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The SAIL is founded by John McCarthy
Former MIT professor John McCarthy founded SAIL after moving to California to work at Stanford. -
Began receiving government funding
Thanks to the work of Professors McCarthy and Feiganbaum. -
The Stanford Cart project was initiated
Executive Officer Les Earnest took in the Stanford Cart project in hopes of creating the first robot road vehicle with visual guidance. -
The WAITS Operating System is released
Created on the PDP-6 and the PDP-10, the WAITS Operating System was released in 1967. -
The Stanford Robot Arm
This robot arm was designed in 1969 by Victor Scheinman, a Mechanical Engineering student working in the Stanford Artificial Intelligence Lab (SAIL). -
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18 people associated with SAIL win the Turing Award
From 1969 to 2015, 18 people who have done work at SAIL or affiliate themselves with SAIL have won the Turing Award -
The SAIL programming language was created
Programmed by Dan Swinehart and Bob Sproull, the Stanford Artificial Intelligence Language was released. -
Galaxy Game is released
After Steve Russell introduced the world to Spacewar! in 1961, SAILor Bill Pitts reprogrammed and renamed it "Galaxy Game" where it was released as one of the first arcade games in 1971. -
John McCarthy wins the Turing award
John McCarthy will always be among the most important Computer Scientists in history, this was his first Turing award. He was among one of the first few people, although many to come that were affiliated with SAIL to win this award. -
Prancing Pony Vending Machine
The first ever computer-ran vending machine was released at SAIL, it even sold beer and was able to identify if a student was over the age of 21 through its identification log in. The picture provided is not the prancing pony as there are no images of it on the internet. -
SAIL explores space
In the late 1970s a SAIL group led by Lynn Quam had undertaken a Mars research project in collaboration with astronomer Carl Sagan, who came by every few weeks to view photos of that planet taken by satellite, looking for visible changes. Sagan later put together the very popular PBS television series called Cosmos: A Personal Voyage. -
SAIL Labs closes down
In 1980, SAIL's activities were merged into the university's Computer Science Department and it moved into Margaret Jacks Hall on the main Stanford campus, where SAIL laboratories became the computer science department and its off campus building is closed. -
Professor Edward Feigenbaum wins the Turing Award
For his work on design of large artificial intelligence programs, Edward Feigenbaum won the Turing Award. Feigenbaum was one of the first professors at SAIL. -
SAIL is reopened
SAIL is reopened in the Gates Computer Science Building, with Sebastian Thrun becoming its new director. -
'Stanley' wins the race
Stanford's entry for a robot car race 'Stanley' wins a robot car race across the desert. This received a lot of media attention as it was one of the first 'artificial intelligence' car races, considering the idea of a driverless car.