The history of robots has its roots as far back as ancient myths and legends.

Modern concepts
were begun to be developed when the Industrial Revolution allowed the use of more complex
mechanics and the subsequent introduction of electricity made it possible to power machines
with small compact motors. After the 1920s the modern formulation of a humanoid machine was
developed to the stage where it was possible to envisage human sized robots with the capacity
for near human thoughts and movements, first envisaged millennia before.
The first uses of modern robots were in factories as industrial robots simple fixed machines
capable of manufacturing tasks which allowed production without the need for human assistance.
Digitally controlled industrial robots and robots making use of artificial intelligence have been
built since the 1960s. Chinese accounts relate a history of automata back to the 10th century BC
when Yan Shi is credited with making an automaton resembling a human in an account from the
Lie Zi text.
Western and Eastern civilisations have concepts of artificial servants and companions with a
long history. Many ancient mythologies include artificial people, such as the mechanical servants
built by the Greek god Hephaestus (Vulcan to the Romans), the clay golems of Jewish legend
and clay giants of Norse legend.
Likely fictional, the Iliad illustrates the concept of robotics by stating that the god Hephaestus
made talking mechanical handmaidens out of gold.[1] Greek mathematician Archytas of
Tarentum is reputed to have built a mechanical pigeon around 400 BC, possibly powered by
steam, capable of flying. The clepsydra was made in 250 BC by Ctesibius of Alexandria, a
physicist and inventor from Ptolemaic Egypt. Heron of Alexandria (1070 AD) created some
mechanical devices in the late 1st century AD, including one that allegedly could speak. Aristotle
took up an earlier reference in Homer's Iliad and speculated that automatons could someday
bring about human equality by making the abolition of slavery possible in his book Politics (ca.
322 BC).

Ancient beginnings

The water-powered mechanism of Su Song's astronomical clock tower, featuring a clepsydra

tank, waterwheel, escapement mechanism, and chain drive to power an armillary sphere and 113
striking clock jacks to sound the hours and to display informative plaques
In ancient China, a curious account on automata is found in the Lie Zi text, written in the 3rd

century BC. Within it there is a description of a much earlier encounter between King Mu of
Zhou (1023957 BC) and a mechanical engineer known as Yan Shi, an 'artificer'. The latter
proudly presented the king with a life-size, human-shaped figure of his mechanical handiwork.[2]
The king stared at the figure in astonishment. It walked with rapid strides, moving its head up
and down, so that anyone would have taken it for a live human being. The artificer touched its
chin, and it began singing, perfectly in tune. He touched its hand, and it began posturing, keeping
perfect time...As the performance was drawing to an end, the robot winked its eye and made
advances to the ladies in attendance, whereupon the king became incensed and would have had
Yen Shih [Yan Shi] executed on the spot had not the latter, in mortal fear, instantly taken the
robot to pieces to let him see what it really was. And, indeed, it turned out to be only a
construction of leather, wood, glue and lacquer, variously coloured white, black, red and blue.
Examining it closely, the king found all the internal organs completeliver, gall, heart, lungs,
spleen, kidneys, stomach and intestines; and over these again, muscles, bones and limbs with
their joints, skin, teeth and hair, all of them artificial...The king tried the effect of taking away the
heart, and found that the mouth could no longer speak; he took away the liver and the eyes could
no longer see; he took away the kidneys and the legs lost their power of locomotion. The king
was delighted.[2]
Early water clocks are sometimes grouped in with the beginning of robotics. They began in
China in the 6th century BC[3] and the Greco-Roman world in the 4th century BC where the
Clepsydra is known to have been used as a stop-watch for imposing a time limit on clients' visits
in Athenian brothels.[4]
The idea of artificial people in western mythology dates at least as far back as the ancient
legends of Cadmus, who sowed dragon teeth that turned into soldiers, and the myth of
Pygmalion, whose statue of Galatea came to life. In Greek mythology, the deformed god of
metalwork (Vulcan or Hephaestus) created mechanical servants, ranging from intelligent, golden
handmaidens to more utilitarian three-legged tables that could move about under their own
power, and the bronze man Talos defended Crete.
Concepts akin to a robot can be found as long ago as the 4th century BC, when the Greek
mathematician Archytas of Tarentum postulated a mechanical bird he called "The Pigeon" which
was propelled by steam. Yet another early automaton was the clepsydra, made in 250 BC by
Ctesibius of Alexandria, a physicist and inventor from Ptolemaic Egypt.[5] Hero of Alexandria
(1070 AD) made numerous innovations in the field of automata, including one that allegedly
could speak.
Taking up the earlier reference in Homer's Iliad, Aristotle speculated in his Politics (ca. 322 BC,
book 1, part 4) that automatons could someday bring about human equality by making possible
the abolition of slavery:
There is only one condition in which we can imagine managers not needing subordinates, and masters not
needing slaves. This condition would be that each instrument could do its own work, at the word of command
or by intelligent anticipation, like the statues of Daedalus or the tripods made by Hephaestus, of which Homer
relates that "Of their own motion they entered the conclave of Gods on Olympus", as if a shuttle should weave

