Historical moments of robotics

Ctesibius

1400

The clepsydra, a clock that measures time using the flow of water, is created by the Babylonians. It is considered one of the first robotic devices in history. For centuries, inventors will refine the design. A Greek inventor, Ctesibius, became famous for a water clock with moving figures on it.

Ancient Times - Precursors of Robotics

1495

1495: Leonardo da Vinci sketches a humanoid robot known as "Leonardo's Robot" or "Mechanical Knight," able to sit, wave arms, and move its head.

Wolfgang von Kempelen

1769

Wolfgang von Kempelen, a Hungarian inventor, builds “The Turk,” a maplewood box with a mannequin, dressed in cloak and turban, protruding from the back. The device was evencapable of playing games!

Henry Ford’s Assembly Line

1913

While automatons continued to be produced during the 18th and 19th centuries, our next defining moment takes us to the point in time when such progress was made to further commercial potential for the first time. Henry Ford’s assembly line revolutionised automotive and manufacturing industries two realms still highly tapped into the progress of robotics today. For the first time, a Model T could be fully assembled in around 90 minutes.

Karl Capek

1921

Czech writer, Karl Capek, popularizes the term “robot” in a play called “R.U.R. (Rossums Universal Robot).” The play ends with robots taking over the earth and destroying their makers.

Isaac Asimov’s “Runaround”

1932

Asmov’s Three Laws of Robotics have been ingrained deep into public consciousness without many of us noticing
1. A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.
2. A robot must obey any orders given to it by human beings, except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.
3. A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law.

Lilliput

1932

For a while, however, robots as we have come to know them today, remained an otherworldly implausibility. In 1932, the first toy robot was created in Japan, bringing with it the canonical rigid, stocky aesthetic they’ve come to be associated with. The Lilliput was a 15cm tall tin figure with the ability to walk on a wind up mechanism.

George Devol and Joseph Engelberger

1952

George Devol and Joseph Engelberger form the world’s first robotics company, Unimation. In the 1960s, it is purchased by Condec, which was later bought, in part, by industrial manufacturing giant Eaton.

George Devol

1954

Industrial robotics pioneer George Devol files a patent for the first programmable robot and coins the term “universal automaton.”

General Motors

1961

Unimate, the world’s first industrial robot, goes to work on a General Motors assembly line.