Unimate was the first industrial robot,[1]which worked on a General Motors assembly line at the Inland Fisher Guide Plant in Ewing Township, New Jersey, in 1961.[2][3][4]
History
It was invented by George Devol in the 1950s using his original patent filed in 1954 and granted in 1961[5] (U.S. patent 2,988,237). The patent begins:
The present invention relates to the automatic operation of machinery, particularly the handling apparatus, and to automatic control apparatus suited for such machinery.[6]
Devol, together with Joseph Engelberger, his business associate, started the world's first robot manufacturing company, Unimation.[7]
The machine weighed 4000 pounds[8] and undertook the job of transporting die castings from an assembly line and welding these parts on auto bodies, a dangerous task for workers, who might be poisoned by toxic fumes or lose a limb if they were not careful.[4]
The original Unimate consisted of a large computer-like box, joined to another box and was connected to an arm, with systematic tasks stored in a drum memory.
In 2003 the Unimate was inducted into the Robot Hall of Fame.[9]
In popular culture
The Unimate appeared on The Tonight Show hosted by Johnny Carson on which it knocked a golf ball into a cup, poured a beer, waved the orchestra conductor's baton and grasped an accordion and waved it around.[7][10]
Fictional robots called Unimate, designed by the character Alan von Neumann, Jr., appeared in comic books from DC Comics.[11]