History of Robots and Cyborgs
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History of Robots and Cyborgs |
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The History of Robots:
Robots have changed considerably over time. The first robots were huge and awkward. They took computers the size of a living room to operate and were not sophisticated enough to perform any important tasks. They also moved extremely slowly. Here are some descriptions of the pioneer machines in the robotic industry:
Unimate
Unimate was the world's first real robot. It was created by George C. Devol, and engineer Joseph F. Engelberger." 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."(The First Robot: 'Unimate') This went extremely well and this step sparked the use of robots in industry.
Shakey
"This robot was created in 1970 at the Stanford Research institute. This was not a compact robot to say the least; the size of it was larger than several humans. A computer the size of a room also powered it. It had a limited amount of tasks that it could but for the time is was very sophisticated."(History of Mobile Robots)As you can see this is most definitely not the type of robot that we would think about today. But, at the time it was a breakthrough.
Flakey
This robot was created 14 years after Shakey, in that many years it made huge improvements. The major difference between their first major robot and Flakey was the size of it. This one was only 3 feet high and 2 feet in diameter. Flakey could also go faster and was extremely more mobile."(History of Mobile Robots) The new technologies of the time made this robot far more effective than any one before it.
The History of Cyborgs
Other than in the movies there are not many real cyborgs. Their history in science fiction is endless,but, in real life it is very short. Other than artificial limbs which mechanically are advanced, but not electronically. Artificial limbs are to help someone with a disability, but, not many scientists have dabbled in improving human performance. Any real advances are still in testing phases, if at all. But, there was one pioneer who decided to take his research to another level:
Kevin Warwick
"A professor at the University of Reading, Warwick decided to use himself as a test subject. In 1998, a chip, implanted in the upper inside of Warwick's left arm between the skin and muscle tissue, was accompanied by antennas placed throughout the cybernetics building. These relayed signals from the implant to a computer in Warwick's office that was programmed to follow certain commands. Warwick says that this is a primitive step and there will be better advancement to follow."(Kevin Warwick)As you can see cyborgs did not come close to robots in the technology but cyborgs are a relatively new idea. One day we very well might see a real live Robocop.
Important Dates in the History of Robotics:
(A Short History of Robots)
Sources