of itself, and a plectrum should do its own harp playing.

Jewish lore mentions the Jewish legend of the Golem, a clay creature animated by Kabbalistic
magic. Similarly, in the Younger Edda, Norse mythology tells of a clay giant, Mkkurklfi or
Mistcalf, constructed to aid the troll Hrungnir in a duel with Thor, the God of Thunder.

c. 250
The Lie Zi described an automaton.[5]
BC
c. 50
AD

Greek mathematician Hero of Alexandria described a machine to automatically pour wine for
party guests.[6]

Al-Jazari described a band made up of humanoid automata which, according to Charles B.

Fowler, performed "more than fifty facial and body actions during each musical selection."[7] AlJazari also created hand washing automata with automatic humanoid servants,[8][verification needed]
1206 and an elephant clock incorporating an automatic humanoid mahout striking a cymbal on the
half-hour.[citation needed] His programmable "castle clock" also featured five musician automata
which automatically played music when moved by levers operated by a hidden camshaft
attached to a water wheel.[9]
1495

Leonardo da Vinci designs a humanoid automaton that looks like an armored knight, known as
Leonardo's robot.[10]

Jacques de Vaucanson builds The Flute Player, a life-size figure of a shepherd that could play
1738 twelve songs on the flute and The Tambourine Player that played a flute and a drum or
tambourine.[11]
1774

1898

Pierre Jacquet-Droz and his son Henri-Louis created the Draughtsman, the Musicienne and the
Writer, a figure of a boy that could write messages up to 40 characters long.[12]

Nikola Tesla publically demonstrates his "automaton" technology by wirelessly

controlling a model boat at the Electrical Exposition held at Madison Square Garden in
New York City during the height of the Spanish-American War.

Czech writer Karel apek introduced the word "robot" in his play R.U.R. (Rossum's Universal
1921 Robots). The word "robot" comes from the word "robota", meaning, in Czech and Polish,
"forced labour, drudgery".[10]
1927 The Maschinenmensch (machine-human), a gynoid humanoid robot, also called "Parody",
"Futura", "Robotrix", or the "Maria impersonator" (played by German actress Brigitte Helm),

perhaps the most memorable humanoid robot ever to appear on film, is depicted in Fritz Lang's
film Metropolis.
1941- Isaac Asimov formulates the Three Laws of Robotics, and in the process of doing so, coins the
42
word "robotics".
1948 Norbert Wiener formulates the principles of cybernetics, the basis of practical robotics.
The first digitally operated and programmable non-humanoid robot, the Unimate, is installed on
a General Motors assembly line to lift hot pieces of metal from a die casting machine and stack
1961
them. It was created by George Devol and constructed by Unimation, the first robot
manufacturing company.
1969

D.E. Whitney publishes his article "Resolved motion rate control of manipulators and human
prosthesis".[13]

1970

Miomir Vukobratovid has proposed Zero Moment Point, a theoretical model to explain biped
locomotion.[14]

1972

Miomir Vukobratovid and his associates at Mihajlo Pupin Institute build the first active
anthropomorphic exoskeleton.

