A humanoid robot. If you had a robot butler residing in your home, would you prefer the butler to look human, or would a more robotic appearance be more comfortable for you?

2000

ASIMO AND FRIENDS

The history of real-world robots has had several notable milestones, just a few favorites of which are listed here. Three-wheeled “tortoises,” developed in 1949 by British neurophysiologist William Walter (1910–1977), could autonomously explore the environment using various sensors. In 1961, Unimate, created by American inventor George Devol (1912–2011), became the world’s first industrial robot and was employed on the General Motors automobile assembly line. In 1973, Japan’s WABOT-1—the world’s first full-scale, humanoid, intelligent robot—required 45 seconds for each step. In 1989, MIT showed off the six-legged robot insect named Genghis, developed by roboticist Rodney Brooks (b. 1954), which employed simple logic rules in order to walk and explore. In 1998, Tiger Electronics released the owl-like Furby^®, which sold over 40 million units in a few years. Although a very simple robot, Furby produced “Furbish” speech output that transformed into English over time, giving the impression that it could learn language just as humans do. Finally, BigDog, a four-legged robot created in 2005 by Boston Dynamics and partners, was notable for its ability to walk across a variety of difficult terrains.

Perhaps one of the most iconic of modern real-world robots has been Advanced Step in Innovative Mobility (ASIMO^®), introduced by the Honda Motor Company in 2000 to significant mainstream fanfare. The humanoid robot was 4 feet, 3 inches tall (130 cm) and, using its internal cameras and various sensors, was capable of autonomous navigation by walking. ASIMO could recognize gestures, faces, and sounds, and it could also grasp objects.

Our complex future will surely have a continuing need for AI, and robots will play an increasing collaborative role with humans. Perhaps someday robots like ASIMO will assist the elderly or infirm. However, as cyberneticist Norbert Wiener cautions, “The world of the future will be an even more demanding struggle against the limitations of our intelligence, not a comfortable hammock in which we can lie down to be waited upon by our robot slaves.”