Around 1495, before he began work on the Last Supper, Leonardo Di Vinci designed the first humanoid robot.
The word "android" is entered in the Chambers Cyclopædia recording German philosopher and alchemist Albertus Magnus’ (c1200-1280) attempts to create an “androides “. (An automaton resembling a human being. artificial being.).
Joseph Jacquard builds an automated loom that is controlled with punched cards. Punch cards are later used as an input method for some of the 20th century’s earliest computers.
Charles Babbage demonstrates a prototype of his "Difference Engine" to the Royal Astronomical Society. He continues his work by designing an even more ambitious project the “Analytical Engine" that reportedly was to use punch cards inspired by Joseph Jacquard's invention
Nikolai Tesla demonstrates the first remote-controlled vehicle. The remote-control boat could be commanded to go, stop, turn left and right, turn its lights on and off, and even submerge. The public was not impressed. Press reports spoke of “mind control”, which didn't help Tesla's scientific reputation.
The word ROBOT is used for the first time in the context of mechanical people in a play called "R.U.R (Rossum's Universal Robots)” by Czech dramatist Karel Capek. These are intelligent machines meant to serve their human makers. But the play ends dramatic as robots took over the world and destroyed humanity. Capek called these powerful beings "Robota" meaning “slave or forced labour”. He distinguishes the robot from man by the absence of emotion.
Fritz Lang's movie "Metropolis" is released. "Maria" the female robot in the film is the first robot to be projected on the silver screen. Maria is considered the precursor to Star War's C-3PO.
Issac Asimov is generally credited with the popularization of the term "Robotics" which was first mentioned in his story "Runaround" in 1942. His most important contribution to the history of the robot is the creation of his “Laws of Robotics”.
First presentation of the concept of a stored program (John von Neumann) and generic re-programmability of computers. The first general-purpose digital computer, dubbed Whirlwind, solves its first problem at M.I.T.
British robotics pioneer William Grey Walter creates autonomous machines called Elmer and Elsie that mimic life-like behaviour with very simple circuitry. These are the first “turtle” robots.
Alan Turing publishes Computing Machinery and Intelligence in which he proposes a test to determine whether or not a machine has gained the power to think for itself (The "Turing Test"). Since then each year a contest is held between various software developers to determine how close they have come to the true Turing Machine.
The first Numerically Controlled (NC) machine is built at MIT by John T. Parsons. It is connected to Whirlwind (See 1946). It was used to make ashtrays for visiting guests.
George Devol and Joe Engleberger design the first programmable robot "arm". This development led to the development of the first industrial robot “UNIMATE” in 1961.
Victor Scheinman, a Mechanical Engineering student working in the Stanford Artificial Intelligence Lab (SAIL) creates the Stanford Arm. It was the first successful electrically powered, computer-controlled robot arm. By 1974, the Stanford Arm could assemble a Ford Model-T water pump, guiding itself with optical and contact sensors.
Star Wars is released. George Lucas' movie introduces viewers to R2D2 and C3PO. The movie creates the strongest image of a human future with robots since the 1960's and inspires a generation of researchers. ASEA, a European robot company, offers two sizes of electric powered industrial robots. Both robots use a microcomputer controller for programming and operation.
A walking robot named Genghis is unveiled by the Mobile Robots Group at MIT. It becomes known for the way it walks, popularly referred to as the "Genghis gait".
RoboTuna (a robot fish) is designed and built by David Barrett for his doctoral thesis at MIT. It is used to study the way fish swim. Chris Campbell and Dr. Stuart Wilkinson turn a brewing accident into inspiration at the University of South Florida. The result is the Gastrobot, a robot that digests organic mass to produce carbon dioxide that is then used for power. They call their creation the "flatulence engine". Later a more conventional nickname is given: "Chew Chew".
The first RoboCup football tournament is held in Nagoya, Japan. The Pathfinder Mission lands on Mars. Its robotic rover Sojourner, rolls down a ramp and onto Martian soil in early July. It continues to broadcast data from the Martian surface until September.
Sony builds Aibo. One of the first robots intended for the consumer market. It reacts to sounds and has some sort of preprogrammed behavior. It sells out within 20 minutes of going on sale.
The Robotics Group updates its flagship mobile robot to the B21r. Honda debuts a new humanoid robot “ASIMO”, the next generation of its series of humanoid robots. See 1986 and 1991 for the earlier series. October, The UN estimates that there are 742,500 industrial robots in use worldwide. More than half of these are being used in Japan.
The DARPA Grand Challenge: Urban challenge sees robotic cars compete in various challenges in simulated urban environments. New Zealands entry is the Grand Challenge Nomadz.
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