Robot
The word robot first appeared in public consciousness during the 1920s. Karel Čapek introduced the term in his play R.U.R., published in 1920. The play depicted a factory using chemical substitutes to create living, simplified people called robots. These mass-produced workers were efficient but emotionless and incapable of original thinking. A number of specially-formulated robots achieved self-awareness and incited others worldwide to rise against humans. Čapek did not coin the word himself. He wrote a short letter naming his brother Josef Čapek as its actual originator. The Czech word robota means forced labor or drudgery. It derives from Old Church Slavonic roots meaning work period a serf had to give for their lord. This typically involved six months of the year. The term spread quickly across Slavic languages including Slovak, Polish, and archaic Czech. English pronunciation evolved rapidly after introduction. In the late 1930s to early 1940s it was pronounced with stress on the second syllable. By the late 1950s to early 1960s some used different pronunciations while others kept older forms. The current pronunciation became predominant by the 1970s.
Ancient cultures described artificial people in their writings long before modern robotics existed. Greek mythology included Galatea, the mythical statue carved by Pygmalion that came to life. Talos was a man of bronze who guarded Crete from pirates. The Greek god Hephaestus built mechanical servants to assist him. Archytas described a steam-operated mechanical bird called The Pigeon during the fourth century BCE. Ctesibius improved clepsydra water clocks and produced the first hydraulus several decades later. Philo of Byzantium described a washstand automaton. Hero of Alexandria created numerous user-configurable automated devices powered by pneumatics, hydraulics, and steam. He even included a speaking automaton among his creations. Chinese texts reported that Mohist philosopher Mozi and Lu Ban built artificial wooden birds capable of flight around the fifth century BCE. Su Song constructed a water clock tower in 1066 featuring mechanical figurines that chimed hours. His mechanism had a programmable drum machine with pegs operating percussion instruments. Indian automata appeared in eleventh-century Buddhist texts including Samarangana Sutradhara. These included mechanical bees, birds, fountains shaped like humans and animals, and dolls refilling oil lamps. Ismail al-Jazari built automated devices driven by hydropower in thirteenth-century Mesopotamia. One humanoid waitress served drinks stored in reservoir tanks after dripping into buckets. Leonardo da Vinci sketched plans for a mechanical humanoid robot around 1495 able to sit up, wave arms, move head and jaw.
William Grey Walter created the first electronic autonomous robots with complex behavior at Bristol England between 1948 and 1949. His Burden Neurological Institute team named them Elmer and Elsie often described as tortoises due to shape and slow movement. The three-wheeled robots could find their way to recharging stations when battery power ran low through phototaxis. Walter stressed using purely analogue electronics to simulate brain processes while contemporaries turned toward digital computation. George Devol invented the first digitally operated and programmable robot in 1954 ultimately called Unimate. He sold the first Unimate to General Motors in 1960 installed in Trenton New Jersey in 1961. This machine lifted hot pieces of metal from die casting machines and stacked them at Inland Fisher Guide Plant. The first palletizing robot appeared in 1963 introduced by Fuji Yusoki Kogyo Company. Victor Scheinman invented the programmable universal manipulation arm in 1976 selling design to Unimation. KUKA robotics patented a six electromechanically driven axis robot in 1973. Honda developed ASIMO Advanced Step in Innovative Mobility showcased at Expo 2005. TOSY created TOPIO Ping Pong Playing Robot demonstrating humanoid capabilities at Tokyo International Robot Exhibition in 2009.
Robots now dominate automobile factories with one robot for every ten human workers on automated production lines. Vehicle chassis get welded glued painted and assembled at sequence of robot stations across hundreds of industrial robots. Mass-produced printed circuit boards are almost exclusively manufactured by pick-and-place robots removing tiny electronic components from strips or trays. Such robots place hundreds of thousands of components per hour far outperforming humans in speed accuracy and reliability. Automated guided vehicles transport goods around large facilities like warehouses container ports or hospitals following markers wires vision or lasers. Caterpillar Inc developed self-driving dump trucks without human operators starting in 2008. Rio Tinto Coal Australia actively used these trucks in mining operations in Western Australia by 2015. The company expanded autonomous truck fleet to world largest consisting of 150 autonomous Komatsu trucks. Foxconn announced three-year plan in July 2011 replacing workers with more robots increasing usage from ten thousand to million over period. Script Pro manufactures pharmacy filling robots handling oral solids or medications in pill form. These systems use electromechanical heads coupled with pneumatic systems capturing doses delivered to patient specific bins. Roomba domestic vacuum cleaner robots perform single menial jobs in homes worldwide. Baxter introduced September 2012 learns tasks by guidance allowing regular workers to program it within minutes without software engineers.
Researchers develop soft-bodied robots with silicone bodies flexible actuators air muscles electroactive polymers ferrofluids looking different from rigid skeleton designs. These squishy robots mimic biomechanics animals leading applications medicine care giving search rescue food handling manufacturing scientific exploration. Swarm robotics inspired colonies insects ants bees model behavior thousands tiny robots performing useful tasks finding hidden objects cleaning spying. Each robot quite simple but emergent swarm behavior more complex whole set considered single distributed system like ant colony superorganism exhibiting swarm intelligence. Largest swarms created include iRobot swarm SRI MobileRobots CentiBots project Open-source Micro-robotic Project swarm researching collective behaviors. Nanorobotics emerging technology field creating machines components at microscopic scale nanometer 10 minus 9 meters known nanobots nanites constructed molecular machines. Researchers produced parts bearings sensors synthetic molecular motors functioning robots entrants Nanobot Robocup contest hope create entire robots viruses bacteria size performing tasks individual cells level. Modular robots designed increase use modularizing architecture composed identical several different module types similarly shaped varying sizes allowing hyper-redundancy more than eight degrees freedom. Algorithms designed case such robots become reality enabling reconfiguration form suit particular task. Scientists reported July 2020 development mobile robot chemist assisting experimental searches identifying photocatalyst mixtures hydrogen production water six times active initial formulations.
Common questions
Who introduced the word robot to public consciousness in 1920?
Karel Čapek introduced the term robot in his play R.U.R. published in 1920. He credited his brother Josef Čapek as the actual originator of the Czech word robota which means forced labor or drudgery.
When did William Grey Walter create the first electronic autonomous robots named Elmer and Elsie?
William Grey Walter created the first electronic autonomous robots with complex behavior at Bristol England between 1948 and 1949. His Burden Neurological Institute team named them Elmer and Elsie often described as tortoises due to shape and slow movement.
What year did George Devol invent the first digitally operated and programmable robot called Unimate?
George Devol invented the first digitally operated and programmable robot in 1954 ultimately called Unimate. He sold the first Unimate to General Motors in 1960 installed in Trenton New Jersey in 1961.
How many autonomous Komatsu trucks does Rio Tinto Coal Australia operate by 2015?
Rio Tinto Coal Australia expanded its autonomous truck fleet to the world largest consisting of 150 autonomous Komatsu trucks. The company actively used these self-driving dump trucks without human operators in mining operations in Western Australia by 2015.
Which Japanese government issued an official report on robot safety systems in 2009?
The Japanese government issued an official report in 2009 through Robot Industry Policy Committee requiring safety systems possibly sets laws akin Asimov Three Laws. This document addressed implications of autonomous decision making regarding military robots and other complex machines.