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320 BCE
First Generation
320 BC Greek philosopher Aristotle made this famous quote: “If every tool, when ordered, or even of its own accord, could do the work that befits it... then there would be no need either of apprentices for the master workers or of slaves for the lords.” -
1495
1495
Around 1495 Leonardo da Vinci sketched plans for a humanoid robot. -
1700-1900
Between 1700 and 1900 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. -
1913
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. -
1920
Karel Capek coins the word ‘robot’ to describe machines that resemble humans in his play called Rossum's Universal Robots. The play was about a society that became enslaved by the robots that once served them. This idea is now a common theme in popular culture, ie Frankenstein, Terminator, The Matrix etc. -
1932
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. -
1937
Alan Turing releases his paper “On Computable Numbers” which begins the computer revolution. -
1941
Legendary science fiction writer Isaac Asimov writes the short story ‘Liar!’ in which he describes the Three Laws of Robotics.
Asimov’s Three Laws of Robotics: 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. -
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 Engelberger 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 launches ‘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.