HISTORY OF ROBOTICS (PART 2)

First use of the word 'robotics'

The word 'robotics' was first used in Runaround, a short story published in 1942, by Isaac Asimov (born Jan. 2, 1920, died Apr. 6, 1992). I, Robot, a collection of several of these stories, was published in 1950.

One of the first robots Asimov wrote about was a robotherapist. A modern counterpart to Asimov's fictional character is Eliza. Eliza was born in 1966 by a Massachusetts Institute of Technology Professor Joseph Weizenbaum who wrote Eliza -- a computer program for the study of natural language communication between man and machine.

She was initially programmed with 240 lines of code to simulate a psychotherapist by answering questions with questions.


Three Laws of Robotics

Asimov also proposed his three "Laws of Robotics", and he later added a 'zeroth law'.

Law Zero: A robot may not injure humanity, or, through 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 conflict 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.


The First Robot: 'Unimate'

After the technology explosion during World War II, in 1956, a historic meeting occurs between George C. Devol, a successful inventor and entrepreneur, and engineer Joseph F. Engelberger, over cocktails the two discuss the writings of Isaac Asimov.

Together they made a serious and commercially successful effort to develop a real, working robot. They persuaded Norman Schafler of Condec Corporation in Danbury that they had the basis of a commercial success.

Engelberger started a manufacturing company 'Unimation' which stood for universal automation and so the first commercial company to make robots was formed. Devol wrote the necessary patents. Their first robot nicknamed the 'Unimate'. As a result, Engelberger has been called the 'father of robotics.'

The first Unimate was installed at a General Motors plant to work with heated die-casting machines. In fact most Unimates were sold to extract die castings from die casting machines and to perform spot welding on auto bodies, both tasks being particularly hateful jobs for people.

Both applications were commercially successful, i.e., the robots worked reliably and saved money by replacing people. An industry was spawned and a variety of other tasks were also performed by robots, such as loading and unloading machine tools.

Ultimately Westinghouse acquired Unimation and the entrepreneurs' dream of wealth was achieved. Unimation is still in production today, with robots for sale.

The robot idea was hyped to the skies and became high fashion in the Boardroom. Presidents of large corporations bought them, for about $100,000 each, just to put into laboratories to "see what they could do;" in fact these sales constituted a large part of the robot market. Some companies even reduced their ROI (Return On Investment criteria for investment) for robots to encourage their use.

Source : http://www.robotics.utexas.edu/rrg/learn_more/history/