Adam's Robot Page

THE HISTORY OF ROBOTICS
by ADAM CURRIE

Left: Sony Corp's robot dog "Aibo" with its living cousin (from BBC News). Center: "Robot III" six-legged robotic insect, developed by Roger Quinn and Roy Ritzmann at Case Western Reserve University (from Hexapod robots web site ). Right: Honda Corporation's humanoid robot "P3" can walk, climb stairs, play soccer and tighten bolts (from Honda "Human" Robot" web site; see movie below).

AUDIO GREETING!
ALTERNATIVE AUDIO GREETING!

"To invent you need a good imagination and a pile of junk."
-Thomas Alva Edison

Ever since robots have been invented, people have been very interested in them. Robotic technology has made many things possible, including (1) space and deep sea exploration, (2) dangerous military and police missions, (3) new types of entertainment, and (4) life-like new toys that talk and respond like real creatures.

I. History of the words "ROBOT" and "ROBOTICS":

This is a robot from the 1921 play "R.U.R." (image from the Robot Museum web site).

The word "Robot" comes from the 1921 play "R.U.R." (Rossum's Universal Robots) by the Czech writer Karel Capek (pronounced "chop'ek"). "Robot" comes from the Czech word "robota", meaning "forced labor." Karel Capek died just after the German invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1938, before the Gestapo (the German secret police) could get to him. The play was a great success when it opened in the U.S. The word "robotics" also comes from science fiction - it first appeared in the short story "Runaround" (1942) by Isaac Asimov. This story was later included in Asimov's famous book "I, Robot." The robot stories of Isaac Asimov also introduced the idea of a "positronic brain" (used by the character "Data" in Star Trek) and the "three laws of robotics." Later, he added the "zeroth" law.

Three Laws of Robotics:

* Law Zero:
        A robot may not injure humanity, or, though inaction, allow humanity to come to harm.
* Law One:
        A robot may not injure a human being, or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm, unless this would violate a higher order law.
* Law Two:
        A robot must obey orders given it by human beings, except where such orders would confict with a higher order law.
* Law Three:
        A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with a higher order law.

Definition of a Robot

According to The Robot Institute of America (1979) :
"A reprogrammable, multifunctional manipulator designed to move materials, parts, tools, or specialized devices through various programmed motions for the performance of a variety of tasks."

According to the Webster dictionary:
"An automatic device that performs functions normally ascribed to humans or a machine in the form of a human (Webster, 1993)."

II. History of Real-World Robots:

One of the first robots was the clepsydra or water clock, which was made in 250 B.C. It was created by Ctesibius of Alexandria, a Greek physicist and inventor. The earliest remote control vehicles were built by Nikola Tesla in the 1890's. Tesla is best known as the inventor of AC electric power, radio (before Marconi), induction motors, Tesla coils, and other electrical devices. Other early robots (1940's - 50's) were Grey Walter's "Elsie the tortoise" ("Machina speculatrix") and the Johns Hopkins "beast." "Shakey" was a small unstable box on wheels that used memory and logical reasoning to solve problems and navigate in its environment. It was developed by the Stanford Research Institute (SRI) in Palo Alto, California in the 1960s. The General Electric Walking Truck was a large (3,000 pounds) four legged robot that could walk up to four miles a hour. The walking truck was the first legged vehicle with a computer-brain, developed by Ralph Moser at General Electric Corp. in the 1960s. The first modern industrial robots were probably the "Unimates", created by George Devol and Joe Engleberger in the 1950's and 60's. Engleberger started the first robotics company, called "Unimation", and has been called the "father of robotics."

Isaac Asimov and Joe Engleberger
(image from Robotics Society of America web site)

Left: Grey Walter's tortoise, restored recently by Owen Holland and fully operational (from Arkin, 1998). Center: Shakey the robot. Shakey was the first mobile robot that could think independently and interact with its surroundings (from Wickelgren, 1996). Right: General Electric Walking Truck. A human controlled the stepping of this robot by pushing pedals with his feet. The complicated coordination of movements within a leg and between different legs during stepping was controlled by a computer (from Wickelgren, 1996).

III. Modern uses of Robots:

1) for EXPLORATION

People are interested in places that are sometimes full of danger, like outer space, or the deep ocean. But when they can not go there themselves, they make robots that can go there. The robots are able to carry cameras and other instruments so that they can collect information and send it back to their human operators.

The "Odyssey IIb" submersible robot is shown suspended in a tank. It was developed by research scientists at M.I.T. for ocean exploration. The inset shows the "Sojourner" microrover robot being repaired at the Jet Propulsion Labs. Sojourner landed on the surface of Mars on July 4, 1998 (from National Geographic, July 1997).

