The first person to use the word robot wasn’t a scientist, but a playwright. Czechoslovakian writer Karel Capek fi rst used the word robot in his satirical play, R.U.R. (Rossum’s Universal Robots). Taken from the Czech word for forced labor, the word was used to describe electronic servants who turn on their masters when given emotions. This was only the beginning of the badmouthing robots would receive for the next couple of decades. Many people feared that machines would resent their role as slaves or use their steely strength to overthrow humanity.
World War II was a catalyst in the development of two important robot components i.e., artifi cial sensing and autonomous control. Radar was essential for tracking the enemy. The U.S. military also created autocontrol systems for mine detectors that would sit in front of a tank as it crossed enemy lines. If a mine was detected, the control system would automatically stop the tank before it reached the mine. The Germans developed guided robotic bombs that were capable of correcting their trajectory.
Mathematician Charles Babbage dreamed up the idea for an “Analytical Engine” in the 1830s, but he was never able to build his device. It would take another 100 years before John Atanassoff would build the world’s fi rst digital computer. In 1946 the University of Pennsylvania completed the ENIAC (Electronic Numerical Integrator and Calculator), a massive machine made up of thousands of vacuum tubes. But these devices could only handle numbers. The UNIVAC I (Universal Automatic Computer) would be the fi rst device to deal with letters.
For robotics, the ’40s and ’50s were full of over-the-top ideas. The invention of the transistor in 1948 increased the rate of electronic growth and the possibilities seemed endless. Ten years later, the creation of silicon microchips reinforced that growth. The Westinghouse robot Elecktro showed how far science and imagination could go. The seven-foot robot could smoke and play the piano. Ads from the era suggested that every household would soon have a robot.
Industrial-strength Arms
As the demand for cars grew, manufacturers looked for new ways to increase the effi ciency of the assembly line through telecherics. This new fi eld focused on robots that mimicked the operator’s movements from a distance. In 1961 General Motors installed the applied telecherics system on their assembly line. The one-armed robot unloaded die casts, cooled components, and delivered them to a trim press. In 1978 the PUMA (Programmable Universal Machine for Assembly) was introduced and quickly became the standard for commercial telecherics.
Early Personal Robots 
With the rise of the personal computer came the personal robot craze of the early ’80s. The popularity of Star Wars didn’t hurt either. The fi rst personal robots looked like R2D2. The RB5X and the HERO 1 robots were both designed as education tools for learning about computers. The HERO 1 featured light, sound, and sonar sensors, a rotating head and, for its time, a powerful microprocessor.
But the robots had a lighter side, too. In demo mode, HERO 1 would sing. The RB5X even attempted to vacuum, but had problems with obstacles.
Arms in Space
Once earthlings traveled to space, they wanted to build things there. One of NASA’s essential construction tools 
is the Canadarm. First deployed in 1981 aboard the Columbia, the Canadarm has gone on to deploy and repair satellites, telescopes, and shuttles. Jet Propulsions Laboratories (JPL) in California has been working on several other devices for space construction since the late eighties. The Ranger Neutral Buoyancy Vehicle’s many manipulators are tested in a large pool of water to simulate outer space.
Surgical Tools
While robots haven’t replaced doctors, they are performing many surgical tasks. In 1985 Dr. Yik San Kwoh invented the robot software interface used in the fi rst robot-aided surgery, a stereotactic procedure. The surgery involves a small probe that travels into the skull. A CT scanner is used to give a 3D picture of the brain, so that the robot can plot the best path to the tumor. The PUMA robots are commonly used to learn the difference between healthy and diseased tissue, using tofu for practice.
The Honda Humanoid 
The team who created the Honda Humanoid robot took a lesson from our own bodies to build this two-legged robot. When they began in 1986, the idea was to create an intelligent robot that could get around in a human world, complete with stairs, carpeting, and other tough terrain. Getting a single robot mobile in a variety of environments had always been a challenge. But by studying feet and legs, the Honda team created a robot capable of climbing stairs, kicking a ball, pushing a cart, or tightening a screw.
Hazardous Duties
As scientifi c knowledge grew so did the level of questioning. And, as with space exploration, fi nding the answers could be dangerous. In 1994 the CMU Field Robotics Center sent Dante II, a tethered walking robot to explore Mt. Spurr in Alaska. Dante II aids in the dangerous recovery of volcanic gases and samples. These robotic arms with wheels (a.k.a. mobile applied telecherics) saved countless lives defusing bombs and 
investigating nuclear accident sites. The range of selfcontrol, or autonomy, on these robots varies.
Solar-powered Insects
Some robots mimic humans, while others resemble lower life forms. Mark Tilden’s BEAM robots look and act like big bugs. The name BEAM is an acronym for Tilden’s philosophy: biology, electronics, aesthetics, and mechanics. Tilden builds simple robots out of discrete components and shies away from the integrated circuits most other robots use for intelligence. Started in the early 1990s, the idea was to create inexpensive, solar-powered robots ideal for dangerous missions such as landmine detection.
A Range of Rovers
By the 1990s NASA was looking for something to regain the public’s enthusiasm for the space program. The answer was rovers. The fi rst of these small, semiautonomous robot platforms to be launched into space was the Sojourner, sent to Mars in 1996. Its mission involved testing soil composition, wind speed, and water vapor quantities. The problem was that it could only travel short distances. NASA went back to work. In 2004, twin robot rovers caught the public’s imagination again, sending back amazing images in journeys of kilometers, not meters.
Entertaining Pets
In the late ’90s there was a return to consumer-oriented robots. The proliferation of the Internet also allowed a wider audience to get excited about robotics, controlling small rovers via the Web or buying kits online. One of the real robotic wonders of the late ’90s was AIBO the robotic dog, made by Sony Corp. Using his sensor array, AIBO can autonomously navigate a room and play ball. Even with a price tag of over $2,000, it took less than four days for AIBO to sell out online. Other “pet robots” followed AIBO, but the challenge of keeping the pet smart and the price low remains.
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