When did the first robot appear in the world? A Brief History of Robotics

10 robots that influenced history the most

• Robotics

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It wouldn't be right if GeekTech didn't write anything for Robotics Week, and if there's one thing this blog loves, it's robots. Robots are constantly around us, from the coffee maker in the kitchen to the assembly lines at work. But where did the first robots come from? Who were the founders of the robots we see now?

There are hundreds of incredible robots out there, but we've selected a few of the most significant and memorable ones in chronological order.

Around 350 BC: The Pigeon

This first “robot” is very old indeed. Archytas, a Greek philosopher, astronomer, mathematician and statesman, outlined the principles of mechanics. One of his projects was a wooden mechanical bird. It was powered by steam and could fly to a height of up to 200 meters. This invention may not only be the first robot on the planet, but also the first flying device.

1495: Leonardo's Robot

Leonardo da Vinci also took part in the history of robots. He designed the first humanoid robot. In 1495, he created a robot knight, which, judging by the sketches, could stand, sit, raise his visor and move his arms.

Using original sketches, modern designers managed to recreate the robot. The copy can perform all of the above movements.

1738: The Duck

French inventor Jacques de Vaucanson created several autonomous robots in his time, but The Duck is one of his most outstanding works.

The mechanical duck had over 400 different parts, which isn't too surprising considering what it could do. The duck could flap its wings, eat, digest its food, and then defecate. It was quite an impressive robot!

Vaucanson managed to “teach” the robot to digest food by installing compartments for chemical decomposition of grain.

Only now, 274 years later, modern robots have appeared with similar capabilities, for example, although he can only digest, unlike the duck, which could perform other fun “tasks”.

Unfortunately, no one knows what happened to the original duck. However, in the museum in Grenoble there is a replica of the duck created by a watchmaker.

1898: Tesla's Remote-Controlled Boat

You may know Nikola Tesla for his electric coils, but he has another achievement in the field of robots.

When Nikola was looking for a way to demonstrate his wireless transmission system (what we now know as radio waves), during a conference he put an iron boat in the water at Madison Square Garden and controlled it with a remote control, the boat received the signals and carried out Nikola's commands. At the time, no one understood how a remote-controlled boat would affect the future of robots, toys, radios and other devices we use today.

1962: The Unimate

In the 1960s, inventors put a lot of effort into developing robotic arms, but one of the most important inventions was The Unimate arm. It was one of the first industrial robots and was installed on the General Motors assembly line to reduce the likelihood of injury and death on the job. The device could fold pieces of hot cast metal and weld body parts. Unimate is currently in the Hall of Fame with robots like R2-D2 and HAL.

1966: Shakey the Robot


Shakey the Robot was one of the first truly successful artificial intelligence robots. He could understand his own actions. If you gave Shakey a task, he would analyze it, unlike other robots that needed specific instructions.

Shakey demonstrated his ability to think and react by moving through rooms and hallways, turning lights on and off, opening and closing doors, and moving objects. The robot is currently retired and is housed in a museum in Mountain View.

1989: Genghis

Have you ever wondered which robot was one of the first to learn to walk? This is Genghis. This six-legged autonomous robot, created by the Mobile Robots Group in the laboratories of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, was not only famous for its ability to walk, but also for how quickly and cheaply it was produced. However, it needs 4 microprocessors, 22 sensors and 12 servos to function.

His gait was called "the Genghis Gait". The robot's first steps:

1997: NASA Mars Pathfinder and Sojourner

NASA has also contributed to the development of incredible robots, but the robot that really stands out is Mars Pathfinder and Sojourner.

Its main goal was to demonstrate the technologies needed to send a robot to Mars efficiently and economically. The robot managed to enter the atmosphere of Mars and send a lot of useful data about the Red Planet to Earth for further study.

1998: Lego Mindstorms

It wouldn't be GeekTech without mentioning LEGO. The Mindstorms series kits, containing programmable software and hardware, were among the cheapest and easiest ways for those who wanted to make their own robot. The series was inspired by Seymour Papert's book Mindstorm: Kids, Computers, and Big Ideas, in which the mathematician proposed a simple theory of learning by doing.

2000: ASIMO

Back in 1986, Honda announced its intention to take part in a project to create a humanoid robot capable of not only existing with people, but also surpassing their abilities. A little later, Honda announced ASIMO, one of the most impressive robots. He can emulate a person's gait, use his hands, speak and listen, and see and recognize people and objects. Of course, ASIMO has a ways to go before it can surpass human capabilities, but Honda already has a lot of ideas for the robot's future development.

