Aspire IAS

Basic S&T module 2013

SUPER COMPUTERS
Super computers are the fastest type of computers which are design not for general purposes but for complex applications like
high speed calculation seismology, studying weather phenomenon and artificial intelligence.

Difference between Computer and super computer

Computer

Super Computer

These are the machine for general purpose.

These computer perform a particular task which is

complex in nature.

Their processing capacity is very low compare to

super computer

They have very high processing capacity.

They made up of few micro processor.

They are made up of thousand of micro

processors.

They are not much costly.

A typical computer can use 15 to 200 kw energy.

They are highly costly thus their shared recourses.

A super computer uses 4 megawatt electricity.
Heat management is a complex issue.
The operating system of super computers is
custom tailored and is adaptation of generic
software such as Linux.
In super computer the unit of measurement of
operations is floating point of operation per
second or flops.
First super computer was CDC 1604 developed by
Seymour Cray in 1964. Other example of super
computer are
1. Deep Blue- It defeated chess Player Garry
Kasprove
2.Blue Gene Peak speed 280 teraflops (1012 )
FLOPS developed by IBM. It was use by Veselin
Topalove world chess player for prepration.
3. Cray1 is used for weather forecasting in arrow
dynamic research.
4. Tiahne-1A (speed 2.5 Peta FLOPS, 1 P FLOPS
=1015 FLOPS) developed by china in 2010 for
studying molecular dynamic.
5. IBM Sequoia- peaks speed 16P FLOPS in
2012.
6. Cray Titan- world fastest super computer till
date
Super computer performs function like complex
weather forecasting, oil and gas exploration,
climate research, molecular modelling (computing
the structure and properties of chemical
compound and simulation test (simulation of
nuclear weapon and research into nuclear fusion)

Operating System- The operating system in

simple computer ranges from
Linux to Cobol Algol etc.
Unit of measurement of performance
In simple computer it is bits per second.
First mechanical computer was invented by
Charles Babbage in 1822
First Digital computer was Atanasoff berry
computer or ABC developed in 1937

Some of the uses of computers.

Simple computer performs function like
Algorithm, Logical Reasoning, calculation and
internet connectivity.

Supercomputing in India-

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India supercomputing research gain prominence in late 1980 when Cray super computer was denied to India in the wake of
Indias voluntary nuclear weapon testing and the denial of dual use technology by NSG. Indias first super computer was
PARAM 800 developed by Centre for development of advance computing (CDAC)
Other notable supercomputers of India are
PARAM YUVA II unveiled in 2013 by CDAC has a peak speed of .5 PFLOPS. It is an energy efficient supercomputer
and ranked 33 in top green 500 supercomputer of the world.
SAGA 220 developed by ISRO has a peak speed 220 Terra FLOPS is used to study complex aeronautical.
EKA- Meaning number one in Sanskrit is build by computational research laboratory technical assistance by Hewlett
Packard.

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Basic S&T module 2013

4. ANUPAM- A fifteen GFLOPS supercomputer developed by BARC. It finds application in crystal structure analysis and
gamma rays simulation.
5. VIRGO- 97 TeraFLOPS was developed by Indian institute of technology (IIT) Madras
6.

PACE / ANURAG Processor for aerodynamics computation and evaluation is a supercomputer developed by ANURAG
(Advanced Numerical Research and Analysis Group) a laboratory of DRDO. It is used in
a) Aircraft and Automobile Designing
b) Weather Forecasting
c) Molecular Biology

Robots And Artificial Intelligence-

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Artificial Intelligence is a branch of computer science which deals with computers emulating human mental processes. So far
no machine can been considered as intelligent as human. Alan Turing was the first person to talk of artificial intelligence.
Intelligence includes components like reasoning, adapting to new situations, analysing, problems solving and learning new
skills. Computer however are machines made to follow a strict set of instructions.
The research in artificial intelligence emphasises upon increasing the problem solving knowledge of computers. It involves
making specialized computers which perform complex task. We call such computers as experts system. Medical diagnosis,
For instance is today done by computers other than doctors. For this a computer must know thousands of symptoms to
understand hundred of diseases. By making software for complex computing and problem solving expert system for medical
diagnostics.
Other uses of AI are
Games
Making military robots.
Weather studies
Tackling dangerous task such as mining fire fighting and handling radioactive waste.
Making Robot to reduce air and water pollution.
Pushing the space exploration. Land rover sent over mars by messenger space craft is a n example of artificially intelligent
robot.
In medicine AI find use in medical diagnostic and robotic surgery.

