Almost all modern Robots are driven by brushless AC servo motors but many of the robots existing in industry use other drives.

Pneumatics
Many of the simple pick and place arms are driven by pneumatics. This makes them cheap but has the disadvantage of being difficult to control. Pneumatics are still used with a number of modern robots to drive end effectors.

Hydraulics
Hydraulic drives were used on a large number of the early robots as it was more rigid and controllable than pneumatics and it could provide more power than the electric drives then available. The problems with hydraulics are that it tends to be fairly slow in operation and that due to the high pressures involved leaks can be very messy.

Electric
There are three major types of electric drive that have been used for robots. Stepper Motors These are used mainly for simple pick and place mechanisms where cheapness is more important than power or controllability.

• DC Servos
  For the early electric robots the DC servo drive was used extensively. It gave good power output with a high degree of control of both speed and position.
• AC Servos
  In recent years the AC servo has taken over from the DC servo as the standard drive. These modern motors give higher power output and are almost silent in operation. As they have no brushes they are very reliable and require almost no maintenance in operation.

Next >> Basic methods for programming industrial robots

Tech Materials (Free)

Robot Behaviors Exploring the T-Maze: Evolving Learning-Like Robot Behaviors using CTRNNs
Humanoid Robotics A Biochemical Subsystem for a Humanoid Robot
Industrial Automation Systems Applying Agents for Engineering of Industrial Automation Systems
Robot Team Cooperation A Descriptive Model of Robot Team and the Dynamic Evolution of Robot Team Cooperation
Kuka Robots For ONU ONU Robotics Technology Center of Excellence, powered by KUKA Robotics Corporation
Augmented reality Annotation System for Robotic Application
Modular Robots Self-Reconfiguration Planning Of Identical Modules
Autonomous robots A New Approach To Robotics
Robotic Mounting Flat Panel Displays With Robotic Mounting
Calibration of Industrial Robots A Photogrammetric Robot Calibration System Based On Off-The-Shelf Low Cost Hardware Components

More...

Amazon Books

	Creative Projects with LEGO Mindstorms by Benjamin Erwin Buy new: $20.64 / Used from: $13.00 A good place to start, especially for kids, with Lego Mindstorms
	A Practical Guide to Behavior-Based Robotics by Joe Jones Buy new: $20.67 / Used from: $15.13 Very good for programming not so much behavior as control. Language and controller agnostic