In Waseda University, in Tokyo, Wabot-1 is built. It was able to walk, to communicate with a
1973 person in Japanese and to measure distances and directions to the objects using external
receptors, artificial ears and eyes, and an artificial mouth.[15]
1980

Marc Raibert established the MIT Leg Lab, which is dedicated to studying legged locomotion and
building dynamic legged robots.[16]

Using MB Associates arms, "Greenman" was developed by Space and Naval Warfare Systems
Center, San Diego. It had an exoskeletal master controller with kinematic equivalency and
1983 spatial correspondence of the torso, arms, and head. Its vision system consisted of two 525-line
video cameras each having a 35-degree field of view and video camera eyepiece monitors
mounted in an aviator's helmet.[17]
At Waseda University, the Wabot-2 is created, a musician humanoid robot able to communicate
1984 with a person, read a normal musical score with his eyes and play tunes of average difficulty on
an electronic organ.[15]
1985

Developed by Hitachi Ltd, WHL-11 is a biped robot capable of static walking on a flat surface at
13 seconds per step and it can also turn.[15]

WASUBOT is another musician robot from Waseda University. It performed a concerto with the
1985 NHK Symphony Orchestra at the opening ceremony of the International Science and Technology
Exposition.
Honda developed seven biped robots which were designated E0 (Experimental Model 0)
1986 through E6. E0 was in 1986, E1 E3 were done between 1987 and 1991, and E4 - E6 were done
between 1991 and 1993.[18]
Manny was a full-scale anthropomorphic robot with 42 degrees of freedom developed at
Battelle's Pacific Northwest Laboratories in Richland, Washington, for the US Army's Dugway
1989
Proving Ground in Utah. It could not walk on its own but it could crawl, and had an artificial
respiratory system to simulate breathing and sweating.[15]
1990

Tad McGeer showed that a biped mechanical structure with knees could walk passively down a
sloping surface.[19]

1993

Honda developed P1 (Prototype Model 1) through P3, an evolution from E series, with upper
limbs. Developed until 1997.[18]

Hadaly was developed in Waseda University to study human-robot communication and has
three subsystems: a head-eye subsystem, a voice control system for listening and speaking in
1995
Japanese, and a motion-control subsystem to use the arms to point toward campus
destinations.
1995 Wabian is a human-size biped walking robot from Waseda University.
Saika, a light-weight, human-size and low-cost humanoid robot, was developed at Tokyo
1996 University. Saika has a two-DOF neck, dual five-DOF upper arms, a torso and a head. Several
types of hands and forearms are under development also. Developed until 1998.[15]
1997

Hadaly-2, developed at Waseda University, is a humanoid robot which realizes interactive

communication with humans. It communicates not only informationally, but also physically.

2000 Honda creates its 11th bipedal humanoid robot, able to run, ASIMO.[18]
2001

Sony unveils small humanoid entertainment robots, dubbed Sony Dream Robot (SDR). Renamed
Qrio in 2003.

Fujitsu realized its first commercial humanoid robot named HOAP-1. Its successors HOAP-2 and
2001 HOAP-3 were announced in 2003 and 2005, respectively. HOAP is designed for a broad range of
applications for R&D of robot technologies.[20]

2002

HRP-2, biped walking robot built by the Manufacturing Science and Technology Center (MSTC)
in Tokyo.[21]

JOHNNIE, an autonomous biped walking robot built at the Technical University of Munich. The
2003 main objective was to realize an anthropomorphic walking machine with a human-like,
dynamically stable gait [22]
2003

Actroid, a robot with realistic silicone "skin" developed by Osaka University in conjunction with
Kokoro Company Ltd.[23]

2004

Persia, Iran's first humanoid robot, was developed using realistic simulation by researchers of
Isfahan University of Technology in conjunction with ISTT.[24]

2004

KHR-1, a programmable bipedal humanoid robot introduced in June 2004 by a Japanese

company Kondo Kagaku.

The PKD Android, a conversational humanoid robot made in the likeness of science fiction
2005 novelist Philip K Dick, was developed as a collaboration between Hanson Robotics, the FedEx
Institute of Technology, and the University of Memphis.[25]
2005

Wakamaru, a Japanese domestic robot made by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, primarily intended
to provide companionship to elderly and disabled people.[26]

Nao is a small open source programmable humanoid robot developped by Aldebaran Robotics,
2005 in France. Widely used by world wide universities as a research plateform and educational
tool.[27]
The Geminoid series is a series of ultra-realistic humanoid robots or Actroid developped by
2005 Hiroshi Ishiguro of ATR and Kokoro in Tokyo. The original one, Geminoid HI-1 was made at its
image. Followed Geminoid-F in 2010 and Geminoid-DK in 2011.[27]
REEM-A, a biped humanoid robot designed to play chess with the Hydra Chess engine. The first
2006 robot developed by PAL Robotics, it was also used as a walking, manipulation speech and vision
development platform.[28]
2006 iCub, a biped humanoid open source robot for cognition research.[29]
2006 Mahru, a network-based biped humanoid robot developped in South Korea.[30]
2007 TOPIO, a ping pong playing robot developed by TOSY Robotics JSC.[31]
2007 Twendy-One, a robot developed by the WASEDA University Sugano Laboratory for home

assistance services. It is not biped, as it uses an omni-directional mobile mechanism.[32]

