for further recycling.

The remaining plastic is a mixture of thermosets and thermoplastics. It is not easy to separate these out but the mixture can be melted and formed into insulating materials for building.

Using the information in the text, complete the labelling of the flow chart. Add these labels.

plastic and paper mixture air classifierhigh density materials rotating drumsshredded mixture ferrous metalspaper wetted mixturefine organic materials

a residue

low density

b d material

plasticmixture

h g i

f

Read the text again and complete the notes for the other stages.

Stage 1Where?What happens?Why?How?

Stage 2

Hammer mill The waste is shredded To reduce it to a maneageable size Using rotating steel arms to break up any large items.

Where?What happens?How?

__________________________________________________________________________By magnetism

c

e water spraysair classifier

hammer millelectromagnet

Stage 3Where?What happens?How?

Stage 4

_____________________________________High and low density materials are separatedBy a current of air which carries low density material to the top while high density materials fall to the bottom

Where?What happens?Why?

Stage 5

_____________________________________The low density portion is screened_____________________________________

What happens?Why?

Stage 6

_____________________________________To give the paper and plastic different densities

Where?What happens?How?

__________________________________________________________________________By a current of air which carries low density plastic to the top while wet paper falls to the bottom

COMPOUND NOUNS

The language of computing in English contains an ever-increasing number of compound nouns, that is, a group of two or more nouns which act as a single noun.

Examples: memory capacity an address bus an arithmetic unit

information systems a bar code scanner

It is important to be able to recognize how such compounds are formed in order to understand what they mean.

The exact relationship between the words depends on the particular expression, but all these expressions have one thing in common: the last word in the chain says what the thing is, while the preceding word or group of words describes the thing. So when we read compound nouns, we have to start with the last word and work backwards.

Examples:An address bus is a bus dedicated to address information.The memory capacity of a computer is the capacity of its memory.

A large number of possible meanings can be expressed by compound nouns. For instance, the first noun or group of nouns can tell us what the second noun is made of, what it is for, or what it is part of.

1 Material: the first noun tell us what the second consists of. Examples:

a silicon chip (a chip made of silicon)a ferrite ring (a ring made of ferrite)

2 Function: the first noun tells us what the second noun is for. Examples:

an address bus (a bus dedicated to address information)an input device (a device for inputting)an arithmetic unit (a unit which performs arithmetic functions)

3 Part: the second noun refers to a part of the first noun. Examples:

a computer keyboard (the keyboard of a computer)a monitor screen (the screen of a monitor)a program feature (a feature of a program)

4 Activity or person: the second noun refers to an activity or person related to first noun.

Examples:computer programming (the programming of computers).a computer programmer (a person who programs computers)

systems analysis (the analysis of organizational systems)a systems analysis (a person who analyses organizational systems)

5 Multiple nouns: sometimes a compound noun will join together with one or more other nouns to give an expression that has three or four words, In such cases, It is important to examine the expression very carefully to break it into its constituent parts. The secret, as always, is to read the expression from time back towards the front.

Example:4 3 2 1

a document-image-processing program (a program which processes images of documents)

Note: some expressions are written separately, while others are joined by hyphens. There are no clear rules for this. Sometimes you will see the same expression written in different ways in different texts.

Example:document-image-processing programdocument-image-processing programdocument-image-processing program

However, it is important to be consistent within a single text.

MODAL VERBS

CAN is used to indicate the possession of an ABILITY.e.g. He ca speak German fluently (= He’s able to speak German

fluently)I Rewrite the sentences. Use “CAN” for ability.1.- He’s able to drive a car.2.- My daughter is capable of playing the piano beautifully.3.- She’s an excellent secretary. She has the ability to type 80 words a minute.4.- Most adults are unable to use a computer.5.- A recent investigation shows that 65% of high school students don’t know how to use a calculator.6.- Only 2% of Chileans are able to speak English fluently.

CAN / MAY are used to indicate a present or future POSSIBILITYe.g. The solution may / can be found at the back of the book (= It’s possible to find the solution at the back of the book)

II Rewrite the sentences. Use “MAY” or “CAN” for possibility.1.- Due to the repairs, trains are possibly subject to delays.2.- It’s possible that we face an energy crisis this winter.3.- Maybe we’ll change rooms for the next test since the room is very small.4.- Perhaps agronomists will have to test the soil because they’ve found traces of pollutants.5.- Let’s not wait any longer. It’s possible that he won’t come today.6.- It’s possible that ships won’t dock in the harbor because of the rain.

