History of robots: from Da Vinci's drawing to Aiko Chihira. Robotics: history and modernity

Since time immemorial, people have been fascinated by the idea of ​​​​creating robots - mechanisms, their appearance and actions similar to living beings, endowed with fantastic physical strength and dexterity, capable of flying, living underground and water, acting independently and at the same time unquestioningly obeying a person, performing the most difficult and dangerous work for him.

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The first reliable information about complex mechanisms (prototypes of modern robots) is found in the books of Heron of Alexandria, who lived in the 1st century AD.

Heron became famous among his contemporaries for his automatic theaters, in which performances were performed by doll figures driven by a system of gears, pulleys, levers, water, steam and the energy of falling bodies.

Drawing of the Theater of Dionysus in Athens

Leonardo da Vinci used his knowledge of anatomy, metalworking, and engineering to create mechanical models of the skeletons and muscles of animals and humans. In 1497 in Milan, Leonardo surprised the public with a mechanical knight. The robot could turn its head, sit down, stand up and raise its visor. Another invention of Leonardo is considered a mechanical lion in life size. The lion walked and stood on hind legs showing the coat of arms of France on the chest.

In 2002, robotics expert Mark Rosheim built a working model of a mechanical knight based on Leonardo da Vinci's designs.

Over the centuries, technologies for creating a variety of devices and humanoid mechanisms continued to develop and become more complex, reaching their peak in the 18th century thanks to the discovery of the law of dynamics.

Most famous creator Automatic figures of that time were the French mechanic Jacques de Vaucanson. His automatic "Fluttering Duck" figure craned its neck, pecked and digested real grain, drank, swam and quacked, exactly imitating the movements of a living duck. Unfortunately, the original mechanism was lost in 1879 in a fire at the Krakow Museum. A hundred years later, master Frederico Vidoni made a copy of the duck, which settled in the Grenoble Museum.

Drawing of the "Fluttering Duck" by Vokason

As you know, "robot" is a Czech word coined by satirist Karel Capek for the science fiction play R.U.R (Rossum's Universal Robots).

The play, published in 1921, tells the story of the uprising of humanoid machines (androids). The action takes place in a factory producing “artificial people” grown not mechanically, but chemically from tissues and organs. Robots are quite capable of thinking, but at the same time they always seem to be happy to serve humanity.

Karel's idea so greatly excited the minds of his contemporaries that the day after the first performance of the play in London, the writer woke up famous, and the word “robot” became a commonly used definition for all automatic devices created on the principle of a living organism.

Scene from the play "Rossum's Universal Robots"

The first industrial programmable mechanisms appeared in the 1930s in the USA. The impetus for their creation was the work of Henry Ford to create an assembly line, which completely changed the approach to production. Now the work on the car was divided into many stages, the monotony of which quickly tired a person, and the freedom now available to choose a place behind the conveyor forced to pay more for the least qualified and harmful work, for example painting.

The world's first industrial robot (a fully automatic device for painting surfaces) was patented on October 29, 1934, by Willard L.G. Pollard. The patent consisted of two parts: an electrical control system and a mechanical manipulator.

Pollard mechanical manipulator drawing

In the 1950s, with the development of the nuclear industry, the first manipulators were introduced that simulated movements human hands, which were used when working with radioactive materials.

The date of birth of the first truly serious robot, which the whole world heard about, can be considered May 18, 1966. On this day, Grigory Babakin, chief designer of the machine-building plant named after S.A. Lavochkin, signed the main volume of the project to create a robot for lunar exploration - “Lunokhod-1”.

The total mass of the first lunar rover was 756 kg, its length with the solar battery cover open was 4.42 meters, width 2.15 meters, height 1.92 meters.

Lunakhod-1 operated on the surface of the Earth's satellite from November 17, 1970 to September 14, 1971, studying radioactive and X-ray cosmic radiation on the Moon, as well as the chemical composition and properties of the soil.

When we imagine a robot, we usually think of human-shaped electronic machines - such as cyborgs or androids - or other computerized autonomous devices, such as Roomba. But the definition of the word "Robot" covers a deeper meaning.

