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From Sci-Fi to Sci Fact
Fantasy Becomes Reality
Robots of the 80's
Evolution of Robotic Components
Personal Robots in the 21st Century
Conclusion
From Sci-Fi to Sci Fact
For decades, man has been fascinated with the idea
of creating a machine in his own image. And while the dream existed,
such a machine did not. Today, robots are no longer a science-fiction
fantasy; they have become an accepted part of our daily lives,
as steel collar workers, farmers, even medical assistants. Robots
are putting together automobiles, assembling delicate electronic
parts, handling nuclear material, exploring the surface of other
planets, and assisting surgeons in complex surgery. They are replacing
humans in mundane, precise or dangerous jobs with accuracy and
an expediency level that even human beings cannot duplicate. Robots
today represent innovative leaps in technology and science. These
machines continue to fascinate and entertain. And while most of
today's working robots don't resemble popular culture's pre-conceived
idea of what a "real robot" should look like, they are
capable of independent, programmed work, they can move independently,
and they have a memory and therefore some intelligence. For almost
as long as there has been a history, people have fantasized about
how artificial beings could be used to perform tasks and become
our servants.
Robots have played a significant role in pop culture, fantasy
and myths for many years. These fantasies range from story-telling
and mythical folklore to human-like toys for amusement. Robots
are found in literature, art, film and television.
Robot Roots
Perhaps the first mention of these artificial or man-made servants
was in the story of the Greek god Hephaestus, who is said to have
fashioned two living female statues out of pure gold. Following
his example, the mythical artist Pygmalion sculpted the statue
of a beautiful woman, subsequently fell in love with it and convinced
the gods to give it life. Or the Egyptians who created statues
called "Enubus" whose mouths and jaws moved through
a tube-like object. Still later, a medieval Rabbi came up with
the "golem," a clay figure that was said to have powers
to protect people from their oppressors. The "golem"
was animated by certain holy words which, when placed in its mouth
(or written on its forehead), brought it to life.
As Europe entered into what is known as the Industrial Age, people
became more intrigued with the idea of artificial life. Animated
mannequins, called automatons, were created to mimic human life
forms and mannerisms. Pierre and Henri-Louis Jacquet-Droz, created
realistic looking automatons mechanically programmed to perform
tasks such as playing the piano, drawing pictures and writing
poems.
In 1769, Baron Wolfgang von Kempelen produced a chess-playing
Turkish gentleman. The life-sized automaton sat at a large cabinet
with a long pipe in one hand, consistently beating its living
opponents at chess with the other hand. Though the chess player
was fascinating for many (including Edgar Allen Poe) the brains
behind the figure was operated by a small man sitting inside the
table, hidden by a trick door.
This interest in artificial life began to appear in literature
as well. Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley's classic novel Frankenstein,
written in 1818, revealed a growing public awareness of the roles
that science and technology were beginning to play in the world.
It also reflected popular concerns about that technology, which
can still be found in science fiction today. Author Isaac Asimov
later coined the term "Frankenstein complex" to describe
this fear of new technologies, especially of robots and their
predecessors.
Origins of the Word Robot
A Czechoslovakian playwright named Karel Capek actually coined
the term "robot" in a play called R.U.R. (Rossum's Universal
Robots). R.U.R. was a tale about human-like servants that were
artificially created out of biological material to serve humans
in factories and in the military. Capek called these manufactured
workers "robots," from the Czech word "robota,"
meaning obligatory work or servitude. The word has since come
to define our concept of artificial life. Robot: "A machine
devised to function in place of a living agent; one which acts
automatically or with minimum of external impulse" or "An
automatic apparatus or device that performs functions ordinarily
ascribed to human beings or operates with what appears to be almost
human intelligence."
The creatures of R.U.R. were just a first in what soon became
a pop-media obsession. Walking, talking and thinking mechanical
robots, as we grew to know them, became widely popular in the
flood of science fiction books, plays, comics, movies and television
shows that began to proliferate the public in the 1930's. The robot
hype is a theme that never seems to lose the public's interest,
as is evident in today's mainstream film and television. The stories
explored the marvels that a technology-happy humanity was looking
forward to in the years to come. These crude and campy early sci-fi
fantasy images inspired children and are largely credited to helping
plant the seeds in young inventive minds. These minds grew to
pave the way to the concepts of actual robotic products as they
exist today. Many early fans of the robot pop culture of the 30's
40's and 50's grew to become the inventors of today's modern robots.
Robots in Science Fiction
The automatons that appeared in the fiction of this time could
either be friendly or evil. The robots featured in Lester Del
Rey's Helen O'Loy (1938) and Eando Binder's
I, Robot (1939) are essentially happy to be
faithful servants of humanity. This is in sharp contrast to the
chilling tale Fondly Fahrenheit by Alfred Bester
(1954), in which a sophisticated robotic servant develops a penchant
for murder, making its owner an unwilling accomplice to the crime,
since he is considered responsible for his property's actions.
These robots were all formed with a humanoid image (arms, legs
and faces).
