An ongoing research project of the PERCRO Perceptual Robotics Laboratory, this is a highly interdisciplinary effort involving coordination and collaboration between engineers, artists, designers and neuroscientists. The aim is to develop a sophisticated full-body robotic interface, driven by sensors capable of sensing human muscle activity and interpreted by intelligent software systems, through which the robot becomes a natural extension of the user’s body and mind.
Robots categorized as: Industrial
1961
Mobot Mark II
This robot, the Mobot Mark II, was developed in the early 1960s by Hughes Aircraft. It was built to work in hazardous materials sites considered too dangerous for people. But the Mobot was never put to work.
Mobot is an abbreviation of Mobile and Robot. The image is from a series of images made for Life Magazine in the early 1960s. The Mobot is portrayed as a personal helper assisting the woman in the images with dressing/undressing and painting her nails. The Mobot was teleoperated by an engineer and turned out not to be financially viable.
1961
The Unimate
Unimate is considered the first industrial robot. It was put to worked on a General Motors assembly line in 1961. It was created by George Devol in the 1950s using his original patents. Devol, together with Joseph Engelberger started Unimation, the world’s first robot manufacturing company.
The machine undertook the job of transporting die castings from an assembly line and welding these parts on auto bodies–a dangerous task for workers, who might be poisoned by exhaust gas or lose a limb if they were not careful.
The original Unimate consisted of a large computer-like box, joined to another box and was connected to an arm, with systematic tasks stored in a drum memory. Modern versions feature up to six degrees of freedom and are designed for high speed handling of car parts, but can be programmed for other tasks.