A robot is any machine or mechanical device that operates automatically or semi-automatically. This means that the "robot" is not necessarily limited to being powered by electricity.

By far the most common application of modern robots is in manufacturing. They are used to make production more efficient for the company, cheaper for the consumer and safer for the employees. But where did this word come from?

Origin of the word "Robot".

The word "Robot" was coined in 1920 by Karel Kapek and his brother Josef Kapek. Karel was a Czech writer who coined words to name the artificial creatures in his play. Dissatisfied with the word laboři (or "workers" in Latin), his brother suggested roboti from the Latin word robota (meaning "serf labor").

In 1944, science fiction writer Isaac Asimov decided to expand on it and coined the word "robotics" for use in his story "Escape". He later began repeating the word in many of his books. This helped increase the popularity and use of the word.

What was the first robot in the world?

Mythological tales aside, which include mechanical servants built by the Greek gods, clay golems of Jewish legend, and clay giants of Norse legend, the first real documented example of a robot was invented by the Greek mathematician Archytas in the 4th century BC. He created a wooden mechanical a steam bird, which he named "Dove".

It is believed that the bird was suspended from the end of a turning rod, and the apparatus was rotated under layers of compressed air and steam. Information about the "Dove" was found in the writings of Heron of Alexandria, who described it as "controlled by water, rotating weight and steam." Not only does it claim to be the first known robot, but it is also the first documented recording of a scientist trying to figure out how birds fly.

What about modern robots?

Robots and robotics are developing at an ever faster pace. We've sent robots into space to explore planets for us, into nuclear reactors, and even as soldiers in the war on terror. The industry itself is evolving in unpredictable but exciting ways. For example, the robot shown in the video below features a robotic "pop star" that sings and dances for an audience:

PS: The first person killed by a robot was Kenji Urada in 1981. Urada was repairing a broken robot at the Kawasaki plant in Japan. After failing to completely disable him, the robot pushed him into a grinding machine, resulting in his death.

:: Opinion 1::
(Big Soviet encyclopedia)

Integral robot
Stanford Shakes
University (1970)

Robot(Czech robot, from robota - forced labor, rob - slave), a machine with anthropomorphic (human-like) behavior that partially or completely performs the functions of a person (sometimes an animal) when interacting with the outside world.

A.L.I.C.E. - chat robot,
almost passed
Turing test

With development robotics 3 types of robots have been identified: with a strict program of action; controlled by a human operator; with artificial intelligence (sometimes called integral), acting purposefully (“intelligently”) without human intervention. Most modern robots (of all three varieties) are manipulator robots, although there are other types of robots (for example, information, walking, etc.). It is possible to combine robots of the first and second types in one machine with a division of their operating time. Also acceptable collaboration a person with a robot of the third type (in the so-called supervisory mode).

:: Opinion 2::
(Great Soviet Encyclopedia. Theory of machines and mechanisms.)

Robot- an automatic machine that simulates the properties and functions of living organisms and, in particular, imitates human actions when moving tools and labor objects in space.

:: Opinion 3::
(Glossary.ru Dictionary of natural sciences.)

Unmanned
flying
apparatus (UAV)

Hopkins Animal

Robot- electronic-mechanical device: - capable of appropriate behavior in a changing external environment; - performing work operations with complex spatial movements.

The main part of the robot is a computer system that controls the movement of the robot itself or third-party objects using manipulator devices. To perform its functions, the robot processes information received from its sensors.

Stanley robot car,
DARPA race winner
Grand Challenge 2005

Robot(from Czech robota) - an electromechanical, pneumatic, hydraulic device or a combination thereof, designed to replace a person in industry, hazardous environments, etc.

Modular
Atron robot

Modern robots operate based on the principles of feedback, subordinate control and hierarchy of the robot control system. The hierarchy of the robot control system implies the division of the control system into horizontal layers that control the overall behavior of the robot, the calculation of the required trajectory of the manipulator, the behavior of its individual drives, and layers that directly control the drive motors.

An industrial robot is a device that performs certain manipulative functions similar to the functions of a human hand.

A robot “in general” is an uncertain concept, and therefore many automatic devices can be classified as robots.