Isaac Asimov, who is well-known for his short stories featuring
robots, many of which were collected into the two volumes I,
Robot (1950-different author from Binder's I, Robot)
and The Rest of the Robots (1964). Asimov
describes the rise of a powerful robot industry and the increasing
sophistication of its products. These robots, while still technically
out of the reach of today's science, are simply mechanical
servants that are programmable, predictable and capable of doing
only what they were created to do.
Asimov's robot stories have transcended their medium. The author
is still credited for devising the Three Laws of Robotics : 1.
A robot may not injure a human being, or through inaction, allow
a human being to come to harm. 2. A robot must obey the orders
given it by human beings except where such orders would conflict
with the First Law and 3. A robot must protect its own existence
as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or
Second Law.
Robots Created in Film and Television
What follows are many significant contributions to mass media
that has helped (or hurt) the shaping of public perception the
robot, and what they can or will do for mankind. For the most
part, film and television created a large body of work centered
on the idea that robots are an innate threat. Many times, the
robots are shown to have taken over societies that they once served.
1927 Metropolis: Fritz Lang, a German director created
this silent film set in the year 2000. In this film, humanity
has spilt into two distinct classes: the privileged owners and
the downtrodden workers, the latter led by the heroine Maria.
A scientist creates a female robot to lead the rebellious workers
into a premature and therefore disastrous revolt. While that robot
is quickly turned, through a rather magical process, into an exact
duplicate of Maria, its first appearance is breathtaking: a shining
metallic figure that slowly finds itself capable of movement,
and through movement, life.
Few of the motion pictures in the decades that followed Metropolis
were very original. Dozens of grade-B science fiction/horror films
came on the scene, featuring robot monsters as villains. Films
had titles like Robot Monster, Gog
the Killer, Target Earth and The
Colossus of New York. These movies usually followed
one of two basic plots: the mad scientist version - a man who
creates the machine for the good of humanity but the machines
turn on their creator and attempts to destroy everything in its
path, before being stopped by the fearless hero. The other theme
usually features robots as aliens who want to take over the Earth.
The machine then goes around smashing through buildings, sending
lightning bolts from its fingertips, or hypnotizing Earthlings
into submission. The movies end when the hero finds some weakness
in the robot's makeup and defeats the "monster." Below
is a list of the most popular robotic-themed movies and television
shows of the century:
1951 The Day the Earth Stood Still: An alien Klaatu lands
his starship in the United States. He is accompanied by Gort,
a 12-foot-high silvery robot. Their mission is to warn humanity
to reach peace, or else. The other peoples of the galaxy have
turned over all authority to robots such as Gort, who essentially
make up the galactic police force.
1956 Forbidden Planet: Here we meet "Robbie the Robot"
one of the most popular robots in the history of film and the
first in a long line of lovable machines. Robbie is manufactured
by humans (with the help of knowledge obtained from alien sources).
It is the handy household robot we've all dreamed about. Robbie
can cook, clean, sew and manufacture anything once given a sample.
It also has a voice. The scientist Morbius, who built the robot,
gives it a blaster and orders it to fire upon a group of horrified
astronauts. Faced with a conflict of the First and Second Laws,
poor Robbie almost blows a gasket before Morbius cancels the order.
1963 Dr. Who: A time travelling hero frequently meets up
with his most dreaded enemies: Daleks, dome-shaped robots that
were originally created as weapons during a planetary conflict.
The evil Daleks live on, following their programmed orders to
eliminate all life wherever they find it. Five hundred years after
a nuclear war has devastated the planet Skaro, the Doctor (William
Hartnell), Barbara, Ian, and Susan materialize in a petrified
forest where the pacifist Thals face starvation. Our heroes visit
a nearby city that is home to the last remaining Daleks, terrifyingly
cold-blooded mutants encased in armed, pepper-pot-like shells,
and become involved in a desperate battle for survival. Given
a nightmarish atmosphere by a surreal electronic score, "The
Daleks" proved the template for many a future Dr. Who
adventure.
1966 Lost in Space: A 20th Century Fox Television show.
Originally conceived as "The Swiss Family Robinson in Space,"
this groundbreaking series warmed the hearts of the nation. Dr.
Smith, who gets trapped inside the space ship as he tries to sabotage
the mission, befriends the robot. It was always the witty retorts
of "Robot" that made the show great. Robot's verbal
battles with Dr. Smith have a special place in the history of
television.
1968 2001 - A Space Odyssey: This film is about a manned spaceship,
sent out to investigate a signal being transmitted by the mysterious
"monolith," that is almost totally supervised and operated by a computer named
the HAL 2000. HAL is the ship, in the sense that the computer
itself is the brain and the ship is the body. Eventually, HAL,
following a time-honored tradition (in fiction at any rate), decides
that it can handle things better than its human passengers, and
begins to "deactivate" them. The one surviving astronaut
is forced to perform what can best be described as the robotic
equivalent of a lobotomy in order to regain control of the ship.
