The word "robot" conjures up a variety of images, from R2D2 and C3PO of Star Wars fame to human like machines that exist to serve their creators (perhaps in the form of the cooking and cleaning Rosie in the popular cartoon series the Jetsons); to the Rover Sojourner, which explored the Martian landscape as part of the Mars Pathfinder mission. Some people may alternatively perceive robots as dangerous technological ventures that will someday lead to the demise of the human race, either by outsmarting or outmuscling us and taking over the world, or by turning us into completely technology-dependent beings who passively sit by and program robots to do all of our work. In fact, the first use of the word "robot" occurred in a play about mechanical men that are built to work on factory assembly lines and that rebel against their human masters. These machines in R.U.R. (Rossum's Universal Robots), written by Czech playwright Karl Capek in 1921, got their name from the Czech word for slave.
The word "robotics" was also coined by a writer. Russian-born American science-fiction writer Isaac Asimov first used the word in 1942 in his short story "Runabout." Asimov had a much brighter and more optimistic opinion of the robot's role in human society than did Capek. He generally characterized the robots in his short stories as helpful servants of man and viewed robots as "a better, cleaner race." Asimov also proposed three "Laws of Robotics" that his robots, as well as sci-fi robotic characters of many other stories, followed
Law One :
A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.
Law Two :
A robot must obey the orders given it by human beings except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.
Law Three :
A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law.
One of the first instances of a mechanical device built to regularly carry out a particular physical task occurred around 3000 B.C.: Egyptian water clocks used human figurines to strike the hour bells. In 400 B.C., Archytus of Taremtum, inventor of the pulley and the screw, also invented a wooden pigeon that could fly. Hydraulically-operated statues that could speak, gesture, and prophecy were commonly constructed in Hellenic Egypt during the second century B.C. In the first century A.D., Petronius Arbiter made a doll that could move like a human being. Giovanni Torriani created a wooden robot that could fetch the Emperor's daily bread from the store in 1557. Robotic inventions reached a relative peak (before the 20th century) in the 1700s; countless ingenius, yet impractical, automata (i.e. robots) were created during this time period. The 19th century was also filled with new robotic creations, such as a talking doll by Edison and a steam-powered robot by Canadians. Although these inventions throughout history may have planted the first seeds of inspiration for the modern robot, the scientific progress made in the 20th century in the field of robotics surpass previous advancements a thousandfold.
The earliest robots as we know them were created in the early 1950s by George C. Devol, an inventor from Louisville, Kentucky. He invented and patented a reprogrammable manipulator called "Unimate," from "Universal Automation." For the next decade, he attempted to sell his product in the industry, but did not succeed. In the late 1960s, businessman/engineer Joseph Engleberger acquired Devol's robot patent and was able to modify it into an industrial robot and form a company called Unimation to produce and market the robots. For his efforts and successes, Engleberger is known in the industry as "the Father of Robotics." Academia also made much progress in the creation new robots. In 1958 at the Stanford Research Institute, Charles Rosen led a research team in developing a robot called "Shakey." Shakey was far more advanced than the original Unimate, which was designed for specialized, industrial applications. Shakey could wheel around the room, observe the scene with his television "eyes," move across unfamiliar surroundings, and to a certain degree, respond to his environment. He was given his name because of his wobbly and clattering movements.
Robot Timeline
~270BC an ancient Greek engineer named Ctesibus made organs and water clocks with movable figures.
1818 - Mary Shelley wrote "Frankenstein" which was about a frightening artificial lifeform created by Dr. Frankenstein.
1921 - The term "robot" was first used in a play called "R.U.R." or "Rossum's Universal Robots" by the Czech writer Karel Capek. The plot was simple: man makes robot then robot kills man!
1941 - Science fiction writer Isaac Asimov first used the word "robotics" to describe the technology of robots and predicted the rise of a powerful robot industry.
1942 - Asimov wrote "Runaround", a story about robots which contained the "Three Laws of Robotics":
A robot may not injure a human, or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.
A robot must obey the orders it by human beings except where such orders would conflic with the First Law.
A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict withe the First or Second Law.
1948 - "Cybernetics", an influence on artificial intelligence research was published by Norbert Wiener
1956 - George Devol and Joseph Engelberger formed the world's first robot company.
1959 - Computer-assisted manufacturingg was demonstrated at the Servomechanisms Lab at MIT.
1961 - The first industrial robot was online in a General Motors automobile factory in New Jersey. It was called UNIMATE.
1963 - The first artificial robotic arm to be controlled by a computer was designed. The Rancho Arm was designed as a tool for the handicapped and it's six joints gave it the flexibility of a human arm.
1965 - DENDRAL was the first expert system or program designed to execute the accumulated knowledge of subject experts.
1968 - The octopus-like Tentacle Arm was developed by Marvin Minsky.
1969 - The Stanford Arm was the first electrically powered, computer-controlled robot arm.
1970 - Shakey was introduced as the first mobile robot controlled by artificial intellence. It was produced by SRI International.
1974 - A robotic arm (the Silver Arm) that performed small-parts assembly using feedback from touch and pressure sensors was designed.
1979 - The Standford Cart crossed a chair-filled room without human assistance. The cart had a tv camera mounted on a rail which took pictures from multiple angles and relayed them to a computer. The computer analyzed the distance between the cart and the obstacles.
No comments:
Post a Comment