A Journey from Robot to Digital Human
Robotics research and technology development have been on the road to grow and advance for almost half a century. The history of expedition can be divided into three major periods: the early era, the middle age and the recent years. The official definition of robot by the Robot Institute of America (RIA) early on was: “A robot is a reprogrammable multi-functional manipulator designed to move material, parts, tools, or specialized devices through variable programmed motions for the performance of a variety of tasks.” Today, as co mmonly recognized, beyond such a professional definition from history, the general perception of a robot is a manipulatable system to mimic a human with not only the physical structure, but also the intelligence and even personality. In the early era, people often remotely manipulated material via a so-called teleoperator as well as to do many simple tasks in industrial applications. The teleoperator was soon “married” with the computer numerically controlled (CNC) milling machine to “deliver” a new-born baby that was the robot, as depicted in Figure 1.1. Since then, the robots were getting more and more popular in both industry and research laboratories. A chronological overview of the major historical events in robotics evolution during the early era is given as follows: 1947- The 1st servoed electric powered teleoperator was developed; 1948- A teleoperator was developed to incorporate force feedback; 1949- Research on numerically controlled milling machines was initiated; 1954- George Devol designed the first programmable robot; 1956- J. Engelberger bought the rights to found Unimation Co. and produce the Unimate robots; 1961- The 1st Unimate robot was installed in a GM plant for die casting; 1961- The 1st robot incorporating force feedback was developed; 1963- The 1st robot vision system was developed; mmonly recognized, beyond such a professional definition from history, the general perception of a robot is a manipulatable system to mimic a human with not only the physical structure, but also the intelligence and even personality. In the early era, people often remotely manipulated material via a so-called teleoperator as well as to do many simple tasks in industrial applications. The teleoperator was soon “married” with the computer numerically controlled (CNC) milling machine to “deliver” a new-born baby that was the robot, as depicted in Figure 1.1. Since then, the robots were getting more and more popular in both industry and research laboratories. A chronological overview of the major historical events in robotics evolution during the early era is given as follows: 1947- The 1st servoed electric powered teleoperator was developed; 1948- A teleoperator was developed to incorporate force feedback; 1949- Research on numerically controlled milling machines was initiated; 1954- George Devol designed the first programmable robot; 1956- J. Engelberger bought the rights to found Unimation Co. and produce the Unimate robots; 1961- The 1st Unimate robot was installed in a GM plant for die casting; 1961- The 1st robot incorporating force feedback was developed; 1963- The 1st robot vision system was developed;
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