1966-1969 Star Trek: This is a television series that portrayed
most of its robots as dangers rather than intelligent tools. The
plot would go something like this: a computer and/or robot that
is in some way superior to the usual model is introduced onto
the starship Enterprise. It looks over the territory,
decides that it wants to take over and exterminate all biological
life, and proceeds to do just that, over the objections of the
crew. The episode ends with the hero, Captain Kirk, using his
"superior" human logic to devastate the computer's programming;
the machine then self-destructs in some suitably dramatic fashion.
1969 THX 1138: A long running British television series
about humans living in a totally sterile world, an ordered community
governed by a computer, with enforcement by grim-looking law robots
with silver faces. THX 1138 works underground at the robot factory
building robot cops. When his wife starts cutting back on his
mandatory drug usage, his job performance falters. Considered
a threat to society, he is put into a prison which has no walls.
Desperate for freedom, he steals a futuristic race car and makes
his escape.
1972 Silent Running: The plot concerns the attempts of
a young ecologist to preserve the last bastion of Terran plant
life, an orbiting dome-shaped habitat. He is aided in his quest
by three small robotic drones, Huey, Dewey and Louey. These three
triangular robots march around the habitat on truncated legs,
communicating with each other by electronic signals. Their purpose
is to maintain the station and its greenery. The ecologist talks
to them, orders them, plays poker with them and treats them more
as companions than as machines.
1973 Sleeper: This is a comedy, a gag-filled sci-fi spoof
about a frozen man who has to adapt to a strange futurist world
when he thaws out. In 1973, nerdy Miles Monroe (Woody Allan) goes
in for minor surgery - and ends up cryogenically frozen after
his untimely and unexpected death. Two hundred years later, Miles
is up and about again, in a brave new world of huge vegetables,
robotic servants, and "orgasmatrons." The hapless hero
is wanted for being an "alien" and he is captured by
a band of guerrillas who want to recruit him to their cause.
1973 Westworld: Yul Brynner and James Brolin star in this
futuristic story of robotic mayhem. Westworld is a technological
resort in which a vacationer's wildest fantasies are made real.
When the resort's robots begin to kill the clients, the fantasy
becomes a nightmare. Two Chicago businessmen spend $1,000 a day
to stay at Westworld, one of three amusement parks that feature
remarkably life-like androids and realistic settings; the others
are Romanworld and Medievalworld. During their 'frontier town'
vacation, they rob banks, sleep with robot prostitutes, start
brawls in the local saloon, and even gun down the local sheriff.
Westworld's technicians patch up the robots at night, and the
androids are then ready to begin another day of servicing the
customers. The nightmare begins when a computer virus infects
the system that controls the robots. They become self-aware and
vicious.
1976 FutureWorld: Yul is back and teamed up with Peter
Fonda in another sci-fi thriller about theme park androids infiltrating
human society. The robots this time are in a fantasy future where
everyone can have a robot servant/friend/lover (for a price).
This time, the backers are not interested simply in a theme park
for families. Now they have set their sights on nothing less than
global domination. Led by the evil Duffy, Futureworld robots and
representatives rebuild the Old West and Middle Ages amusement
centers, and invent a new space travel simulation. A pair of reporters,
along with a group of international businessmen, accept invitations
to tour the new facility. The skeptical scribes soon uncover an
evil plot to make look-alike android copies of the esteemed folk
in their group, and use these impostors to do their bidding.
1977-2005 Star Wars (Episodes 1 - 6): The main plotline
of the screen saga, The Phantom Menace, Attack of the Clones, Revenge of the Sith,
Star Wars - A New Hope, The Empire Strikes Back, and Return of the Jedi concerns
the adventures of the young hero, Luke Skywalker, as he battles
a corrupt galactic empire, in the form of the evil Darth Vader.
Accompanying him on his quest, along with a motley crew of humans
and aliens, are two robots or, in the characters' words, droids.
("Droid" is the shortening of the word "android,"
a term usually associated in science fiction with artificial beings
constructed of biological material; however, robots, are constructed
of mechanical parts). The two droids are C3PO and R2D2. C3PO is
the epitome of the intelligent, verbal, humanoid robot so often
found in science fiction. It is almost human in its attitudes
and reactions - the perfect robotic companion. R2D2, on the other
hand, while just as intelligent as its partner, is more robotic
in design. Balanced precariously on two wheeled legs, R2D2 communicates
through a series of clicks and beeps that only its robotic peers
can accurately decipher. Star Wars stories are filled with a multitude
of robots, most are servants to be manipulated by the animate
beings around them.
1980 Star Trek The Motion Picture: A huge mass of energy,
that turns out to contain the ultimate robot, is on its way toward
Earth, devouring all life in its path. The Enterprise
is sent out to investigate. Curious about the starship's intentions,
the computer turns one of the crew members, a woman of course,
into a robot and sends her back to the ship to scout around,
clad in a white mini-dress and plastic high heels - what every
well-dressed robot wears in space. And as could be expected, Kirk
and logic prevail - Earth is saved.