2) for INDUSTRY

When doing a job, robots can do many things faster than humans. Robots do not need to be paid, eat, drink, or go to the bathroom like people. They can do repetative work that is absolutely boring to people and they will not stop, slow down, or fall to sleep like a human.

"Industrial robots spot weld automobile bodies on an assembly line" (from National Geographic, July 1997).

3) for MEDICINE

Sometimes when operating, doctors have to use a robot instead. A human would not be able to make a hole exactly one 100th of a inch wide and long. When making medicines, robots can do the job much faster and more accurately than a human can. Also, a robot can be more delicate than a human.

"ROBODOC", a modified industrial robot, drills a precise hole in the femur (thigh bone) of this skeleton (from National Geographic, July 1997).

Some doctors and engineers are also developing prosthetic (bionic) limbs that use robotic mechanisms. Dr. David Gow, of the Prosthetics Research and Development Team at Princess Margaret Rose Orthopaedic Hospital, made the first bionic arm called the Edinburgh Modular Arm System (EMAS) in 1998. See also the news article from BBC NEWS ONLINE and the bionic arm web page of the Princess Margaret Rose Orthopaedic Hospital.

Campbell Aird, Scottish hotel owner, fitted with the world's first bionic arm (images from The Irish Times web site).

4) for the MILITARY and POLICE

Police need certain types of robots for bomb-disposal and for bringing video cameras and microphones into dangerous areas, where a human policeman might get hurt or killed. The military also uses robots for (1) locating and destroying mines on land and in water, (2) entering enemy bases to gather information, and (3) spying on enemy troops.

"MERV"- police remote control bomb-disposal robot (from http://atg.triumf.ca/merv.htm).

"Cypher"- remote control helicopter for military surveillance (6 ft diameter, 50 mile range; (from National Geographic, July 1997).

5) for ENTERTAINMENT

At first, robots where just for entertainment, but as better technology became available, real robots were created. Many robots are still seen on T.V. (Star Trek - The Next Generation) and in the movies (The Day the Earth Stood Still, Forbidden Planet, Lost in Space, Blade Runner, Star Wars). These imaginary robots do alot of things that the real ones can not do. Some robots in movies are made to attack people, but in real life they cannot really hurt people at all because they are not in control of themselves. Robots also attack humans in video and computer games. So don't think all robots do is kill, because they can't.

"Commander Data" from Star Trek, an android robot with a "positronic brain."

"Gort" from the movie "The Day The Earth Stood Still."

6) for TOYS

The new robot technology is making interesting types of toys that children will like to play with. One new robotic toy is the "FURBY", which became available in stores for Christmas 1998 - and continues to be very popular. Another is the "LEGO MINDSTORMS" robot construction kit. These kits, which were developed by the LEGO company with M.I.T. scientists, let kids create and program their own robots. A third is "Aibo" - Sony Corporation's robotic dog. Sony is selling limited numbers of Aibo in the U.S.

The "FURBY" Lego Mindstorms

IV. Robot movies:

   "Ariel" six-legged underwater robot (from Nova Online / Robots web site; Ariel built by IS Robotics)
   "Biped" two-legged running robot (from M.I.T. "leg lab" web site)
    Honda humanoid robot going up stairs (from Honda web site)
    Honda humanoid robot walking (from Honda web site)
   "Kismet" - face to face interaction (from M.I.T. artificial intelligence lab)
    Mitsubishi robot fish (RealPlayer movie from BBC News Online)
   Robbie the robot (from CNN.com)
   "Robo-pike" swimming robot (from M.I.T. tow-tank web site)
    Sony robot dog - chasing ball (from Sony Robotic Dog web site)
    Sony robot dog - shaking hands (from Sony Robotic Dog web site)
    "Troody" the robotic dinosaur (from M.I.T. "leg lab" web site)
   "Uniroo" one-legged hopping robot (from M.I.T. "leg lab" web site)

V. Robots in the news:

R2D2 & you.html (from New York Times on-line)
lobster.html (from Boston Globe on-line)
Mitsubishi robot fish (from BBC News on-line)

The $1 million-dollar Mitsubishi robot fish.

VI. BIBLIOGRAPHY

Books and magazines:

Arkin, Ronald C. (1998) Behavior-Based Robotics. M.I.T. Press, Cambridge, MA.
Asimov, Isaac (1950) I, Robot. Fawcett Publ., Greenwhich, CT.
Capek, Karel (1923) R.U.R. Oxford University Press, Oxford, UK.
Greene, Carol. (1983) A New True Book Robots. Childrens Press, Chicago, IL.
Suplee, Curt (1997) Robot revolution. National Geographic 192: 76-95.
Walter, W. Grey (1953) The Living Brain. Norton and Company New York NY.
Wickelgren, Ingrid (1996) Ramblin’ Robots. Franklin Watts, New York, NY.