In the 12th century, the Arab Al-Jazire invented and designed several mechanical devices that could play music. However, what these devices looked like, whether they played well and whether they could be called the first robots is still unknown. Images of a mechanical man were found in Leonardo da Vinci's drawings. The genius assumed that his device would be able to sit and even move. The German philosopher Albert the Great not only invented, but also designed a robot, which he called the iron servant. According to some sources, the device could not only move and perform simple actions, but also answer simple questions. However, the philosopher's student named Thomas considered the iron servant to be the devil and destroyed his teacher's invention.

In the 17th century, various people created more and more “intelligent machines”. The inventors assured that their creations would soon save people from hard work. However, in all cases it turned out that a living person was hiding inside the mechanism. There is a known case when a mechanical man, created by V. Kempelen, knew how to play chess. Once, during one of the games, spectators standing around the chess table rushed to the exit, somewhere shouts of “Fire! Fire!". The mechanical chess player was also frightened. It turned out that the person who operated the device also responded to the false alarm. In 1738, a humanoid robot was created by the Frenchman J. Voknason. His creation could play the flute skillfully. Nothing is known about the further fate of this android.

XX century

In 1927, an American engineer named Wexley took part in the World's Fair in New York. There he demonstrated his invention - a human-like robot that obeyed voice commands and could perform simple movements.

In the middle of the 20th century, the desire to make robots humanoid was overcome. Engineers considered that in some cases it is much more convenient to move on tracks or on. In the 1950s, human-controlled manipulators appeared, making it easier to work with radioactive materials. In the 60s, a self-propelled robot was patented, which was a cart with a camera and microphone. This device was supposed to conduct reconnaissance in places of radioactive contamination and transmit information to headquarters.

In 1962, the era of industrial robotics began in the United States. The robots were named “Versatran” and “Unimit”. They were equipped with manipulators similar to a human hand, but the engineers decided not to make them more similar to people.

Over time, innovative robots appeared: scouts, cleaners, waiters, and even a robot policeman. The presentation of the latter took place in 2009. This robot is equipped

Robots. Origin of species. A Brief History of Robotics.

Probably each of us (or most of us) have wondered: who invented the first robot? Let's figure it out together...

From the very beginning of our evolution, man needed help... But such help was not available to him. And since antiquity, people began to think about creating mechanical people capable of performing hard and routine work. In myths there are references to the creation by Hephaestus of mechanical slaves who do work for humans.

But various mechanisms were also created out of scientific interest. For example, the mechanical pigeon of the Greek mathematician Archytas from Tarentum, built by him around 400 AD, is known. Possibly propelled by steam, the pigeon was capable of flight.

And some robots were created more for entertainment or for the purpose of making commercial profit, and many of them were fakes, such as the famous chess machine "Turk".

The first drawing of a humanoid robot was made by Leonardo da Vinci around 1495. His notes were only found in the 1950s and contained detailed drawings of a knight capable of moving his arms and head. Although, it is not known whether this robot was built. There is also an opinion that NASA specialists used Leonardo’s findings to create a manipulator in preparation for expeditions to the Moon.

The first functioning humanoid robot was created by French inventor Jacques de Vaucanson in 1737. The android was a life-size human capable of playing the flute. Flutist Vaucanson had 12 works in his repertoire!

But the most famous invention of Jacques de Vaucanson is the digestive ducks, created by him in 1739. These robots consisted of about 400 parts, and were able to flap their wings and drink water. The ducks also pecked the grains and defecated a second later. But, in fact, the duck did not digest the food: the grains eaten were placed in a special container, and the “output product” was stored in another.

By the end of the 19th century, an engineer from Russia, Chebyshev Pafnutiy, came up with a mechanism - a stop walker, which had high maneuverability. Of course, this invention was not of great benefit to humanity, but the idea itself gave a certain impetus to the development of robotics technologies.

By the way, the word robot did not yet exist. It appeared only in 1920, thanks to Karel Capek and his brother Josef.

Since time immemorial, people have been fascinated by the idea of ​​​​creating robots - mechanisms that, in their appearance and actions, are similar to living beings, endowed with fantastic physical strength and dexterity, capable of flying, living underground and water, acting independently and at the same time unquestioningly obeying a person, performing tasks. him the most difficult and dangerous work.

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The first reliable information about complex mechanisms (prototypes of modern robots) is found in the books of Heron of Alexandria, who lived in the 1st century AD.

Heron became famous among his contemporaries for his automatic theaters, in which performances were performed by doll figures driven by a system of gears, pulleys, levers, water, steam and the energy of falling bodies.

Drawing of the Theater of Dionysus in Athens

Leonardo da Vinci used his knowledge of anatomy, metalworking, and engineering to create mechanical models of the skeletons and muscles of animals and humans. In 1497 in Milan, Leonardo surprised the public with a mechanical knight. The robot could turn its head, sit down, stand up and raise its visor. Another invention of Leonardo is considered to be a life-size mechanical lion. The lion walked and stood on its hind legs, showing the coat of arms of France on its chest.

