robotmatrix.org

 The Inception

The history of robot begins from 1921, when the first reference to the word robot appears in a play opening in London. The play, written by Czechoslovakian Karel Capek, introduces the word robot from the Czech robota, which means tedious labor.

1938

The first programmable paint-spraying mechanism is designed by Willard Pollard and Haroid Roselund for the DeVilbiss Company.

1951

The first teleoperated articulated arm was designed by Raymond Goertz for the Atomic Energy Commission. The design is based entirely on mechanical coupling between the master and slave arms (using steel cables and pulleys).

1954

The first programmable robot named Universal Automation, is designed by George Devol. He later shortens the name to Unimation, which then becomes the name of the first robot company.

1962

General Motors purchases the first industrial robot from Unimation and installs it on a production line.

1968

Stanford Research Institute (SRI) builds Shakey, a mobile robot with vision capability, controlled by a computer the size of a room.

1970

At Standford University a electrically powered robot arm is developed which later its kinematic configuration becomes a standard for research projects. The arm is known as the Stanford Arm.

1973

The first commercially available minicomputer controlled industrial robot is developed by Richard Hohn for Cincinnati Milacron.

1976

Robots are used on Viking 1 and Viking 2 space probes.

1977

ASEA, a European robot company, offers two sizes of electric powered industrial robots. Both robots use a microcomputer controller.

1978

The Puma (Programmable Universal Machine for Assembly) robot is developed by Unimation.

1979

Hiroshi Makino of Yamanashi University designs the Selective Compliant Articulated Robot Arm (SCARA) for assembly jobs in factories. They are very common in pick-and-place, assembly, and packaging aplications.