Robotics history

  • William Grey Walter Develops 'turtle' robots

    William Grey Water made the first automated electronic robot. The turtle-like robots were named Elmer and Elsie and were capable of way-finding to reach a charging station when their battery levels were low
  • George Devol Designed the first programmable robotic arm

    George Devol marketed and designed the first programmable robotic arm, and sold it to General Motors in 1960
  • World's first robotics company

    George Devol and Joseph Engelberger form the world's first robotics company, Unimation.
  • World's first industrial robot

    Unimate, the world's first industrial robot, goes to work on a General Motors assembly line
  • SRI develops 'Shakey' the robot

    Designed by Stanford Research Institute, 'Shakey' was a major event in robotics history due to its blending of hardware and software that made it possible for it to perceive its surroundings
  • NASA lands on the moon

    Using cutting edge robotics and technology, NASA was able to land humans on the moon for the first time
  • Star Wars released in theateres

    Star wars was released in theaters which popularized humanoid robotics
  • Robot attempts to explore Antarctica

    An eight-legged robot named 'Dante' attempts to explore Antarctica's Mount Erebus volcano. It is remotely controlled from the U.S.
  • Robot beats chess champion

    A robot named 'deep blue' beat the world champion (Garry Kasparov) in just a single round
  • Honda releases ASIMO

    Honda designed ASIMO (Advanced Step in Innovative Mobility), which was a humanoid robot designed to be a personal assistant that can understand voice commands, gestures and engage with its surroundings
  • IBM works on 'Watson'

    IBM starts work on Watson, its next iteration on Deep Blue. Watson made headlines in 2008 when it defeated humans at the quiz show Jeopardy