1982 BladeRunner: In 21st century Los Angeles (2019), a
semi-retired policeman, known as a "Blade Runner," is
assigned to hunt down and eliminate four "replicants,"
genetically created humanoid robots. They are on earth illegally from an
off-world colony where they were used as laborers, and with thier
built-in life span of only four years almost over, the androids have jumped
ship in order to confront the individual who designed them.
1986 and 1988 Short Circuit I and II: When a top secret
Department of Defense experimental laser-armed robot named Number
Five gets zapped by a lightening bolt, he malfunctions and starts
spouting peace slogans. Naturally, the newly pacifist machine
wants out of the military, so he escapes. As a frantic search
for the creature begins, Number 5 settles down in his new home...
with a gentle young woman who has every intention of holding on
to her find. In the second movie, the sweet-natured robot called
Johnny Five escapes from its lab and wanders around the big city
with only curiosity to guide him. His silly inventor, an Indian
man who ludicrously butchers the English language, teams up with
some local retailers to re-capture his wayward creation.
1984 and 1986 Terminator I and II: Arnold Schwarzenegger
plays an indestructible robot ( called a cyborg ) who travels
through time from the post-apocalyptic wasteland of 2029 to present-day
Los Angeles on a special mission to assassinate the "mother
of the future" - an innocent young woman who has no idea
she is destined to give birth to a son who will become a powerful
enemy of the future robotic world order. In the sequel, the deadly
assassin takes on the form of a morphing shape-changing robot,
the T-1000. Arnold plays the role of a second "friendly"
Terminator who is also sent back in time to try to stop the T-1000.
Arnold comes through the time machine naked, quickly appropriates
some snappy biker gear, a Harley, and a wide assortment of guns,
and promptly sets out to protect the boy.
1987-1995 Robocop I, II and III: This is a sci-fi action
fantasy set in a burnt-out, crime-infested Detroit of the future
(the first was technically filmed at the Biltmore hotel in midtown
Atlanta). When a cop is almost killed in the line of duty, the
corrupt corporation that runs the police department decides to
use his near-dead body as the basis for a specially constructed
cyborg - the first in what they intend to be a line of super-efficient,
crime-fighting machines. But the corporate execs didn't take into
account the elements of human nature still lurking beneath his
state-of-the-art hardware. It turns out Robocop has a mind of
his own and sets out to take bloody revenge on the vicious gang
members who tried to kill him.
2000 Bicentennial Man: Andrew Martin (Robin Williams) is
a household android whose intended function is thrown for a loop
when he begins to feel genuine human emotions. Over the next two
centuries the resulting dealings with his adopted family and new
acquaintances provide ample opportunities to raise important questions
about individual human existence, as Andrew seeks to become human.
2001 A.I. Artificial Intelligence: A young boy, David is
the first mecha (a futuristic term for a mechanized human being)
designed with the ability to love. A couple whose son is in a
coma "adopts" David to help them recover from their
loss. Naturally, things do not go as planned, and David is forced
to leave the mother and make his way in the world. Traveling with
Teddy, a hi-tech stuffed bear, David escapes the Flesh Fair, where
angry humans destroy mechas to "purge artificiality."
He befriends Gigolo Joe, a robot designed to pleasure women and
Joe agrees to help David in his quest to become human. David reaches
"the end of the world" (a Manhattan flooded by melted
polar ice caps), and a far-future epilogue propels A.I. into even
deeper realms of wonder.
Fantasy Becomes Reality
But while these icons of fantasy have all fed our imaginations
with images of intelligent, independent robots, it took some time
to develop any functional reality behind all these elaborate robotic
images. Yet as time progressed, these stories sparked the imaginations
of great visionaries: mathematicians, scientists, hobbyists and
tinkerers who discovered practical ways for real robots to perform
functions in our world. Leaps in technology and in computers made
automation possible as early as the 1920's. What follows is a
timeline of significant moments in the history of the development
of robotics.
1937 Alan Turing publishes "On Computable Numbers, with an
Application to the Entscheidungsproblem" which introduces his concept
of the now famous Universal Computing (or Turing) machine. From this
abstraction the entire modern computing infrastructure was built; the
Turing machine still serves as the basis for the theory of computation.
Turing was key in building the Colossus, a secret Alliance computer that
broke the Enigma encryption during World War II. Later, with his "Turing
Test," he helped define our modern conception of what characterizes an
intelligent machine.
1946 Emergence of the computer. George Devol patents a
general purpose playback device for controlling machines, using
magnetic recording. At Massachusetts
Institute of Technology (MIT), Whirlwind, the first digital general
purpose computer, solves its first problem. J. Presper Eckert and John Mauchly build the
ENIAC (Electronic Numerical Integrator And Computer) at the University
of Pennsylvania - the first electronic computer. ENIAC ran at a speed
of 100KHz, utilized 17,480 vacuum tubes and occupied a large
laboratory.
1948 Norbert Wiener, a professor at MIT, publishes Cybernetics
or Control and Communication in the Animal, a book which describes
the concept of communications and control in electronic, mechanical,
and biological systems.