RobotsRobots are machine which involves disciplines like mechanical engineering and computers.

How Robot works?

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Robot body is made to simulate human body. Human body made up of five main
components.
Body structure
Muscles to move the body
Power source to activate muscles and sensor
Sensory system to receive information from outside environment
Brain to coordinate muscles and sensor
Robot is made up of same components but non living in nature.
Robot has a movable body structure.
Power It is generally the electrical energy which is converted into kinetic energy of the robotic arms and legs
The brain is generally made up of centre processing of computer.
Robotic muscles are made up of special material called Piezo ceramics and special plastic.
Actuator is defined as a device that converts electrical energy into physical motion. The vast majority of actuators produce
either rotational or linear motion.
Rotational Actuator- They transform electrical energy into rotational motion. Example DC motors, AC motors (rarely use),
Stepper motor.
Linear Actuator- They convert electrical energy into linear motor. Example of linear motors are
DC Linear Actuator In this actuator is connected to a led screw. A traveller on the led screw is force to move towards or
away from the motors.
Solenoid- Solenoid is a coil of wire wound around a moving core. When electric current is passed through the wire it
produces magnetic field (because of the phenomenon of electromagnetism) which moves the core either forward or backward.
Pneumatic and Hydraulic Actuator use air and liquid respectively to produce linear motion.
Sensors- Sensor translates between physical environment and abstract world of micro controller. It helps robot sense
physical environment like a human being and makes than intelligent by responding according to the situation. In robot verity
of sensor of use

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Analog Sensor use to measure light intensity. Made up of cadmium sulphide the sensor is made to respond to a voltage
change of 0 to 5 volts when light fall on them.

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Thermal sensor helps in detecting the temperature changes in the surrounding.

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Basic S&T module 2013

3.

Ranging sensor- they allow a robot to see a obstacle without having to come in contact with it. They are either made up of
infrared emitter / detector or sonar (Sound navigation and detection ranging). The ranging sensor emit light rays (laser)
infrared or sound waves which strikes an obstacle and return back to be received by the micro controller detector. It helps the
robot to avoid the obstacle and perform difficult task.

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Colour sensor- It helps in perception in colour.

Vision Sensor- It uses digital video camera with high speed processing to protect real world.
Digital compass- It detects earth magnetic field.

Uses of Robots1.

In mining and manufacturing industries to perform difficult and hazardous tasks. Example- High volume assembling of
discrete component in auto mobile, television, aircraft industry. It also performs multiple tasks in plastic garment and other
industry.
2. Nuclear Applications- Robotics is one of the thrust areas of R&D programme at BARC and IGCAR. A five-degree-offreedom robot (Movement possible in five direction and six-degree-of-freedom robot (movement possible in three
dimensional space i.e, up/down, forward/backward, left/right and rotation) are used for handling radioactive chemical at
BARC. At IGCAR robots like mobile scanner (MOBSCAN) and ROPMAN are used for automated evaluation.
3. A DRDO venture, the centre for artificial intelligence for robotic has developed some useful robot these are
a) DAKSH is an electrically powered for locating, handling and destroying hazardous objects like radioactive waste and nuclear
weapon safely.
b) CHATUROBOT
c) NIPUNA
4. Humanoid robot- they look like human being and use to perform house hold task. The first robot to walk on two legs was
ASIMO.
5. Human Machine interface
One of the important discoveries of 2012, human machine interface is an attempt to increase innovative capabilities of robot by
combing robot dynamics or movement with brain signals. In this electrodes are placed inside the mind of a paralysed human
patient which capture thought signals and translate it into robot action. One such machine has been made which is a wearable
robot- The EKSO.