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First Time Mass Production Is Automated
Weaving was a large yet labor-intensive industry in the United Kingdom and France by the 18th century; weavers needed help to raise and lower threads to form designs. Inventors attempted to automate the process, and in 1804 a French inventor named Joseph-Marie Jacquard -
Nikola Tesla
Nikola Tesla creates a remote-controlled boat -
The Term Robot Is First Used
In his play "R.U.R.: Rossum's Universal Robots," Czech writer Karel apek portrays the story of a factory that produces thousands of synthetic humanoids. They labor so inexpensively and relentlessly that they have reduced weaving material production costs by 80%. Apek termed the gadgets "robots," after the Czech word robota, which refers to serfs' forced work. -
Beginnings of Robotics
MIT professor Norbert Wiener publishes Cybernetics or Control and Communication in the Animal, a book describing the concept of communications and control in electronics, mechanics, and biological systems British roboticist William Gray Walter creates autonomous machines named Elmer and Elsie that mimic behavior realistic with few simple circuits. -
First Robotic Arm is Installed on a Factory Floor
The first industrial robotic arm, known as "Unimate," began to work at a General Motors plant, lifting and stacking hot, die-cut metal parts. It was designed by George Devol and his colleague Joseph Engelberger and could move up and down on the X and Y axes, had a rotating, pincer-like gripper, and could execute a program of up to 200 movements stored in its memory. -
First AI
John McCarthy and Marvin Minsky start the Artificial Intelligence LAB at M.I.T -
First Artificial Robot
MIT researcher Heinrich Ernst develops the MH-1, a computer-operated mechanical hand. The First Industrial Robot: The first industrial robot was introduced to the production line at the General Motors plant in 1961. The "Unimate" was a powerful robotic arm for installing cast metal products and welded components on automobile chassis. It was the first robotic arm that helped speed up production lines in factories around the world. -
First “Pick and Place” Robot
While six-axis Unimate-style arms can lift heavy payloads and manipulate them with precision, not all industrial labor requires strength. In 1978, the Japanese automation researcher Hiroshi Makino designed the four-axis SCARA, or the “Selective Compliance Assembly Robot Arm,” engineered simply to pick something up, swivel around, and plop it down somewhere else with precision — all in one smooth motion. -
walking robot
Carnegie Universities eight-legged walking robot Dante ll successfully descends to Mount Spur in Alaska to collect samples of volcanic gas. -
NASA Pathfinder
NASA Pathfinder is the first robot on Mars. -
Self-Driving Cars Pass Their First Big Test
On October 8, 2005, a Volkswagen Touareg called "Stanley" won the second DARPA Grand Challenge by completing a difficult and frequently perilous 131.2-mile route in the Mojave Desert in under 10 hours.