2008 Justin, a humanoid robot developed by the German Aerospace Center (DLR).[33]
2008

KT-X, the first international humanoid robot developed as a collaboration between the five-time
consecutive RoboCup champions, Team Osaka, and KumoTek Robotics.[34]

Nexi, the first mobile, dexterous and social robot, makes its public debut as one of TIME
magazine's top inventions of the year.[35] The robot was built through a collaboration between
2008
the MIT Media Lab Personal Robots Group,[36] Xitome Design[37] UMass Amherst and Meka
robotics.[38][39]
2008 Salvius (robot), The first open source humanoid robot built in the United States is created.
2008

REEM-B, the second biped humanoid robot developed by PAL Robotics. It has the ability to
autonomously learn its environment using various sensors and carry 20% of its own weight.[40]

2009

HRP-4C, a Japanese domestic robot made by National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science
and Technology, shows human characteristics in addition to bipedal walking.

2009

Turkey's first dynamically walking humanoid robot, SURALP, is developed by Sabanci University
in conjunction with Tubitak.[41]

2009 Kobian, an robot developed by WASEDA University can walk, talk and mimic emotions.[42]
NASA and General Motors revealed Robonaut 2, a very advanced humanoid robot. It was part of
2010 the payload of Shuttle Discovery on the successful launch February 24, 2011. It is intended to do
spacewalks for NASA.[43]
2010

Students at the University of Tehran, Iran unveil the Surena II. It was unveiled by President
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.[44]

2010

Researchers at Japan's National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology

demonstrate their humanoid robot HRP-4C singing and dancing along with human dancers.[45]

In September the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology also
2010 demonstrates the humanoid robot HRP-4. The HRP-4 resembles the HRP-4C in some regards but
is called "athletic" and is not a gynoid.
REEM, a humanoid service robot with a wheeled mobile base. Developed by PAL Robotics, it can
2010 perform autonomous navigation in various surroundings and has voice and face recognition
capabilities.[46]

2011

In November Honda unveiled its second generation Honda Asimo Robot. The all new Asimo is
the first version of the robot with semi-autonomous capabilities.

In April, the Advanced Robotics Department in Italian Institute of Technology released its first
2012 version of the Compliant huManoid robot CoMan which is designed for robust dynamic walking
and balancing in rough terrain.[47]

1951 to 2000
After 1950 computers and robotics began to rapidly increase in both complexity and numbers as
the technology had exponential growth in production, availability and capability.
[edit] 1951 to 1960

In 1951 William Shockley invented the bipolar junction transistor, announced at a press
conference on 4 July 1951. Shockley obtained a patent for this invention on 25 September 1951.
In 1951 a computer called LEO became operational in the UK. It was built by Lyons for its own
use: this was the world's first software programmable digital electronic computer for commercial
applications, exploiting the US development of mercury delay line memory, and built with the
support of the Cambridge EDSAC project. LEO was used for commercial work running business
application programs, the first of which was rolled out 17 November 1951.
Eckert and Mauchly completed EDVAC in 1951. An improvement on ENIAC and UNIVAC,
EDVAC used mercury delay lines to store data, making it the USA's first software stored
program computer.[34] In 1952, the television network CBS correctly predicted the election of
Dwight D. Eisenhower as president using UNIVAC. In 1952 IBM announced its 701 model
computer, marketed towards scientific use, it was designed by Nathaniel Rochester.[35] Stanislaw
Ulam and physicist Paul Stein converted MANIAC I (used for solving calculations involved in
creating the hydrogen bomb) to play a modified game of chess in 1956; it was the first computer
to beat a human in a game of chess.[36] The term "Artificial Intelligence was created at a
conference held at Dartmouth College in 1956.[37] Allen Newell, J. C. Shaw, and Herbert A.
Simon pioneered the newly created artificial intelligence field with the Logic Theory Machine
(1956), and the General Problem Solver in 1957.[38] In 1958, John McCarthy and Marvin Minsky
started the MIT Artificial Intelligence lab with $50,000.[39] John McCarthy also created LISP in
the summer of 1958, a programming language still important in artificial intelligence research.[40]
Jack Kilby and Robert Noyce invented the integrated circuit or "chip" in 1959; the inventors

