-
Oct 17, 1495
Leonardo's Robot
Leonardo Da Vinci drew plans for a mechanical knight. -
Mechanical Duck
a number of life-sized automatons were created including a famous mechanical duck made by Jacques de Vaucanson that could crane its neck, flap its wings and even swallow food. -
Henry Ford's first car
Henry Ford installs the world’s first moving conveyor belt-based assembly line in his car factory. A Model T can be assembled in 93 minutes. -
Karel Capek's play
Karel Capek coins the word ‘robot’ to describe machines that resemble humans in his play called Rossums Universal Robots. The play was about a society that became enslaved by the robots that once served them. -
Lilliput
The first true robot toy was produced in Japan. The ‘Lilliput’ was a wind-up toy which walked. It was made from tinplate and stood just 15cm tall. -
Alan Turing
Alan Turing releases his paper “On Computable Numbers” which begins the computer revolution. -
Isaac Asimov
science fiction writer Isaac Asimov writes the short story ‘Liar!’ in which he describes the Three Laws of Robotics. His stories were recompiled into the volume “I, Robot” in 1950 – later reproduced as a movie starring Will Smith. -
Sputnik
The Soviet Union launches ‘Sputnik’, the first artificial orbiting satellite. This marks the beginning of the space race. -
Robot 'arm'
George Devol and Joe Engleberger design the first programmable robot ‘arm’. This later became the first industrial robot, completing dangerous and repetitive tasks on an assembly line at General Motors. -
IBM 360
The IBM 360 becomes the first computer to be mass-produced. -
A Space Odyssey
Stanley Kubrick makes Arthur C. Clark's, 2001: A Space Odyssey into a movie. It features HAL, an onboard computer that develops a mind of its own. -
Neil Armstrong
The U.S. successfully use the latest in computing, robotic and space technology to land Neil Armstrong on the moon. -
Ichiro Kato
Ichiro Kato created WABOT I which was the first full-scale anthropomorphic
robot in the world. It had a system for controlling limbs, vision, and
conversation! It was estimated that it had the mental ability of a 18 month old
child. -
Star Wars
The first Star Wars movie is released. George Lucas‘s movie inspires a new generation of researchers through his image of a human future shared with robots such as the now famous R2-D2 and C-3PO. -
Collie1
A four legged walking machine, Collie1, was developed by H. Miura at the University of Tokyo. The machine had 3 degrees of freedom per leg. -
Honda project
The first LEGO based educational products are put on the market and Honda launches a project to build a walking humanoid robot. -
Aquarobot
Aquarobot, a walking robot for undersea use, was created at the Robotics Laboratory at the Ministry of Transport in Japan. -
WL12RIII
Developed by Kato Corporation, the WL12RIII was the first biped walking robot which was able to walk on a terrain stabilized by trunk motion. It could walk up and down stairs and could take a single step every 0.64 seconds. -
RoboTuna
RoboTuna was created by David Barrett at MIT. The robot was used to study how fish swim. -
ASIMO
Honda created the P2, which was the first major step in creating their
ASIMO. The P2 was the first self-regulating, bipedal humanoid robot. -
Chess Champion
On May 11, a computer built by IBM known as Deep Blue beat world chess champion Garry Kasparov. -
Robocup
The first Robocup tournament is held in Japan. The goal of Robocup is to have a fully automated team of robots beat the worlds best soccer team by the year 2050. -
Kismet
Dr. Cynthia created Kismet, a robotic creature that interacted emotionally with people. -
Sony's Robotic Dog
Sony releases the first version of AIBO, a robotic dog with the ability to learn, entertain and communicate with its owner. More advanced versions have followed. -
SDR
Sony unveiled the Sony Dream Robots (SDR) at Robodex. SDR was able to recognize 10 different faces, expresses emotion through speech and body language, and can walk on flat as well as irregular surfaces. -
Advanced ASIMO
Honda created the Advanced Step in Innovative Mobility (ASIMO). It is intended to be a personal assistant. It recognizes its owner's face, voice, and name. Can read email and is capable of streaming video from its camera to a PC. -
RobotShop
RobotShop Distribution Inc. was founded to provide today’s society with domestic and professional robot technology that can help increase the pleasure, knowledge liberty and security of individuals. -
Epsom
Epsom release the smallest known robot, standing 7cm high and weighing just 10 grams. The robot helicopter is intended to be used as a ‘flying camera’ during natural disasters. -
Cornell University
Researchers at Cornell University build the first self-replicating robot. Each ‘robot’ is made up of a small tower of computerized cubes which link together through the use of magnets. -
HUBO
The Korean Institute of Science and Technology (KIST), created HUBO, and claims it is the smartest mobile robot in the world. This robot is linked to a computer via a high-speed wireless connection; the computer does all of the thinking for the robot. -
Roomba vacuum cleaner
After being first introduced in 2002, the popular Roomba robotic vacuum cleaner has sold over 2.5 million units, proving that there is a strong demand for this type of domestic robotic technology.