1950 W. Grey Walter, a world-renowned neurophysiologist credited
with developing the first EEG brain topography machine, publishes a paper,
"An Imitation of Life" (Scientific American, May 1950, pp. 42-45). Therein,
he details his ground-breaking work during the late 1940's into real-world
autonomous agents by describing his Machina Speculatrix, a paradigm for the
first mobile, autonomous robot vehicles (a.k.a. turtles). Using a simple
neural network architecture and a platform complete with a 2-vacuum tube
computer, light and touch sensors, Walter's turtles were able to navigate
in a simple environment and respond differentially to varying light levels.
Unique (i.e., emergent) behaviors based on attraction and repulsion to light
were realized, especially when multiple turtles were equipped with light
sources within the same environment. While Walter's purpose with Machina
Speculatrix was to demonstrate that biological mechanisms could be
transferred to control of machines, his pragmatic solution served as
inspiration to future autonomous robotics endeavors.
1950 Claude Shannon, widely considered as the father of modern
information theory, exhibits one of the earliest experiments in artificial
intelligence with his electromechanical mouse, Theseus. By modeling actual
mouse behavior, Theseus was able to navigate a maze using a brain of 72
magnetic relays, remember maze layout, and adapt (in real time) to changes
in maze structure by selectively forgetting temporally invalid information
(maze traversal problems are now standard fare in artificial intelligence
courses). While Theseus was fundamentally a reactive organism, it exhibited
some of the first deliberative behaviors seen in any machine. Indeed, the
machine intelligence problem of autonomously solving a maze is akin to the
problem of routing messages through a communications network. Hence,
Shannon applied the lessons learned with Theseus to what is now the accepted
theory of network routing and switching. Shannon later went on to create
other intelligent machines including one of the first viable chess-playing
machines.
1951 In France, Raymond Goertz designs the first teleoperated
articulated arm for the Atomic Energy Commission. The design is
based entirely on mechanical coupling between the master and slave
arms (using steel cables and pulleys). Derivatives of this design
are still seen in places where handling of small nuclear samples
is required. This is generally regarded as the major milestone
in force feedback technology.
1954 George Devol designs the first programmable robot
and coins the term Universal Automation, planting the seed for
the name of his future company - Unimation. He joins with Joe
Engleberger to take his prototype the Unimate to different companies
and investors for fundraising purposes. The Unimate was the first
industrialized robot that took red hot parts from a die-casting
machine and set them down. Here the robot was redefined as having
three important components or axes. First, it had to move independently,
second, it had to be reprogrammable, and third, it had to have
memory to perform several different steps. The prototype, called
the Unimate, weighed 2,000 pounds, had memory stored in a clunky
magnetic drum and relied on feedback or sensor mechanisms.
It took Unimation fourteen years to turn a profit.
1955 Marvin Minsky and John McCarthy coined the term Artificial
Intelligence to describe computerized thinking machines. They
established an artificial intelligence lab at MIT. Under educational
research grants, the team built several machines that could "see
hear and feel;" and complete very rudimentary tasks. The
hand or clamp had the ability to interface with its surroundings:
it could weld, drill, spray or grip. The sensors were built into
its clamp.
1960 Unimation is purchased by Condec Corporation and
marketing of Unimate Robot Systems begins. American Machine and
Foundry, later known as AMF Corporation, markets the first cylindrical
robot, called the Versatran, designed by Harry Johnson and Veljko
Milenkovic.
1962 General Motors purchases the first industrial robot
from Unimation and installs it on a production line in New Jersey.
This robot with an end-effector (hands or clamps) is the first of
many Unimates to be deployed.
1964 Artificial intelligence research laboratories are
opened at Stanford Research Institute (SRI), Stanford University,
and the University of Edinburgh.
1965 Homogeneous transformations is applied to robot kinematics
- this remains the foundation of robotics theory today.
1966 Carnegie Mellon University establishes a Robotics
Institute.
1966 Grand efforts are made to change popular perception
of robots in America. The Unimate appears as a "guest"
on The Johnny Carson Show, where it golfs, pours a beer and conducts
the orchestra. After finding the typical American company still
living in fear of robotics (businessmen wanting a quick return
on investment), another market emerges in Asia. Japan embraces
robotics because of the country's ability to realize the long-range
potential cost savings of robotics. Japan buys the Versatran robot
from AMF (the first robot imported into Japan).
1967 Japan takes more interest in American robotic designs.
Kawasaki purchases and licenses a hydraulic robot design from
Unimation and starts production in Japan. Years later Japan will
become the largest users of robotics in the world.
1968 Stanford researchers build Shaky, a mobile robot
with vision and limited reasoning capabilities. It was driven
by two motors, had its vision from a television monitor, its brain
was a radio link to an off-board computer the size of a room.
Shaky was five feet tall and could make a map and navigate by remembering
the wheel revolutions. His younger "brother," "Flaky,"
was later introduced with enhanced components such as speech recognition
and software.
