Historical Overview: Robots
1818 Mary Shelley, Frankenstein 1827 Joseph Atterly, A Voyage to the Moon 1863 Jules Verne, A Journey to the Center of the Earth 1865 Edward S. Ellis, The Steam Man of the Prairies 1870 Jules Verne, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea 1895 H.G. Wells, The Time Machine 1920 Karel Capek, R.U.R. (first use of the word "robot")
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.
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.
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