Robot vacuum cleaner

Robot control systems
Software control
Program control is the simplest type of control system, used to control manipulators at industrial facilities. In such robots there is no sensory part; all actions are strictly fixed and regularly repeated.
Adaptive Control
Robots with an adaptive control system are equipped with a sensory part. The signals transmitted by the sensors are analyzed and, depending on the results, a decision is made on further actions, transition to the next stage of action, etc.
Intelligent Control
The intelligent control method is based on artificial intelligence methods. Human-powered management
An example of such a robot is a remote-controlled mine clearance apparatus.

Robot (program)
Robot or bot(English bot, abbreviated from English robot) is a special program that automatically and/or according to a given schedule performs any actions through the same interfaces as a regular user. As a rule, the term is used in relation to the Internet. IN online games Computer-controlled players are sometimes called bots.

Robots Monsieur

The term robot has no stability. It almost always requires an additional word (for example, industrial or BEAM).

Robot should include three components:
1. Sensor. A sensor, a receiving device for sensing the robot’s operating environment.
2. Reflector. Program, processing device, neuron, neuro...
3. Actuator. A mechanism that allows you to perform work in the robot's operating environment.

Thus:
A robot is an autonomous system independent of its operating environment that implements a feedback mechanism in the sensor-reflector-actuator chain.

A robot is a machine (more precisely, an “automatic machine”) whose behavior appears reasonable.

PaPeRo robots from NEC

Keywords here "looks" And "reasonableness". Those. the determination of whether a given machine is a “robot” or not at each moment of time lies with the observer, and this does not mean a private person, but rather the public consciousness, with its assessment current state science and technology.

IN public consciousness The machines that surround us every day are not “intelligent”; only something new can give the impression of “intelligence” and for a period before it has become commonplace. The first washing machine, which “learned” to distinguish silk from cotton, also seemed “very smart” and, accordingly, a “robot”, and now it is already a “regular” washing machine.

"Robot" is always the cutting edge of science and technology. And it is precisely for this reason that we also, without objection, consider a small mechanical bug made up of a dozen parts, crawling into the light (“Look, so small, but so smart!”) to be a real robot!

Let's try to define the boundaries of the concept "robot".

Gray Walter's Turtle

Postulate one: A robot is a machine, a product of the activity of another being. That is, the robot is a secondary creation. With this we draw the line between a robot and a living being.

Postulate two: A robot is designed to do a job. By this we again emphasize the secondary nature of the robot. The robot’s tasks are set by its creator, in particular a person.

Several consequences follow from this.
Corollary one: a robot can perform actions that directly affect the senses of its creator. Hence - home robots, gaming robots, teaching robots.
Second consequence: a robot can produce the appearance of work, influencing its creator by creating in him a feeling of the work being performed.
Third consequence: The robot can imitate the behavior expected by its creator. Hence: Aibo, Asimo, Quiro, and other Japanese pseudo-living creatures.

Robot dog
Aibo (prototype)

Postulate three: The robot receives information about the world in which it exists. If it doesn’t receive it, then it’s not a robot, but just an automatic machine.

Postulate four: The robot changes the outside world. The robot certainly produces a physical impact on the world around it. He moves objects in it, moves himself, and influences with his presence or absence the interaction of other objects in his world.

Postulate five: Feedback between the robot and the outside world. The robot must receive information about the result of its impact on the outside world.

Robot fish Popo

Postulate six: The robot has different levels of "intelligence". You can try to divide robots into four levels of complexity (levels of intelligence).

Simple hard program
Complex rigid program
Simple adaptive program
Complex adaptive program

Development of the concept of "robot"

A robot was originally defined as an anthropomorphic artifact that functions anthropomorphically (that is, a robot is artificially created - by a person or a robot, is similar to a person and performs actions similar to those of a person).

However, anthropomorphism significantly narrows the range of artifacts that can, generally speaking, be classified as robots (for example, mechanisms capable of executing complex programs, but not similar in appearance to humans: the mode of movement is a platform on wheels).

Definition 1:

A robot is an artifact that functions autonomously.

Artifact - a robot was created artificially (by an intelligent living being or robot). A robot can be a machine, a device, or a combination of both. The introduction of the concept of artificiality of creation allows us to separate robots from objects created naturally(for example, living organisms, natural phenomena).

