History
The idea of automata originates in the mythologies of many cultures around the world. Engineers and inventors from ancient civilizations, including Ancient China, Ancient Greece, and Ptolemaic Egypt, attempted to build self-operating machines, some resembling animals and humans. Early descriptions of automata include the artificial doves of Archytas, the artificial birds of Mozi and Lu Ban, a "speaking" automaton by Hero of Alexandria, a washstand automaton by Philo of Byzantium, and a human automaton described in the Lie Zi.
| Date | Significance | Robot name | Inventor |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st century AD and earlier | Descriptions of over a hundred machines and automata, including a fire engine, wind organ, coin-operated machine, and steam-powered aeliopile, in Pneumatica and Automata by Heron | Ctesibius, Philo, Heron, and others | |
| 1206 | Early programmable automata | Robot band | Al-Jazari |
| c. 1495 | Designs for a humanoid robot | Mechanical knight | Leonardo da Vinci |
| 1738 | Mechanical duck that was able to eat, flap its wings, and excrete | Digesting Duck | Jacques de Vaucanson |
| 19th century | Japanese mechanical toys that served tea, fired arrows, and painted | Karakuri toys | Hisashige Tanaka |
| (c. 1860) | Remotely (mechanical) steered clockwork fire ship | (Coastal fireship) | Unknown/Giovanni Luppis |
| Early 1870s | Remotely controlled torpedos by John Ericsson (pneumatic), John Louis Lay (electric wire guided), and Victor von Scheliha (electric wire guided) | (torpedo) | John Ericsson, John Louis Lay, Victor von Scheliha |
| 1898 | Tesla demonstrates the first radio controlled (wireless) vessel (torpedo) | (torpedo) | Nikola Tesla |
| 1921 | First fictional automata called "robots" appear in the play R.U.R. | Rossum's Universal Robots | Karel Čapek |
| 1928 | Humanoid robot, based on a suit of armor with electrical actuators, exhibited at the annual exhibition of the Model Engineers Society in London | Eric | W. H. Richards |
| 1930s | Remotely controlled humanoid robot exhibited at the 1939 and 1940 World's Fairs | Elektro | Westinghouse Electric Corporation |
| 1948 | Simple robots exhibiting biological behaviors | Elsie and Elmer | William Grey Walter |
| 1956 | First commercial robot, from the Unimation company founded by George Devol and Joseph Engelberger, based on Devol's patents | Unimate | George Devol |
| 1961 | First installed industrial robot | Unimate | George Devol |
| 1963 | First palletizing robot | Palletizer | Fuji Yusoki Kogyo |
| 1973 | First robot with six electromechanically driven axes | Famulus | KUKA Robotics |
| 1976 | Programmable universal manipulation arm, a Unimation product | PUMA | Victor Scheinman |
Read more about this topic: Robot
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