all you need to know about robots ( bots, robo sapiens, humanoid robots, robotic puppies ) : history, research, news ...................................................
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robot sapiens - march 2001 - the robo sapiens promise huge benefits to soceity: - the military wants them to shoulder a soldier's burden. they fearlessly tack dangerous work like defusing bombs. they can clean up waste sites, because they sneer at radioactivity and toxic chemicals. - the nasa use the 'nomads' to explore mars, on a venture into the crats of volcanos in alaska and antartica. the next generation of spacewalker could fix faulty satellites and space stations. the metal humanoid known as robonaut has developed an impressive level of dexterity. within a few years similar robonauts could work outside the confines of a spacecraft, performing routine maintenance alongside astronauts. - the japanese government wants them to help care for elderly people, (soon it will be a social necessity: 25% of japan's population will be over age 65 by 2005) toylike robots are already reminding senior citizens to take medicine and keep appointments. in japan service robots will deliver hospital food trays ( by 2002 some 11 000 service robots will be employed, 65 % in hospitals and nursing homes). germans frauenhofer institut has developed 'care-o-bot', which help elderly and infirm people to maintain independent lifestyles. they can guide people who are unsteady on their feet... - they can offer virtouso entertainment, recording the passing years, singing and dancing, telling multimedia stories... - following in the toy's wake they could be all manner of household robots, from 'dogs' to 'vacuum cleaners'. --- brief history 'robot' from a czech word 'robota', meaning drudgery or slave-like labor. it was first used to describe fabricated workers in a fictional 1920s play by czech author karel capek called 'rossum’s universal robots'. in the story, a scientist invents robots to help people by performing simple, repetitive tasks. robots have been around for less than 50 years, but the idea of inanimate creations that do our bidding is much older. the ancient greek poet homer described maidens of gold, mechanical helpers built by hephaistos, the greek god of metalsmiths. the golems of medieval jewish legend were robot-like servants made of clay, brought to life by a spoken charm. in 1495, leonardo da vinci drew plans for a mechanical man... 1939 for the new york world's fair, westinghouse electric corp. builds a mechanical man 'electro' and a dog. but real robots wouldn’t become possible until the 1950s and 1960s, with the invention of transistors and integrated circuits. compact, reliable electronics and a growing computer industry added brains to the brawn of already existing machines. in 1959, researchers demonstrated the possibility of robotic manufacturing when they unveiled a computer-controlled milling machine that made ashtrays. one of the first true robots was an experimental model called 'shakey', designed by researchers at the stanford research institute in the late 1960s. in the mid-1970s, general motors financed a development program in which massachusetts institute of technology researcher victor scheinman expanded upon a motor-driven arm he had invented to produce a so-called programmable universal manipulator for assembly, or 'puma'. the 'puma's that resulted mark the beginning of the age of robots. 1997 the first annual robocup soccer tournament was held in japan. more info: http://www.thetech.org/robotics --- see victorian-era robots http://www.bigredhair.com/robots/index.html / what's new / robo sapiens and their history / research and competitions --- ------- monthly designboom newsletter ------- ------- ? comments and contact us ? -------	the robonaut (NASA) another NASA robot the RUR robot 'electro' and his dog 'romolo II', rome 1957