Functioning - the robot performs any actions using the energy of the source. A source of energy is required. The energy source may or may not be renewable. Ultimately, this only affects the operating time and battery life. Examples of energy sources: spring, flywheel, galvanic cell or battery, electrical network, solar battery, compressed air tank, kinetic or potential energy of an artifact. Complexity: all objects manifest themselves in some way, and these manifestations can be detected. Perhaps it is necessary to separate actions from manifestations and actions that are characteristic of a robot from actions that it can perform; perhaps there is no need to limit the concept of performing actions. Additionally: actions can be useful, useless, harmful, meaningless.

Autonomous - the robot functions independently in any environment, has a spatially limited volume, can be removed from one place and moved to another place and continue or resume functioning.

Examples of robots by definition 1:

• Wind-up toy. The energy source is a spring, the actions performed are mechanical movement in space.
• Lamp post. The energy source is the electrical network, the actions performed are lighting.
• A moving object (for example, a ball). Energy source - initial potential or kinetic energy, the actions performed are mechanical movement in space.
• Steam boiler with turbine and electric generator. The energy source is fuel in the firebox, the actions performed are the production of electrical energy.
• A computer running on battery power and running a program. The energy source is the battery, the actions performed are information processing.

Do not qualify as robots by definition 1:

• Closet. No energy source available. But, if a lamp with a battery is built into the cabinet, then it can be classified as a robot.
• Atoms, planets. They are not artifacts. But, if a molecule is artificially assembled from atoms and performs any actions, for example, mechanical movement under influence electric field(microelectric motor), then it can be classified as a robot.
• Plants, animals. They are not artifacts, although they may have properties obtained through selection or genetic experiments.

The above examples show that the author has accepted the definition of a robot, according to which robots can be classified as very wide circle artifacts. If this circle needs to be narrowed, then the above definition must be supplemented with restrictions, for example: a moving robot is an artifact that functions autonomously and is capable of mechanical movement.

• 1. Karel Capek. R.U.R. (Rossum's Universal Robots), 1920
• 2. Nakano E. Introduction to robotics: Transl. from Japanese - M.: Mir, 1988. - 334 p., ill.
• 3. Shahinpur M. Robotics course: Transl. from English - M.: Mir, 1990. - 527 p., ill.

In this article you will find answers to the questions:
1. History of the appearance of the term " Android";
2. How did the term " Program";
3. Who invented the word " Robot";
4. Birth" Cybernetics";
5. Who came up with the unit of information measurement;
6. History of the appearance of " Artificial Intelligence".

A few words about why I collected information for this article.
Nowadays, the name of Isaac Asimov is on everyone's lips. Why is clear. He is our contemporary. We read his works, watch films based on his work. Some postulates formulated by Azimov have already been “canonized” to a certain extent. I am in no way trying to belittle this man’s contribution to the “roboticization” of public thinking. But sometimes I get the impression that the era of robots in the mass consciousness is associated only with Asimov. What came before it is now little known and unpopular. So it seems to me...
With this article I want to remind you of the people who lived before us, who were interested in robots and promoted their development in accordance with the capabilities that existed in their era. They did a lot. Shall we begin?

1. History of the appearance of the term "Android"

Did you hear? In Switzerland, some watchmaker made a mechanical man who can write.
- Yes, I heard! Did you know that his son made another mechanical man who can draw?
- What are you saying? That would be interesting to see!
Such conversations could be heard anywhere and everywhere in Western Europe about two hundred years ago. The mechanical men of the Swiss watchmaker Pierre-Jacques Droz and his son Henri aroused everyone's surprise. A lot has been said and written about them. To see them, whole crowds came to Chaux de Fonds, a Swiss village on the border with France, where Dro lived and worked.