worked independent of each other. This development eventually revolutionized computers by

affecting both the size and speed.[41]
[edit] 1961 to 1971

Unimate, the first industrial robot ever created began work on the General Motors assembly line
in 1961; the machine was conceived in 1954 by George Devol. Unimate was manufactured by
Unimation. Unimate is remembered as the first industrial robot.[42] In 1962 John McCarthy
founded the Stanford Artificial Intelligence Laboratory at Stanford University.[43] The Rancho
Arm was developed as a robotic arm to help handicapped patients at the Rancho Los Amigos
Hospital in Downey, California; this computer controlled arm was bought by Stanford University
in 1963.[44] IBM announced its IBM System/360 in 1964. The system was heralded as being
more powerful, faster, and more capable than its predecessors.[45] In 1965, Gordon Moore, a cofounder of Intel in 1968, develops what will become known as Moore's Law; the idea that the
number of components capable of being built onto a chip will double every two years.[46] The
same year, doctoral student Edward Feigenbaum, geneticist and biochemist Joshua Lederberg,
and Bruce Buchanan (who held a degree in philosophy) begin work on the DENDRAL, an expert
system designed to work in the field of organic chemistry.[47] Feigenbaum also founded the
Heuristic Programming Project in 1965, it later became the Stanford Knowledge Systems
Artificial Intelligence Laboratory.[11] The program Mac Hack was also written in 1966; it beat
artificial intelligence critic Hubert Dreyfus in a game of chess. The program was created by
Richard Greenblatt.[48] Seymour Papert created the Logo programming language in 1967. It was
designed as an educational programming language.[49] The film 2001: A Space Odyssey was
released in 1968; the movie prominently features HAL 9000, a malevolent artificial intelligence
unit which controls a spacecraft.[50] Marvin Minsky created the Tentacle Arm in 1968; the arm
was computer controlled and its 12 joints were powered by hydraulics.[44] Mechanical
Engineering student Victor Scheinman created the Stanford Arm in 1969; the Stanford Arm is
recognized as the first electronic computer controlled robotic arm (Unimate's instructions were
stored on a magnetic drum).[44] The first floppy disc was released in 1970. It measured eight
inches in diameter and read-only.[51] The first mobile robot capable of reasoning about its
surroundings, Shakey was built in 1970 by the Stanford Research Institute (now SRI
International). Shakey combined multiple sensor inputs, including TV cameras, laser
rangefinders, and "bump sensors" to navigate.[44] In the winter of 1970, the Soviet Union
explored the surface of the moon with the lunar vehicle Lunokhod 1, the first roving remotecontrolled robot to land on another world.
[edit] 1971 to 1980

The first microprocessor, called the 4004 was created by Ted Hoff at Intel in 1971. Measuring
1/8 of an inch by 1/16 of an inch, the chip itself was more powerful than ENIAC.[52] Artificial
intelligence critic Hubert Dreyfuss published his influential book "What Computers cannot Do"
in 1972.[53] Douglas Trumbull's "Silent Running" was released in 1972; the movie was notable
for the three robot co-stars, named Huey, Dewey, and Louie.[54] Released in 1973 was the logic
based programming language PROLOG; this logic based language becomes important in the
field of artificial intelligence.[55] Freddy and Freddy II, both built in the United Kingdom, were
robots capable of assembling wooden blocks in a period of several hours.[56] German based