CAN / MAY are also used to give PERMISSION.e.g. You can / may speak to the patient just a few minutes.(You’re allowed to speak to the patient just a few minutes)

III Rewrite the sentences. Use “MAY” or “CAN” for permission.1.- He has permission to play after doing his homework.2.- You’re allowed to miss classes if you get 85% on the first test.3.- Do I have permission to smoke?4.- You’re allowed to call me by my nickname.5.- I gave her permission to leave the class earlier since she has stomach cramps.

SHOULD is often used to indicate what is regarded as PROBABLE or reasonably EXPECTED

e.g. The introduction of new machinery should contribute greatly to better results.(It’s expected that the introduction of new machinery will contribute greatly…)

IV Rewrite the sentences. Use “SHOULD” for what is probable or expected.1.- They expect the meeting to be finishing right now.2.- The Conservatives are expected to win the next election.3.- We don’t expect that it will take long to get there.4.- It probably won’t be difficult to pass the test.5.- The new regulation probably won’t affect the old students.

MUST is often used to indicate OBLIGATION. e.g. You must obtain a visa to travel to USA.(It’s compulsory that you obtain a visa to travel to USA.)

V Rewrite the sentences. Use “MUST” for obligation.1.- There’s no gravity in space. Astronauts have to take showers inside big plastic bags.2.- Astronauts are also obliged to drink through tubes.3.- It’s compulsory that students write the test in ink.4.- I feel obliged to visit them again.5.- It’s obligatory that he works at the weekend.6.- She’s to answer all the questions before the jury.7.- He’s forced to make a choice.

VI These sentences are wrong. Correct the mistakes.1.- He can playing tennis very well.2.- We must to hurry or we’ll be late.3.- At the meeting tomorrow he may mentioned the problem.4.- He’s been here for hours. He must been tired.5.- She should knows the answer.

VII Write if these sentences are 0, 1st or 2nd conditional. Then write the corresponding sentence.a) ____ If you (not breathe) for five minutes, you (die)b) ____ If Chile (be) a developed country, (there be) more progress for everyonec) ____ If (there no) electricity, computers (not work)d) ____ If fuel (run out), the engine (stop)e) ____ If you (read) carefully, you (understand) the textf) ____ If you (touch) acid, your skin (burn)g) ____ If computers (work) in digital mode, they (think) like ush) ____ If you (overload) your PC, it (not work) properlyi) ____ If temperature (drop) below zero, water (freeze)

VIII Write conditionals of the second type.e.g. We don’t have any wood, so we can’t light a fire.

If we had wood, we could light a fire.

1.- I don’t have a watch, so I can’t tell you the time.2.- Since I don’t know the meaning of this word, I have to use the dictionary3.- Since she doesn’t love him, she won’t marry him.4.- I know the answer, so I can tell you.

My father

Here is what Nick says about his father, Mr Bell. Choose the verbs from the list and write them with the correct endings.

buy get up wash doeat leave watch walk carry read work

Dad works__in London. His office is in a big new building I think.Every morning he 1 early. He 2 in cold water and 3 porridge for breakfast. Then he 4 ____to the railway station. He always 5____________________________his umbrella. He 6__________a newspaper and 7__________it on the train.

In the evening, he 8________________ work at five o’clock. After dinner he sometimes 9_________________ the washing up. Then he 10____________ television. What a boring life!

Famous explorers

a Look at the pictures, then add the correct names to the sentences. Marco Polo____________ travelled overland to China in 1275.

1 _______________________found a sea route to India in 1498.

2 _______________________ sailed around the world in 1521.

3 _______________________explored the coast of Australia in 1770.

4 _______________________reached the South Pole in 1911.

5 _______________________climbed Mount Everest in 1953.

6 _______________________ landed on the Moon in 1969.

b Now correct these sentences. Say the answers.

Vasco da Gama climbed Mount Everest. He didn’t climb MountEverest. He found a sea route to India.

1 Neil Armstrong found a sea route to India. 1 Neil Armstrong found a sea route to India.2 Ferdinand Magellan landed on the Moon.3 James Cook reached the South Pole.4 Marco Polo explored Australia.5 Edmund Hillary travelled to China in 1275.6 Roald Amundsen sailed around the world in 1521.