Almost all the inhabitants of this village were engaged in the production of watches. Some made clock springs, others made dials, others made gears, screws and cylinders. Labor was divided to the point that there were specialists in the manufacture of cases, polishing wheels, screws, number painters, enamellers, and gilders. The entire village represented one manufactory, producing several thousand different watches a year.
The ticking of pendulums, the slow rotation of gear wheels, the running of the second hands - this whole brilliant, precise world of mechanisms, fitting in the palm of your hand or in a small box on the wall, fascinated Pierre Droz in his youth, and despite the successful ending religious school, without hesitation, took up the watchmaking craft.
Pierre's successes in watchmaking were so great that making ordinary watches soon ceased to bring satisfaction, and he, following the example of other skilled craftsmen, began to invent and attach various additional mechanisms to watches - all sorts of self-moving figures.

Dro took one of his first products - a wonderful pendulum clock with a shepherd and a dog - to the capital of Spain, Madrid, to King Ferdinand IV. The demonstration was carried out in the presence of numerous court nobility. Excited Dro showed them the created work. When the hour hand approached any hour, the shepherd raised the flute to his mouth and whistled as many times as the hour should have struck.
At the shepherdess’s feet lay a dog guarding a basket of apples. As soon as one of the courtiers touched the fruit, the dog began to bark. They took their hand off the fruit and the barking immediately stopped. The king liked Pierre Droz's invention and, having paid well, bought a watch.
Encouraged by his success, Dro, upon returning home, decided to make a mechanism that looked like a person and performed human movements. It was the daring idea of ​​a master who felt his power over the wheels and levers. To build a mechanical man, one had to have a keen knowledge of mechanics and enormous ingenuity. And yet Pierre Droz ardently set to work to resolve it.

Hard work continued for twenty months. Dro often sat long after midnight by the light of an oil lamp. Finally, in the spring of 1770, the first mechanical man was born. It was a mechanical "writing boy".

When the mechanical man wrote, he moved his head and seemed to be watching what he was writing. Having finished the work, the scribe sprinkled sand on a sheet of paper to dry the ink, and then shook it off. By pure chance, the “writing boy” and part of his “manuscripts,” as well as other inventions of Dro’s father and son, have survived to this day. After long wanderings, they are now in Switzerland, in the Museum of Fine Arts in the city of Neuchâtel. The work on the production of the “writing boy” was observed by Pierre Droz’s sixteen-year-old son, Henri. The boy inherited from his father an exceptional ability for mechanics and three years later he himself began to build a new mechanical man, who, according to the plan, was supposed to draw. The size of the draftsman was the same as his “elder brother”. IN right hand he held a pencil and drew various figures and also wrote. For example, he could draw a small dog and sign “my Tutu” under the picture. And the portraits of Louis XV and XVI and Marie Antoinette still delight visitors to the museum in Neuchâtel. During the work, the draftsman stopped, as if contemplating what he had drawn, and also sometimes blew away specks from a sheet of paper. After some time, both mechanics, father and son Dro, began together to invent and build a third mechanical person - a musician (Fig. 2). In terms of complexity, it was far superior to its “brothers.” This doll played the harmonium by hitting the keys with her fingers. She could make trills and fast passages clearly and easily. Before starting to play, the musician examined the notes and made some preliminary movements with her hand. In addition, she turned her head and eyes, as if watching the position of her hands. Her chest rose and fell as if she was breathing. Having finished playing, the musician bowed her head, thanking the audience for their approval.


Pierre and Henri Droz demonstrated their inventions at an exhibition in Paris in 1774. The movements of all three mechanical people were so natural that many of the spectators were ready to consider them living people. And only when the Draws opened the complex clockwork mechanism of their creations from the back, did the audience begin to believe that in front of them were actually works of technology, and not living beings.

The source of movement for all three described machines is a clock mechanism with a winding spring. The spring drives complex systems of gears, levers, rods and cams - everything that later came to be called a software mechanism.
At first glance, it may seem that the “toys” of Pierre and Henri Droz have nothing to do with the development of technology. But it is not so. Dro's mechanical people played a very important role in the general process of human knowledge of nature and laid the foundation for program-controlled automata.