company KUKA built the world's first industrial robot with six electromechanically driven axes,
known as FAMULUS.[57] In 1974, David Silver designed The Silver Arm; the Silver Arm was
capable of fine movements replicating human hands. Feedback was provided by touch and
pressure sensors and analyzed by a computer.[44] MYCIN, an expert system developed to study
decisions and prescriptions relating to blood infections. MYCIN was written in Lisp.[58] Marvin
Minsky published his landmark paper "A Framework for Representing Knowledge" on artificial
intelligence.[59] By 1975, four expert systems relating to medicine had been created; PIP,
MYCIN, CASNET, and Internist.[11] 1975: more than 5,000 computers were sold in the United
States, and the first personal computer was introduced.[11] The Kurzweil Reading Machine
(invented by Raymond Kurzweil), intended to help the blind, was released in 1976. Capable of
recognizing characters, the machine formulated pronunciation based on programmed rules.[60]
Based on studies of flexible objects in nature (such as elephant trunks and the vertebrae of
snakes), Shigeo Hirose designed the Soft Gripper in 1976 the gripper was capable of conforming
to the object it was grasping.[44] The knowledge based system Automated Mathematician was
presented by Douglas Lenat in 1976 as part of his doctoral dissertation. Automated
Mathematician began with a knowledge of 110 concepts and rediscovered many mathematical
principles; Automated Mathematician was written in Lisp.[61] Joseph Weizenbaum (creator of
ELIZA, a program capable of simulating a Rogerian physcotherapist) published Computer Power
and Human Reason, presenting an argument against the creation of artificial intelligence.[62]
Steven Jobs and Stephen Wozniak created the Apple Computer in 1977, and released the Apple
II.[63] George Lucas' movie Star Wars was also released in 1977. Star Wars featured two robots;
an android named C-3PO and R2-D2, both of which become iconic as robots.[64][65] Voyagers 1
and 2 were launched in 1977 to explore the solar system. The 30 year old robotic space probes
continue to transmit data back to earth and are approaching the heliopause and the interstellar
medium.[66] The SCARA, Selective Compliance Assembly Robot Arm, was created in 1978 as
an efficient, 4-axis robotic arm. Best used for picking up parts and placing them in another
location, the SCARA was introduced to assembly lines in 1981.[67] XCON, an expert system
designed to customize orders for industrial use, was released in 1979.[68] The Stanford Cart
successfully crossed a room full of chairs in 1979. The Stanford Cart relied primarily on stereo
vision to navigate and determine distances.[44] The Robotics Institute at Carnegie Mellon
University was founded in 1979 by Raj Reddy.[69]
[edit] 1981 to 1990

KUKA IR 160/60 Robots from 1983

Takeo Kanade created the first "direct drive arm" in 1981. The first of its kind, the arm's motors
were contained within the robot itself, eliminating long transmissions.[70] IBM released its first
personal computer (PC) in 1981; the name of the computer was responsible for popularizing the
term "personal computer".[71] Prospector a "computer-based consultation program for mineral
exploration",[72] created in 1976, discovered an unknown deposit of molybdenum in Washington
state. The expert system had been updated annually since its creation.[73] The Fifth Generation
Computer Systems Project (FGCS) was started in 1982. Its goals were knowledge based
information processing and massive parallelism in a supercomputer, artificial intelligence like
system.[74] Cyc, a project to create a database of common sense for artificial intelligence, was
started in 1984 by Douglas Leant. The program attempts to deal with ambiguity in language, and
is still underway.[75] The first program to publish a book, the expert system Racter, programmed
by William Chamberlain and Thomas Etter, wrote the book "The Policeman's Beard is HalfConstructed" in 1983. It is now thought that a system of complex templates were used.[76] In
1984 Wabot-2 was revealed; capable of playing the organ, Wabot-2 had 10 fingers and two feet.
Wabot-2 was able to read a score of music and accompany a person.[77] In 1985, Kawasaki
Heavy Industries' license agreement with Unimation was terminated; Kawasaki began to produce
its own robots. Their first robot was released one year later.[78] By 1986, artificial intelligence
revenue was about $1 billion US dollars. Chess playing programs HiTech and Deep Thought
defeated chess masters in 1989. Both were developed by Carnegie Mellon University; Deep
Thought development paved the way for the Deep Blue.[79] In 1986, Honda began its humanoid
research and development program to create robots capable of interacting successfully with
humans.[80] In 1987, Artificial intelligence related technologies of the flims, Batteries Not
Included robots, now produce a revenue of $1.4 billion US dollars.[11] In 1988, Stubli Group
purchased Unimation.[44] The Connection Machine was built in 1988 by Daniel Hillis; the
supercomputer used 64,000 processors simultaneously.[81] A hexapodal robot named Genghis
was revealed by MIT in 1989. Genghis was famous for being made quickly and cheaply due to
construction methods; Genghis used 4 microprocessors, 22 sensors, and 12 servo motors.[82]
Rodney Brooks and Anita M. Flynn published "Fast, Cheap, and Out of Control: A Robot
Invasion of The Solar System". The paper advocated creating smaller cheaper robots in greater
numbers to increase production time and decrease the difficulty of launching robots into
space.[83]
[edit] 1991 to 2000

