Robots are indexed separately because they are not computers, even though they frequently utilize computers to help with the complex chores one wishes/expects from robots.
[Items bolded are currently on display at the Computer Museum History Center.]
Robots
Some of these robots were designed to perform specific tasks too dangerous for humans, and are currently used in industry and research. Many were built as experiments, helping researchers explore how robots could gather and use sensory data through computerized vision, sonar, touch and movement. The topics that this web page will cover:
Robot arms were among the first robots developed and are by far the most
common. They perform a wide variety
of industrial tasks too dangerous or repetitious for human workers.
Hands and grippers simulate the sensitive touch of human fingers. Robot
hands attached to industrial robot arms
do difficult assembly work and make fine, accurate adjustments
that are not possible for human hands.
Hoppers and walkers have the potential to move over land too rough for
vehicles with wheels. Walking robots
could help humans explore difficult terrain on Earth, and could someday
help astronauts and scientists explore
other planets.
This Mark II was one of the first six commercially produced industrial arms
in the United States. It was originally used to automate the manufacture of
TV picture tubes. The arm weighs 3500 pounds. On loan from the Smitbsonian
Institution, Wasbington, D. C.
Many early robot designs resulted from attempts to make life-like
artificial limbs. The Rancho Arm, developed at
Rancho Los Amigos Hospital in Downey, California, was designed to be used
as a tool for the handicapped. The
Rancho Arm's six joints gave it the flexibility of a human arm. It was
acquired by Stanford University in 1963,
where it became one of the first artificial arms to be controlled by
computer. On loan from Stanford University,
Palo Alto, California.
Orm, the Norwegian word for "snake," was an unusual air-powered robot arm
developed by Victor Scheinman and
Larry Leifer. The arm had twenty-eight inflatable sacks sandwiched between
seven metal disks. It moved by
inflating groups of these sacks selectively. The Orm was the earliest
attempt to build a computer-controlled robot
arm. The design was abandoned because the arm's movements could not be
repeated accurately. On loan from
Stanford University, Palo Alto, California.
The Stanford Arm, developed by Victor Scheinman, was the first successful
electrically-powered, computer-
controlled robot arm. It was used to develop industrial assembly techniques
for commercial robot arms. By
1974, it could assemble a Ford Model T water pump, guiding itself with
optical and contact sensors.
Development of the Stanford Arm led directly to the commercial production
of the Vicarm, a robot arm used by
researchers. Victor Scheinman went on to design the PUMA series of
industrial robots for Unimation (now
Westinghouse) which is used for automobile assembly and a variety of other
industrial tasks. On loan from
Stanford University, Palo Alto, California.
This arm was developed by Marvin Minsky at MIT in 1968. Since it moved like
an octopus, this early robot arm
was called the Tentacle Arm. It had twelve joints and was designed to reach
around obstacles. The arm was
controlled by a PDP-6 computer and was powered by hydraulic fluids. It was
designed to be mounted on a wall
and could lift the weight of a person. On loan from Massachusetts Institute
of Technology, Cambridge,
Massachusetts.
Early robot arms used chains or tendons to transmit power to the joints
from motors mounted in the base. The
Direct Drive Arm had electric motors housed inside the joints themselves.
This design eliminated friction and
backlash, making the Direct Drive Arm's movements fast and accurate. This
arm was the first direct-drive arm
ever built. It served as a prototype for commercial robot arms. Developed
by Takeo Kanade. The Computer
Museum collection.
This hand was developed by Rajko Tomovic at the University of Belgrade,
Yugoslavia. It was one of the earliest
attempts to equip an artificial limb with a sense of touch. The fingertips
had pressure-sensitive switches that were
activated by contact with an object. On loan from Thomas Callahan,
Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Many novel robot designs have been created at the Massachusetts Institute
of Technology. David Silver's arm
was able to do small parts assembly using feedback from delicate touch and
pressure sensors. It could perform
fine movements corresponding to those of human fingers. The Computer Museum
collection.
Developed by Shigeo Hirose at the Tokyo Institute of Technology, this
gripper could conform to the shape of a
grasped object. Here, the gripper is holding a wine glass filled with
flowers. The design of the Soft Gripper grew
from Hirose's studies of flexible structures in nature, such as elephant
trunks and snake spinal cords. Models of
these flexible structures have potential applications in medicine and
agriculture. On loan from Tokyo Institute of
Technology, Tokyo, Japan.
This robot gripper and arm is a small, commercially-available industrial
robot. It is used for tasks such as
assembling products or handling chemicals. The arm, including the gripper,
has six degrees of freedom and is
driven by electric motors connected to the joints by belts. The arm can
move fifteen inches per second, can lift
2.7 pounds, and is accurate within .02 of an inch. The Computer Museum
collection.
Developed by Shigeo Hirose at the Tokyo Institute of Technology, this
quadruped could perform the complicated
task of feeling its way up stairs of varying heights. It had contact
sensors on the sides and bottom of its feet.
When these were touched, the quadruped responded with animal-like reflexes.
Each leg contained an elegant
mechanical device that translated small motor movements inside the body
into large movements of the legs. On
loan from Tokyo Institute of Technology, Tokyo, Japan.
5.12 One-legged Hopper (1982)
The One-Legged Hopper balanced itself while moving, adjusting its balance
with each hop. It was controlled by a
computer that kept track of its actual speed and position, and adjusted the
angle of the leg to keep the robot
upright. On loan from Mare Raibert, Massachusetts Institute of Technology,
Cambridge, Massachusetts.
These small robots were designed to explore balance and bipedal locomotion.
The Biper 3 used movements of
tipping and acceleration to keep its balance while walking. Unlike other
bipedal robots, this machine had no knee
joints and its ankle joints were not powered. Biper 4 had joints in its
legs, but needed large, ski-like feet to stay
upright. Developed by Hirofumi Miura and Isao Shimoyama; on loan from Tokyo
Institute of Technology, Tokyo,
Japan.