2. How the term “Program” appeared

The word itself program comes from the Greek word “gram” - “writing” and the prefix “pro”, which here means “in advance”. General meaning the words “program” are a destiny, something written for the future. In our case, the software mechanism determines the entire sequence of behavior of mechanical people. And not a single movement of the machine, even the most insignificant, can be changed without making amendments to the program! Well, what happens if something changes in external conditions while the machine is operating? Well, let's say, if you try to hold the scribe's hand while he writes? One of two things will happen: either the machine will stop, or... something will crackle in it and it will break. All these machines cannot respond to changes in external conditions that occur during their operation. However, automatic machines were an important step in the development of robotics.
Already in early XIX century, automatic spinning and weaving machines with program control appeared. In a dangerous time for Europe, when Napoleon conquered one country after another and the army needed a lot of fabric, the French inventor Joseph Marie Jacquard found a way to influence the complex operation of the mechanisms of a loom. To do this, the inventor used a set of cardboard cards with different locations of holes. It was the holes that were the symbol for the operating order of the machine - its program. The card passed under the probes. When the probes fell into the holes, they lowered and, using special devices, moved the threads on the weaving loom. This is how they turned out on fabrics complex patterns. New map, a new program, and therefore new pattern. Changing a sheet of cardboard map is equivalent to replacing one hard-coded machine with another, new design. This was already a significant step forward compared to Dro machines. After all, there, each mechanical person had his own program for the sequence of actions and the transition to new program was associated with the reworking of the entire control mechanism. Indeed, it hardly made sense to build looms capable of producing only one fabric pattern, characteristic of a given design: people quickly got tired of this pattern. The idea of ​​entering the machine's operating program using cardboard cards and a set of probes turned out to be very successful. More than one hundred and fifty years have passed since Jacquard's invention, but a better way to produce fabrics decorated with complex patterns has not yet been found.

3. Who coined the word "Robot"

Robots owe their name not to cybernetics or even engineers, but to... a writer. It was Karel Capek, a famous Czech writer and playwright, who first coined this word.

In the early thirties, Capek wrote a play he called "RUR". Its hero, engineer Ross, managed to invent complex machine, which could perform all human work. The author called this humanoid machine "robot". Ross's invention immediately attracted the attention of capitalists, who organized a special company for the production of robots. The robots had complete external resemblance to humans and could do any kind of work. The demand for them was so great that the plant soon switched to their mass production. The owners of robots began to replace them with living people in factories and factories. Finally, the capitalists felt calm. But not for long! One day, robots attacked people and killed them all. People on Earth ceased to exist, and their place was taken by intelligent automata...

4. Birth of "Cybernetics"

The starting point is considered to be 1948, when the founder of cybernetics, the outstanding American mathematician Norbert Wiener (1894-1964), published the book “Cybernetics”, which talked a lot about the quantitative assessment of various signals. Talented people stood at the origins of robotics. The son of a professor of Slavic studies, a native of Russia, Norbert Wiener received his PhD degree from Harvard University at the age of 18!

The appearance of the book shocked the whole world like a powerful explosion. It was she who proclaimed the birth new science- CYBERNETICS. Wiener was a wide-ranging scientist. He seems to have resurrected in our days the traditions of universalism that flourished in the times of Descartes, Leibniz and Newton. The breadth of his interests was combined with a deep conviction in the unity of science, in the need for a close union of its various branches. Most of all, Wiener sought to study the hidden riches of the “no man's land.” This is what he called the border strips lying at the junctions of two or more sciences. It was one of these “no-man’s areas”, located between mathematics, technology and physiology, that brought the scientist world fame.
By the way, one of the meanings of the Greek word kebernetes, from which its name comes, is helmsman. Oddly enough, almost all created cybernetic systems for many years have managed without a “human helmsman.” More recently, just a few years ago, a new direction appeared - second-order cybernetics. It differs from the classical one in that it includes a human observer in the control loop, which was traditionally purely machine-based.

5. Who invented the theory of information and the unit of measurement of information “Bit”

In 1948, Claude Shannon, another American mathematician, published A Mathematical Theory of Communication. In fact, Shannon's work predetermined the path along which the branch of cybernetics has since developed - information theory.

