Unimate and the Rise of the Robots

Robots conjure up thoughts of distant technological landscapes and even apocalyptic scenarios, but the truth is, robots are a very old creation, tracing back to the ancient world. We can thank science fiction writers for inventing new and serious ideas about robots, automatons previously relegated as mere amusement. But they remained an unimaginable concept -- rendered in a corny, campy fashion in the 1940s and 50s -- until the development of computing and cybernetics. In 1961 the first industrial robot named Unimate not only changed the automobile industry, but it opened the door for the vast, realistic possibilities of robotics in our everyday lives. If you like The First: Stories of Inventions and their Consequences, please leave a review for the show on iTunes!

You can listen to Unimate and the Rise of the Robots online on Radio and Podcast. Open the player on this page to stream the available audio.

Unimate and the Rise of the Robots is an episode from The First: Stories of Inventions and their Consequences by Greg Young.

This episode is 33:37 long.

This episode was published on Feb 24, 2017.

Yes. Use the heart button on the episode page to add it to your favorite episodes list.

Yes. This page shows related episodes from The First: Stories of Inventions and their Consequences when more episodes are available from the podcast feed.