1970 Professor Victor Scheinman of Stanford University
designs the "Standard Arm" (later to become known as
the Vicarm.) Today, its kinematic configuration remains known
as the Standard Arm.
1973 Cincinnati Milacron releases the T3, the first commercially
available minicomputer-controlled industrial robot (designed by
Richard Hohn).
1974 Victor Scheinman forms Vicarm Inc. to market a version
of the Vic-arm for industrial applications. The new arm is controlled
by a minicomputer.
1976 Robots are now being considered for uses outside
of controlled environments such as in radioactive test sites and
in space explorations. Robot arms are used by NASA on Viking 1
and 2 space probes. Vicarm Inc. incorporates a microcomputer into
the Vicarm design.
1977 ASEA, a European robot company, offers two sizes
of electric powered industrial robots. Both robots use a microcomputer
controller for programming and operation.
1977 Unimation purchases Vicarm Inc.
1978 Carnegie Mellon's robotic division is used in field
robotics by helping create the RRU (Remote Reconnaissance Vehicle)
designed to disassemble contaminated areas.
1978 Using technology from Vicarm, Unimation develops
the PUMA (Programmable Universal Machine for Assembly), a smaller
electronic robot that was run on an LSI II computer. The PUMA
can still be found in many research labs today.
1979 Sankyo and IBM market the SCARA (selective compliant
articulated robot arm) developed at Yamanashi University in Japan
1982 Japan continues to take the lead in the Robotics industry,
by coming out with products that have new levels of efficiency.
Fanuc of Japan and General Motors form joint venture in GM Fanuc
to market robots in North America.
1984 Joseph Engelberger starts Transition Robotics, later
renamed Helpmates, to develop service robots.
1986 With Unimation license terminated, Kawasaki develops
and produces its own line of electric robots.
1988 Stäubli Group purchases Unimation from Westinghouse.
1994 CMU Robotics Institute creates Dante II, a six-legged walking
Robot to explore the Mt. Spurr volcano in Alaska and sample volcanic
gases.
1995 Intuitive Surgical formed by Fred Moll, Rob Younge
and John Freud to design and market surgical robotic systems.
Founding technology based on the work at SRI, IBM and MIT.
1997 RedZone robotics captures the emerging market of
jobs deemed "too dangerous for humans." The Houdini
was a robot designed to locate cracks, leaks, nuclear waste chemicals
and radioactive sludge from tanks, mines, pipes and caves. These
odd looking robots depended upon wheels to navigate terrain.
1997 NASA's Mars PathFinder mission captures the eyes
and imagination of the world as PathFinder lands on Mars and the
Sojourner rover robot sends back images of its travels on the
distant planet.
1998 Honda showcases the P3, the 8th prototype in a humanoid
design project started in 1986.
2000 GeckoSystems, Inc. develops their PCR (Personal Computer
Robot) as a basebot for their CareBot™ PCR 1.0. This basic
robot can explore and map its environment and respond to the requests
of its user.
2000 Honda showcases Asimo, the next generation of its
series of humanoid robots.
2000 Sony unveils humanoid robots, dubbed Sony Dream Robots
(SDR), at Robodex.
2001 GeckoSystems, Inc. introduces the CareBot PCR 1.4
at the Atlanta Computer Show. The CareBot 1.4 is designed and
marketed for helping the elderly, the disabled, and monitoring children.
2001 Sony releases the second generation of its Aibo robot
dog.
2001 SSRMS Built by MD Robotics of Canada, the Space Station
Remote Manipulator System (SSRMS) is successfully launched into
orbit and begins operations to complete assembly of International
Space Station
Robots of the 80's
"Get me a beer! I want my robot to get me a beer!"
In the 1980's the technology to build a personal mobile robot
was not particularly new, but making it all work together was.
Nobody had done that before with much success. Now that all this
technology could be used in unison, what was to be done with it?
Fetching and serving was much more complex than it appeared in
the movies. Even simple actions take a great deal of processing
to implement. Things that humans do with their bodies without
a second thought still require a great deal of processing and
storage to accomplish with a robot.
Now that we can have a robot, what can it do for us? Most people
think it would be great to have a personal mobile robot to do
menial or unpleasant tasks such as vacuum the floor, do the dishes,
pick up the clothes, clean the toilet or mow the lawn. In the
effort to get that beer from the refrigerator to the TV room,
a few creative, insightful personal mobile robots were devised.
The design of these robots was the groundwork for the personal
mobile robots we have today. Some good examples of innovative
design in personal mobile robots in the 1980's are discussed below:
ANDROBOT
Androbot had its own evolution as a personal mobile robot company.
It started with Androman, an extension of the Atari 2600 game
system. This was a 12-inch robot controlled by a joystick with
an infrared link on a floor mat with a picture of a cratered landscape,
similar to the moon. Some speech was supported as feedback for the player.
F.R.E.D.
(Friendly Robotic Educational Device) was a robot-looking
device that wasn't much more than a mobile plotter. It could draw
geometric designs from a computer on a piece of paper.
Much was planned for F.R.E.D., like a synthesizer for speech, but nothing
was done.