While competing in a 1993 NASA sponsored competition, Carnegie Mellon University's eight
legged robot Dante failed to collect gases from Mt. Erebus because of a broken fiber optic cable.
Dante was designed to scale slopes and harvest gases near the surface of the magma; however,
the failure in the cable did not permit the robot to enter the active volcano.[84] In 1994, Dante II
entered Mt. Spurr and successfully sampled the gases within the volcano.[85] The biomimetic
robot RoboTuna was built by doctoral student David Barrett[disambiguation needed] at the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1996 to study how fish swim in water. RoboTuna is
designed to swim and resemble a blue fin tuna.[86] Invented by Dr. John Adler, in 1994, the
Cyberknife (a stereotactic radiosurgery performing robot) offered an alternative treatment of
tumors with a comparable accuracy to surgery performed by human doctors.[87] Honda's P2
humanoid robot was first shown in 1996. Standing for "Prototype Model 2", P2 was an integral
part of Honda's humanoid development project; over 6 feet tall, P2 was smaller than its

predecessors and appeared to be more human-like in its motions.[88] Expected to only operate for
seven days, the Sojourner rover finally shuts down after 83 days of operation in 1997. This small
robot (only weighing 23 lbs) performed semi-autonomous operations on the surface of Mars as
part of the Mars Pathfinder mission; equipped with an obstacle avoidance program, Sojourner
was capable of planning and navigating routes to study the surface of the planet. Sojourner's
ability to navigate with little data about its environment and nearby surroundings allowed the
robot to react to unplanned events and objects.[89] Also in 1997, IBM's chess playing program
Deep Blue beat the then current World Chess Champion Garry Kasparov playing at the
"Grandmaster" level. The super computer was a specialized version of a framework produced by
IBM, and was capable of processing twice as many moves per second as it had during the first
match (which Deep Blue had lost), reportedly 200,000,000 moves per second. The event was
broadcast live over the internet and received over 74 million hits.[90] The P3 humanoid robot was
revealed by Honda in 1998 as a part of the company's continuing humanoid project.[91] In 1999,
Sony introduced the AIBO, a robotic dog capable of interacting with humans, the first models
released in Japan sold out in 20 minutes.[92] Honda revealed the most advanced result of their
humanoid project in 2000, named ASIMO. ASIMO is capable of running, walking,
communication with humans, facial and environmental recognition, voice and posture
recognition, and interacting with its environment.[93] Sony also revealed its Sony Dream Robots,
small humanoid robots in development for entertainment.[94] In October 2000, the United Nations
estimated that there were 742,500 industrial robots in the world, with more than half of the
robots being used in Japan.[10]
[edit] 2001 to 2010

In April 2001, the Canadarm2 was launched into orbit and attached to the International Space
Station. The Canadarm2 is a larger, more capable version of the arm used by the Space Shuttle
and is hailed as being "smarter."[95] Also in April, the Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Global Hawk
made the first autonomous non-stop flight over the Pacific Ocean from Edwards Air Force Base
in California to RAAF Base Edinburgh in Southern Australia. The flight was made in 22
hours.[96] The popular Roomba, a robotic vacuum cleaner, was first released in 2002 by the
company iRobot.[97] In 2004, Cornell University revealed a robot capable of self-replication; a
set of cubes capable of attaching and detaching, the first robot capable of building copies of
itself.[98] On 3 and 24 January the Mars rovers Spirit and Opportunity land on the surface of
Mars. Launched in 2003, the two robots will drive many times the distance originally expected,
and Opportunity is still operating as of mid 2012.[99] Self-driving cars had made their appearance
by the middle of the first decade of the 21st century, but there was room for improvement. All 15
teams competing in the 2004 DARPA Grand Challenge failed to complete the course, with no
robot successfully navigating more than five percent of the 150 mile off road course, leaving the
$1 million dollar prize unclaimed.[100] In the 2005 DARPA Grand Challenge, five teams
completed the off-road course; Stanford University's Stanley won first place and the $2 million
dollar prize.[101] Also in 2005, Honda revealed a new version of its ASIMO robot, updated with
new behaviors and capabilities.[102] In 2006, Cornell University revealed its "Starfish" robot, a 4legged robot capable of self modeling and learning to walk after having been damaged.[103] In
September 2007, Google announced its Lunar X Prize. The Lunar X Prize offers 30 million
dollars to the first private company which lands a rover on the moon and sends images back to
earth.[104] In 2007, TOMY launched the entertainment robot, i-sobot, which is a humanoid

bipedal robot that can walk like a human beings and performs kicks and punches and also some
entertaining tricks and special actions under "Special Action Mode".
[edit] 2010 to the present

