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1950
Alan Turing proposes a test to determine if a machine truly has the power to think for itself. To pass the test a machine must be indistinguishable from a human during conversation. It has become known as the ‘Turing Test’. -
1954
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 (1962). -
1957
The Soviet Union launched ‘Sputnik’, the first artificial orbiting satellite. This marks the beginning of the space race. -
1964
The IBM 360 becomes the first computer to be mass-produced. -
1968
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. -
1969
The U.S. successfully use the latest in computing, robotic and space technology to land Neil Armstrong on the moon. -
1977
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. -
1986
The first LEGO based educational products are put on the market and Honda launches a project to build a walking humanoid robot. -
1997
1997
On May 11, a computer built by IBM known as Deep Blue beat world chess champion Garry Kasparov.
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. -
1999
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. -
2008
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.