The word “Robot” brings to mind the metallic sound and Armageddon upon us. We being ruled by machines much more intelligent and capable of greater feats than us. In recent time ‘Sophia’ – the robot citizen has taken the world over by storm. She can have candid conversations and she look human. The human beings that design the robots are making them more human like than we can imagine. Robots have slowly inched their way into the system and made human beings redundant. The recent viewing of a sci-fi series by Spielberg called Extant clearly shows the path we’re headed. Steven Spielberg, with his Star War movies enthralled us and soon we’re all going to be a part of the intergalactic system of robot. Sometimes, one does wonder, where did it all start?
- Origin
These autonomous beings can be programmed thorough a computer and one can’t argue with the amount of computers that we use everyday. So actually, they’re all robots. They have transformed the way we live. This branch of technology called robotics gave the idea for metal to replace man for their safety in untoward places. The first however was used in a play and was put together by Josef Capek who invented it in 1920. William Grey Walter gave it real form factor in Bristol, England in the late 1948.Thereafter many people started making prototypes. It was Unimate, created by George Devol in 1954, which was the first of its kind. After being sold to General Motors, it helped lift pieces of hot metal from die-casting.
- The First of its kind
In 1928, the first human like robot was presented to the world. Its name was Eric and it was displayed at the annual exhibition of the Modern Engineers Society in London where it surprised everyone by giving a speech. The robot was the brainchild of W.H. Richards. Its body armour, which gave it form, was the metal aluminum, which was light, and a non-conductor of electricity. This was attached to 11 electromagnets, which were in turn powered by the twelve-volt battery. This enabled the robot to move its arms and head and be controlled by a remote or voice control. This was just the beginning. After this marvel was unveiled, Eric and his brother George traveled the world and fueled the imagination of thousands that came after.
Read – India’s first articulated industrial robot “BRABO” unveiled
As robotics becomes more advanced its good to take a step back and journey though the annals of time to get a picture as to what started the whole event. The journey now that is not even close to its destination leaps and bounds to make it a better and well connected world.