Robonaut 2, the latest generation of the astronaut helpers, launched to the space station aboard
Space Shuttle Discovery on the STS-133 mission. It is the first humanoid robot in space, and
although its primary job for now is teaching engineers how dexterous robots behave in space, the
hope is that through upgrades and advancements, it could one day venture outside the station to
help spacewalkers make repairs or additions to the station or perform scientific work

Robotics
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The Shadow robot hand system

Robotics is the branch of technology that deals with the design, construction, operation,
development and application of robots [1] and computer systems for their control, sensory
feedback, and information processing. These technologies deal with automated machines that

can take the place of humans, in dangerous or manufacturing processes, or simply just resemble
humans. Many of today's robots are inspired by nature contributing to the field of bio-inspired
robotics.
The concept in creation of machines that could operate autonomously dates back to classical
times, but research into the functionality and potential uses of robots did not grow substantially
until the 20th century.[2] Throughout history, robotics has been often seen to mimic human
behavior, and often manage tasks in a similar fashion. Today, robotics is a rapidly growing field,
as technological advances continue, research, design, and building new robots serve various
practical purposes, whether domestically, commercially, or militarily. Many robots do jobs that
are hazardous to people such as defusing bombs, exploring shipwrecks, and mines.

Date

Significance
One of the earliest descriptions of automata
appears in the Lie Zi text, on a much earlier
Third
encounter between King Mu of Zhou (1023
century
957 BC) and a mechanical engineer known as
B.C. and
Yan Shi, an 'artificer'. The latter allegedly
earlier
presented the king with a life-size, humanshaped figure of his mechanical handiwork.[7]
Descriptions of more than 100 machines and
First
automata, including a fire engine, a wind
century
organ, a coin-operated machine, and a steamA.D. and
powered engine, in Pneumatica and Automata
earlier
by Heron of Alexandria
c. 420
A wooden, steam propelled bird, which was
B.C.E
able to fly

1206

Created early humanoid automata,

programmable automaton band[8]

1495

Designs for a humanoid robot

1738
1898
1921
1930s

Mechanical duck that was able to eat, flap its

wings, and excrete
Nikola Tesla demonstrates first radiocontrolled vessel.
First fictional automatons called "robots"
appear in the play R.U.R.
Humanoid robot exhibited at the 1939 and

Robot Name

Inventor

Yan Shi

Ctesibius, Philo of
Byzantium, Heron
of Alexandria, and
others
Archytas of
Tarentum
Robot band, handwashing
automaton,[9]
Al-Jazari
automated moving
peacocks[10]
Leonardo da
Mechanical knight
Vinci
Jacques de
Digesting Duck
Vaucanson
Teleautomaton

Nikola Tesla

Rossum's Universal
Karel apek
Robots
Elektro
Westinghouse

1940 World's Fairs

1948

1956
1961
1973

1974

1975

2004

Simple robots exhibiting biological

Elsie and Elmer
behaviors[11]
First commercial robot, from the Unimation
company founded by George Devol and
Unimate
Joseph Engelberger, based on Devol's
patents[12]
First installed industrial robot.
Unimate
First industrial robot with six
Famulus
electromechanically driven axes[13][14]
The worlds first microcomputer controlled
electric industrial robot, IRB 6 from ASEA,
was delivered to a small mechanical
IRB 6
engineering company in southern Sweden.
The design of this robot had been patented
already 1972.
Programmable universal manipulation arm, a
PUMA
Unimation product
Launch of IRC5, which set new standards with
its modular concept, a completely new
ergonomically-designed Windows CE
IRC5
interface unit (touch screen) to speed up
programming.

Electric
Corporation
William Grey
Walter
George Devol
George Devol
KUKA Robot
Group

ABB Robot
Group

Victor Scheinman

ABB Robot
Group