TOPO-I
The Topo, another Androbot creation, stood at 36 inches and was designed to be a mobile extension
of the home computer, which contained the intelligence for the
robot. TOPO-I could be driven with a joystick or with software
control. It had no speech or feedback to the computer and wasn't
much more than a toy. This product was released in 1983 and later
upgrades ( TOPO-II and TOPO-III) had a bi-directional
infrared link to the host computer. They employed text-to-speech
and moved from BASIC to FORTH as an operating system. A late prototype
of TOPO also included an on-board vacuum cleaner. |
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BOB
(Brains On Board), based on the TOPO frame, had multiple IR sensors
to keep from bumping into objects and people. Bob was unique
because it carried the processor (an 8086) and 3MB of RAM on
board the robot so it did not require any link or connection to a
processor. BOB was 36 inches tall, weighed 42 lbs, could navigate
through the home and perform basic fetch activities. Bob had a
vocabulary of over 100 words and phrases that it could speak in
a "human like" voice. Later developments for BOB included
an "AndroFridge" can dispensor where BOB could actually
retrieve that beer and bring it to its owner.
MAXX STEELE
There were approximately 5000 MAXX STEELE units built by CBS
Toys for IDEAL. This was an actual robot built by a toy company
for entertainment. The main disadvantage of the Maxx Robot
was its fragility: many of the parts were made of plastic
and would eventually break. Maxx ran on batteries and could
run for 1.5 to 4 hours before needing a recharge, depending
upon usage. Arms, wheels, wrist, and claw each had programmable
steps. It had a better vocabulary as it could say 140 words
and play 127 notes in two octaves. Battery Charge Time: approximately
14 hours, depending on conditions. It had two arms tied together
with a "wrist" that contained a claw for some manipulation.
MAXX STEELE ran on a 65C02 (CMOS) microprocessor that was
custom designed expressly for this unit. Internal Memory:
2K RAM (CMOS), 8K ROM |
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HEATHKIT HERO
The Heathkit HERO had onboard sensors for light, both visible
and infrared, sound and motion detection. In addition, it
had a sonar ranging system. The motion detection system was
useful for about 15 feet while the effective range of the
sonar ranging system was from 4 inches to 8 feet. It moved
about on 2-wheel drive with rear-wheel steering.
Distance was measured with odometery and an optical sensor
counting wheel revolutions. The HERO utilized an 8-bit 6808
processor. Sequential access memory was provided via cassette
tape. |
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HEATHKIT HERO JR
The HERO JR was designed to be a more entertaining device. It
was preprogrammed to sing songs like "Daisy" and "America."
The HERO JR employed a light sensor, ultrasonic sonar, sound
detector, and an infrared sensor.
The sonar employed a Polaroid ultrasonic unit and was accurate
from about 4 inches to more than 12 feet. The HERO JR was powered
by two six-volt rechargeable batteries and recharged via a plug
in wall charger. HERO JR could operate about 4 hours before recharging.
HERO 2000
The HERO 2000 was a completely different approach to robotics
than the previous HERO entries. In particular, the HERO performed
multitasking by utilizing eleven 8-bit peripheral microprocessors.
Each microprocessor had tasks to perform separate from the
main processor. The main processor tied all the activity together.
The HERO 2000 also came equipped with a robotic arm, utilized
a 360-degree sonar with a range of from 4 inches to more
than 10 feet. A narrow-range temperature sensor was onboard
as was a sound sensor that was sensitive to 255 audio level.
It moved around using two-wheel drive with front-wheel steering
with servo-motors. It's brain was a master microprocessor,
several peripheral microprocessors, and 24K of RAM expandable
to 576K. If the optional robotic arm was employed, 5 more
peripheral microprocessors were added for a total of eleven
slave processors. It supported up to 12 additional cards. It
operated on a MS-DOS operating system and had full BASIC installed
in 64K ROM as well as an onboard 5 1/4" floppy disk.
It could communicate with a direct text-to-speech conversion
system and a 2-way radio link for data between the robot and
a console unit. |
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GEMINI
The Gemini was marketed as "The Autonomous Robot." Touted
as the "self-navigating, self-charging, multiple-processor-based,
life size robot with an unprecedented 100K built-in artificial
intelligence operating system, speech recognition, speech synthesis,
multiple environmental sensors and a rugged computer controlled
propulsion system," the Gemini represented a breakthrough
in 80's robotics. It had two types of sensor systems: nine Polaroid
ultrasonic sonars and contact bumpers monitored by the propulsion
computer. Intelligence was provided by its three on-board computers.
One was for the artificial intelligence, one for voice/speech
recognition and speech synthesis/text-to-speech, and the other
for propulsion control. All computers were CMOS chip devices.
Speech recognition and text-to-speech are products which enabled the
Gemini to respond to voice commands. Coded infrared room beacons
supplemented navigation. The robot was able to "see"
the infrared beacons and interpret the code to determine its location.
