A Concise History of Robotics

When you picture a robot in your head you may be thinking of Gort, the giant, powerful robot in the Sci-Fi Classic ‘The Day the Earth Stood Still’. Or B-9 the robot on the reruns of ‘Lost In Space’ announcing, ‘Danger, danger, Will Robinson’; or perhaps the more recent comedy team of C3PO and R2D2 of ‘Star Wars’ fame.

We think of robots as mechanical men – but in fact most robots look nothing like men.

When did robots or something like robots first appear? Belief it or not there are ancient references to robots or robot like contraptions. As long ago as 350 B.C. a Greek mathematician names Archytas was said to have built a mechanical bird that was driven by steam and could fly.

In 1495, DaVinci built an armored mechanical knight that moved as if there was a real person inside. This was built as an amusement, as were the automata (what robots were referred to back then) built by Frenchman Jacques de Vaucanson in the mid 18th century. He built a flute player that was capable of playing a dozen songs. Vaucanson was also said to have built a duck that could quack like a duck, flap its wings and move; is reported to have been able to eat and digest food! At the turn of the 19th century Joseph Jacquard built what may have been the first application of robotics or computers in using punched cards to control a loom. This novel idea of punched cards was to be used later for programming computers.

At the end of the 19th century the genius Nikola Tesla built and showed off his remote controlled robot boat in New York.
Still the term robot was not used commonly. The word robot came into being in 1921 when a writer from Czechoslovakia wrote a play about robots called R.U.R or Rossuum’s Universal Robots. The word robot was born from the Czech word "robota" which means forced of compulsory labor.

In 1926 the movie ‘Metropolis’ debuted, and the first robot ever seen in media is introduced in the person of Maria the female robot.

The one person probably most responsible for making the word robot a well-known word as well as bringing them into mainstream media and thought was Isaac Asimov. Asimov wrote a series of short stories about a robot named Robbie. All of his short stories were then incorporated as his well-known book ‘I, robot’ in 1940.

Asimov created the Three Laws of Robotics:
- A robot may not injure a human being, or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.
- A robot must obey the orders given it by human beings except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.
- A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law.
 

Asimov later added one additional law, that being called the ‘Zeroth Law’, which states ‘a robot may not injure humanity, or through inaction, allow humanity to come to harm’.

In 1951 the sci-fi classic the ‘Day the earth Stood Still’ debuted, in it is featured the giant robot Gort.

The fifties saw great progress in the field of robots: in 1956 Newell and Simon created a system to help solve difficult math problems called ‘The Logic Theorist’, aided by the Rockefeller Foundation a group of scientists organize the first conference regarding ‘artificial intelligence’. This is the first time this term is used. In 1959 MIT starts their Artificial Intelligence Laboratory.

With the groundwork set in the ‘50s applications of the new science started appearing in the 60’s. At MIT MH-1 is created; it is a computer operated mechanical arm. In 1962 the first industrial robot, or rather robot arm is created, it is called the Unimate and has been created for the General Motors assembly line. One of the founders of MIT’s Artificial Intelligence Lab leaves to go to Stanford University to create the Stanford Artificial Intelligence Lab. In 1966 the first mobile robot was created at Stanford Research Institute, it was called Shakey. An AI (artificial intelligence program) called ELIZA was created which manipulated users statements to ask questions, much like a psychologist. In 1967 a program that could be used to play chess called MacHack was created. The program was challenged by a human and ultimately in the end the human lost to the program! 1968 was the year of Stanley Kubricks ‘Space Odyssey’ and its rebellious computer HAL. In 1969 the standard for the mechanical robotic arm was created, for the most part this standard is still in use today.

The seventies saw great strides for robotics in the manufacturing environment. Two of the inventions of merit were Sheinman’s Silver Arm, that could assemble small parts into larger components by using touch sensors; and Hirose’s Soft Gripper, which could wrap around an object like a snake.

1977 saw the release of Star Wars, and showed a future in which humans and robots thrived, interacted and depended on each other.

In the 1980s more improvements were made on robotic arms, Kanade further improved the arms mobility and speed by putting motors in the arm joints. In 1989 a walking robot named Genghis was created at MIT.

The 1990s were a boom year for robots. Dr. John Adler created a medical concept called CyberKnife; basically a robot that takes x-rays of a patient and then delivers a dose of radiation to any tumors found. In 1993 the eight-legged robot Dante went into Mt Erebus in Antarctica to collect data; unfortunately Dante was lost in a mishap in its descent. Dante II completed a successful mission of Mount Spurr in Alaska the following year.

1994 also saw the birth of Robot Wars in San Francisco; and two Florida college students create the ‘flatulence engine’ produced by their robot Gastrobot that digested organic mass to produce CO2 that was used to power and move itself.

In 1996 after 10 years at work Honda succeeds in building a humanoid robot called P3.

In early July 1997 the robot rover Sojourner exited the Pathfinder to study and broadcast information about Mars, it continues to function until September of 1997.

The late nineties saw several robots in the entertainment industry born. In 1998 Furby, the animatronics pet was created and marketed by Tiger Electronics. Lego released the Robotics Invention System. Lego released three additional sets in 1999: The Robotics Discovery Set, ‘Droid Developer Kit and Robotics Invention System 1.5. Sony also made their robotic pet AIBO available that year.

The year 2000 was the debut of Hondas humanoid ASIMO, and the first Battlebots event. Lego release yet two more robotic sets in 2000 and 2001.

In 2001 Doctor Adlers CyberKnife finally got the nod of approval from the FDA.

In 2002 ASIMO rang the opening bell at the NYSE.

June/July 2003 NASA launches two robot rovers to Mars, the MER-A and MER-B.

Great strides are being made every year in the field of robotics. We are not yet at the point of Gort’s or B-9’s or C3PO’s and R2D2’s but we are getting there.

Many exciting advances have been made in space exploration and oceanography. Automated industry continues to make advances in developing products via robotics. The field of medicine has benefited from robots as well from drilling precise holes in bones to equipping people with much needed bionic prosthetic limbs.

Researched and drafted by Frank McGovern for RoboStore.com