In 2002, robotics expert Mark Rosheim built a working model of a mechanical knight based on Leonardo da Vinci's designs.

Over the centuries, technologies for creating a variety of devices and humanoid mechanisms continued to develop and become more complex, reaching their peak in the 18th century thanks to the discovery of the law of dynamics.

The most famous creator of automatic figures of that time was the French mechanic Jacques de Vaucanson. His automatic "Fluttering Duck" figure craned its neck, pecked and digested real grain, drank, swam and quacked, exactly imitating the movements of a living duck. Unfortunately, the original mechanism was lost in 1879 in a fire at the Krakow Museum. A hundred years later, master Frederico Vidoni made a copy of the duck, which settled in the Grenoble Museum.

Drawing of the "Fluttering Duck" by Vokason

As you know, "robot" is a Czech word coined by satirist Karel Capek for the science fiction play R.U.R (Rossum's Universal Robots).

The play, published in 1921, tells the story of the uprising of humanoid machines (androids). The action takes place in a factory producing “artificial people” grown not mechanically, but chemically from tissues and organs. Robots are quite capable of thinking, but at the same time they always seem to be happy to serve humanity.

Karel's idea so greatly excited the minds of his contemporaries that the day after the first performance of the play in London, the writer woke up famous, and the word “robot” became a commonly used definition for all automatic devices created on the principle of a living organism.

Scene from the play "Rossum's Universal Robots"

The first industrial programmable mechanisms appeared in the 1930s in the USA. The impetus for their creation was the work of Henry Ford to create an assembly line, which completely changed the approach to production. Now work on a car was divided into many stages, the monotony of which quickly tired a person, and the freedom to choose a place behind the conveyor now forced him to pay more for the least skilled and harmful work, such as painting.

The world's first industrial robot (a fully automatic device for painting surfaces) was patented on October 29, 1934, by Willard L.G. Pollard. The patent consisted of two parts: an electrical control system and a mechanical manipulator.

Pollard mechanical manipulator drawing

In the 1950s, with the development of the nuclear industry, the first manipulators were introduced that imitated the movements of human hands, which were used when working with radioactive materials.

The date of birth of the first truly serious robot, which the whole world heard about, can be considered May 18, 1966. On this day, Grigory Babakin, chief designer of the machine-building plant named after S.A. Lavochkin, signed the main volume of the project to create a robot for lunar exploration - “Lunokhod-1”.

The total mass of the first lunar rover was 756 kg, its length with the solar battery cover open was 4.42 meters, width 2.15 meters, height 1.92 meters.

Lunakhod-1 operated on the surface of the Earth's satellite from November 17, 1970 to September 14, 1971, studying radioactive and X-ray cosmic radiation on the Moon, as well as the chemical composition and properties of the soil.

Humanity has always tried as much as possible to make everyday life and work easier. And in the course of this evolution, a class of machines - robots - emerged, and with it a whole direction - robotics. One of the countries in which this discipline is most actively developed is Japan. The developers plan to use robots not only, but also in everyday life. Scientists hope that in the coming decades they will become as commonplace as the use of smartphones.

However, where did the timid steps of the history of robotics begin?

I-III centuries AD

This is where the story of robots begins. The first statues of gods with moving limbs and heads in Ancient Egypt, Babylon, China. Automatic ball created by Archimedes, with the reflection of celestial bodies. Automatic systems of Heron of Alexandria for the sale of holy water.

Middle Ages

The most popular then were automatic watch movements and human figures that moved.

In 1495 - Leonardo da Vinci's project - a mechanical man.

In the mid-1700s, watchmakers Pierre-Jacquet Droz and his son Henri-Louis Droz developed automatic systems. The word “android” comes from the name of the latter.

By 1805, mechanisms emerged that gave rise to the creation of automatic machines.

The play Rossumovi univerzální roboti (“Rossum’s Universal Robots”) by the Czech author Karl Capek was released, which gave the world the word “robots” - creatures that are mechanically and intellectually more perfect than humans.

The topic of robotics was revealed most widely and significantly in literature in the cycle of stories “I, Robot”. Now, it seems, even a person far from this field knows about the three laws of robotics.

1928 - “Mr. Televox” (author - engineer J. Wensley, USA) - a humanoid robot that performs movements on command. Another robot is “Natural Scientist” (Dr. Nishimura Makota) - an android that marked the beginning of the Japanese history of robotics. Was able to move his limbs and head:

Technical progress in robotics has moved towards improved control systems. A developed sensor system is typical for such robotic systems: Unimate, Hitachi, Westinghouse.

The period from 1970 to 2000 is characterized by active growth and development of the industry: the use of new controllers, the development of programming languages, the launch of the first robots into space and the emergence of machines that create robots.

The two thousand years were marked.