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A scheduler interface was provided to schedule tasks for the
robot. This was accessed with the internal keyboard and onboard
display provided with the robot. The Gemini supported a radio-frequency
link to a desktop unit. The Gemini was 48 inches tall, 20 inches
in diameter, and weighed 70 lbs.
Evolution of Robotic
Components
Vacuum Tubes
Early robots were built with vacuum tubes. These
devices were large, energy-consuming, heat-producing devices of
limited speed. When the transistor arrived on the market, it used
a fraction of the power. 100,000 transistors used as much power
as one vacuum tube. The size, power and heat changes added by
the introduction of the transistor opened the door to development
of the modern computer. The ability for large-scale mobile electronics
was now possible.
By the late 1970's, the emergence of new technologies finally
made the production of personal robotics feasible. Yet feasibility
does not always lead to reality. It wasn't until the 1980's that
computer processing technology evolved to provide some intelligence
in the mobile robot.
Sensors
For a machine to be a true robot, it has to be able to respond
to its environment. Many robots use sensors to indicate if
it has come in contact with another object (bump sensor), sensors
that tell the relative position of the robot to other objects
(ultrasonic sonar or infrared sensors) and sensors to indicate
wheel speed and number of revolutions (odometry). Other sensors
are fitted as necessary according to the specific tasks that the
robot is to perform.
Motors
High-tech, lightweight, high power-to-weight ratio motors provide
locomotion. In the 1950's and 1960 s, these motors didn't exist,
or at least not with general availability. When they did become
available, the cost was generally prohibitive for any use but
the military or the space program. Lower cost, heavier, less-efficient
motors have been available since before World War II, but controlling
them in a precise manner has always been difficult.
Rechargeable Power Systems
While there are various choices for a rechargeable power system
for a mobile robot, lead-acid batteries (the kind used to power
automobiles) are reliable, cost-effective stable power storage
devices. GeckoSystems is the only robotic company in the world
that has designed a robot that is powered using an off-the-shelf
car battery. This innovative use of existing technology is one
way that the GeckoSystems products are able to run for ten to twenty-four
hours at a time without recharging.
Processing Power
A robot with no intelligence isn't really a robot as it is merely
an atomaton, no more that a mechanical toy or movie prop. To make
a machine into a robot requires the addition of intelligence.
As stated in the definition of "robot": "operates
with what appears to be almost human intelligence" or, as
commonly referred to today, artificial intelligence.
Personal robots in the 1980's were pivotal in the evolution of
mobile robotics. The processing power to develop artificial intelligence
was now available in a smaller package. Using less power, computers
could now be put on a mobile platform, or in some cases, on a
desktop with a remote link.
Power Consumption and Availability
As the processing platforms became better, faster and smaller,
the power requirements lessoned. As a result, a smaller power
storage device and smaller batteries could be used. This was a
boon for the intelligence of the robot, as well as for managing
the machine's size and weight. Lighter weight also translated
into less power consumed by the motors used for locomotion.
The 90% Software Solution
A robot, with the addition of artificial intelligence, becomes
almost 90% software. This software interprets signals from sensors
that control where the robot is going and what it is doing. Software
monitors the many kinds of sensors built into the robot and makes
decisions based upon the information gathered from those sensors.
Software also allows interaction with humans in some sort of reasonable,
rational (or at least predictable) manner. In essence, the machine
becomes the response mechanism and the interface for the software
in the robot.
Personal Robots in the
21st Century
The Personal Computer: A Boon for Robotics
During the PC boom of the 90's, CPU speeds and available RAM memory
improved dramatically, while prices plummeted. New, low cost technologies
such as web cams, cell phones, voice recognition and wireless
helped pave the way for new features for consumer robotic products.
More processing power on smaller platforms could either be on-board
the mobile robot, or on a desktop with a remote link from the
PC to the robot. By the mid-nineties, several sophisticated robots
came on the scene, not just as a novelty, but on the shelves in
stores.
Significant advances were made in the area of personal mobile
robots from the mid 90's to today. In the past seven years, the
world has seen a notable acceleration in developments in robotic
navigation after decades of frustration.
Conclusion
Many robot designers are attempting to create machines that mimic
humans. Is such a future a possibility? Can machines of metal
and plastic even closely imitate flesh and blood? Though we're
still nowhere near the point where robots are walking around the
house retrieving drinks from the refrigerator, we are closer than
ever before. Over the past two decades, movies, comic books and
television shows have in some ways been the standard to which
the future will be compared. Despite these pulp fiction images
of disaster, world domination and evil doing, robots developed
presently are created to help, rather than hinder, humanity. The
military is already using robots to clear minefields and survey
battlefields. About a dozen small robots were put to use as part
of the rescue and recovery operations following the World Trade
Center disaster, for example.
Today, it is not only conceivable that human interaction with
robots will be the norm, but it is becoming much more prevalent
as we move further into the 21st century. A personal robot as
a device for the home can be trained to respond, interact and
adapt autonomously to its environment. One day soon, personal
mobile robots will become an indispensable member of the household
or workplace by providing entertainment, education, communications,
assistance, security, and a host of other useful functions.
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