Since the appearance of Shannon's work, mathematicians, physicists and engineers have come to understand the term “information” as something new, different from what is meant by this word in everyday life.
After reading the book, people said that it was empty or, on the contrary, very meaningful. But it never even occurred to anyone that it was possible to accurately calculate how much information was contained on its pages. It seemed even more difficult to estimate the amount of information in sound signals our speech or in television images!
But Shannon was able to solve this problem, thanks to which, since the 50s of our century, humanity has been measuring information as confidently as, say, the length of an object in meters or its weight in kilograms. Unit of measurement information with light hand Claude Shannon became bit.

6. The history of the emergence of "Artificial Intelligence"

Artificial intelligence research is one of those few scientific and scientific-technical disciplines whose date of birth can be indicated almost to the day. And at the same time, artificial intelligence had not one such date, but at least two, which often happens in the history of science.
Indeed, the term “artificial intelligence” was first introduced into scientific practice in the summer of 1956, when many people gathered in Dartmouth (USA) on the initiative of the famous American expert in computer theory and practice, John McCartney. godfathers"cybernetics - K. Shannon, M. Minsky, G. Simon, A. Newell and others - in order to discuss the possibility of implementing a project to create artificial intelligence. The term "artificial intelligence" was even introduced into the name of the conference - Dartmouth Summer Research Project on Artificial intelligence , and very soon entered scientific use.
Participants at the Dartmus Conference in 1956 could not ignore one more early work, directly related to the problems of artificial intelligence (although this term was not used in it) - an article by the prominent English mathematician Alan Turing "Computing machinary and intelligence", published in the October issue of Mind magazine in 1950. October 1950 is the second (and historically the first) date for the emergence of research on artificial intelligence. In this article, A. Turing formulated his famous test, according to which a computer demonstrates intelligent behavior if it is able to act in such a way that an observer is unable to decide whether he is dealing with a computer or a person. Everything is grown up!

Like this...
And then - Asimov, Asimov... :)))
Good luck to you!

Thanks to Vladimir Kanivets (Portal of robotics lovers - Robo.com.ua) for the material provided

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The history of robotics dates back to ancient times. After all, since time immemorial, people have come up with various devices for entertainment. The great mathematicians of antiquity created amazing mechanisms that can still cause genuine delight in our time. From those times to the present day, the desire to create an independently functioning mechanism has not faded away; on the contrary, it has only grown. The best world scientists are working on creating various types robots capable of performing a wide variety of functions. However, before delving into history, we should understand what robotics is.

1. What is robotics?

Robotics is a science that studies the development processes of automated technical systems based on electronics, as well as mechanics and programming. The production of robots is one of the most developed branches of modern industry. Just imagine, on this moment thousands of robots work in factories and enterprises, replacing hard labour of people.

Automated manipulators have become an integral part of various production and scientific research. In addition, robots allow us to explore space beyond our planet, where humans have no access.

If we talk about the history of robots, the first mechanisms that perform the simplest movements can be found in ancient times. However, the first surviving drawings and records of a working robot date back to 1495. They were created by the world famous inventor, scientist Leonardo Da Vinci, who created an iron knight capable of moving his arms and legs.

If we talk about modern robots, the development of robotics dates back to 1961, when General Motors created the first robot with a moving arm that performs a certain sequence of actions recorded on a magnetic drum. In fact, this development marked the beginning of mass production of robots.

It is worth noting that the very concept of “robot” came to us a little earlier, or rather in 1921, when the science fiction writer Karel Capek wrote a play called “Rossum’s Universal Robots.” Of course, at that time it was a simple fantasy, and no one could have imagined that robots would become so deeply involved in people’s lives. A little later, 20 years later, Isaac Asimov formulated three basic laws of robotics, which determined ideas about robots:

• A robot is not capable of causing harm to a person, or allowing, through inaction, harm to a person;
• A robot must follow human commands if they do not contradict the first law;
• A robot must ensure its safety as long as this does not contradict the first and second laws.

The active development of robotics and mass production of automated machines began in the 1970s. First of all, these were industrial robotic machines that were used in production. They successfully replaced people on assembly lines and performed repetitive work, which significantly reduced the number of industrial accidents and also increased the productivity of enterprises.

Of course, robots are not capable of working independently. To control them, people are needed who constantly monitor the progress of work and, if necessary, can turn them off or reconfigure them.

