History of Robotics

Robotics stemmed from the need to create intelligent machines to perform tasks that were difficult for humans. But it wasn't called “robotics” at first. The term “robot” was coined by a Czech writer, Karel Čapek, in his work R.U.R. (Rossum's Universal Robots). It is derived from the Czech word robota, which means servitude and is related to forced labor.

Čapek's work became known worldwide, and the term “robot” did too, so much so that this term was later used by the famous teacher and writer Isaac Asimov in his work; he termed robotics as the science that studies robots and their features.

Here you can see a timeline of the important events that have shaped the history of robotics:

Figure 1.1: History of robotics

Figure 1.2: History of robotics continued

Figures 1.1 and 1.2 give a useful timeline of the beginnings and evolution of robotics.