On the 100th Anniversary of ‘Robot,’ They’re Finally Taking Over
General Motors installed the world’s first industrial robot, the Unimate, in 1961, with the idea that it could take over repetitive, arduous and hazardous tasks.
On Jan. 25, 1921, Karel Čapek’s play “R.U.R.”—short for “Rossum’s Universal Robots”—premiered in Prague. It was a sensation. Within two years it had been translated into 30 languages, including English, to which it introduced the word “robot.” Čapek’s vision of unwilling slaves of humanity destined to rise up and destroy their makers has shaped our view of both automation and ourselves ever since.
A Robot for industry. A machine with its own "Memory" that can work as skillfully as a man - without getting tired. It makes its public debut in London.
In a century-long dialogue between inventors of fictional and actual robots, engineers have for the most part been forced to play catch-up, either realizing or subverting the vision of robots first expounded in books, movies and television.
On this segment of Innovation Nation, Mo Rocca meets with Chief Curator Marc Greuther to talk about the first Unimate robot ever installed on an assembly line.
Now, the reality of robots is in some areas running ahead of fiction, even ahead of what those who study robots for a living are able to keep track of.