Nowadays, robots have become even smarter. Some factories, such as IBM's keyboard assembly facility in Texas, have fully automated production. Moreover, all work from the moment of unloading materials until receiving the finished product is performed by robots. Such factories do not require lighting and can operate 24/7.

2.1. Types of robots

A brief history of robotics allows us to understand how rapidly this field is developing. Only a little more than 50 years have passed from the appearance of the first robot capable of performing a few simple movements to the mass production of a wide variety of robotic mechanisms and machines. In addition, today there is a huge variety of household robots that can significantly simplify the daily life of ordinary people.

Scientific activity in the development of robotics is very high. Every year they are held international conferences on robots, national and international scientific and technical meetings are held, and so on. Every year, a huge number of robots appear that can replace people in the workplace, help in everyday life, entertainment robots, and even robots working in medicine.

An interesting fact is that today robots are capable of building other robots, which in turn will work in the production of the same automated machines. Already at the moment, many science fiction books have become a completely normal and familiar reality, and it is not difficult to imagine what kind of robots will be among people in 10-20 years.

To understand what kind of robots can generally be found in modern life, you should understand some terms:

• Mechanism;
• Robot;
• Android;
• Car.

So, a machine is a set of mechanisms that replace a person or animal in a certain area. Such devices are usually designed to convert one type of energy into another. In the vast majority of cases, machines are used to automate labor.

A mechanism is the use of certain materials to perform certain mechanical functions. All mechanical designs are based on mutual adhesion, as well as the resistance of bodies.

A robot is a machine with anthropomorphic (human-like) behavior that is partially or fully capable of performing the functions of a human (or animal) under certain conditions.

Android is a concept from science fiction, which is already becoming a reality in our time. This is a robot that has a human-like appearance. The goal of the android is to replace a person in any type of activity.

Knowing what a robot is, one can only imagine what functions it can perform. Nowadays, robots can take a wide variety of forms, from pets to huge industrial installations - from robotic vacuum cleaners to real robots from fantasy stories playing on musical instruments or performing important tasks on other planets.

2.2. Advances in robotics

It is difficult to describe all the modern achievements in the development of robotics. However, everyone agrees that most high achievements Modern robots working in medicine have become part of this field. With their advent, new opportunities opened up for humanity to carry out the most delicate operations that even the most trained and experienced person is unable to perform.

It would take forever to describe all the existing achievements, so let’s pay attention only to the most interesting developments. For example, robots playing music. Yes, this is no longer fantasy - this is real reality, accessible to everyone. Modern technologies allow you to create groups of robots playing various musical instruments. At the same time, robots do not make mistakes and do not need rest.

Imagine a rock band consisting entirely of robots. Just 10 years ago this was the wildest fantasy, but today it is reality. Of course, machines cannot write music themselves; they are programmed by people. Despite all the achievements of modern robotics, all robots are still controlled (programmed) by people and carry out exclusively pre-programmed commands.

In addition, robots work in a wide variety of areas:

• In construction;
• On production lines;
• In medicine;
• In the entertainment industry.

3. Robotics: Video

It is thanks to robots that our lives are the way we see them. Many things used in Everyday life, have become more accessible due to the operation of machines that do not require wages and work in three and even four shifts.

Space exploration was largely made possible thanks to robots. Moreover, modern automated machines make it possible to obtain rock samples from other planets, meteorites and comets. This in turn makes a significant contribution to the work of scientists. It is worth noting a certain relationship - the more “smart” machines become, the faster technologies develop that make it possible to make even more advanced and “smart” machines.

4. Prospects for the development of robotics

The development of robotics has far-reaching prospects. If you look at the history of the development of this field, you can understand that the development of robotics is accelerating every year. And given the importance of automated machines in a wide variety of industries, especially in medicine, it is not difficult to imagine the hopes that lie in them.

Despite the fact that the history of the development of robotics began relatively recently, this area of ​​technology already has a very high level. The world's best scientists are working tirelessly to create new types of robots - from nanorobots that will be used in medicine to treat various diseases, to independent machines with advanced artificial intelligence. At this point, one can only imagine to what heights technology in robotics will be able to reach in the near future.