Industrial Robots Part I: The World’s First Industrial Robots

While dreams and designs of programmable automatons and robots occupied human minds for millennia—Archytas to Leonardo da Vinci, Thomas Edison to Rube Goldberg—it wasn’t until the mid-twentieth century when programmable robots hit the scene. American George Devol designed the world’s first industrial programmable computer (the Unimate 1900) in 1954, whose arm was hydraulicly powered for heavy lifting, and its hydraulic pump ran on a typical factory three-phase (three “hot” or “live” wires) 460V of North American AC power—the robot’s electrical programable brain lived inside a magnetic drum.

The grippers of the 1900 had to be more flexible than the arm to handle red-hot die-cast metal coming off the production line; for more flexibility, it was pneumatically controlled through compressed air. Patently patient, so to speak, Devol went on designing while waiting on approval for his "Programmed Article Transfer" patent, which wasn’t granted by the USPTO until 1961. In the interim, he partnered with entrepreneur Joseph Engelberger who commercialized Devol's ideas, leading to Unimation’s founding in 1956—the world's first robotics company.

As a side note, both Devol and Engelberger were Isaac Asimov fans, the latter having written extensively about robots in science fiction, and all three were contemporaries. Both Unimation and its progeny Unimate was a fine example of post WWII “American ingenuity,” and grew alongside well-established icons such as IBM and John Deere, both involved in the war effort as were thousands of other American manufacturers during the war.

The Unimate 1900 became an overnight sensation with automakers—Unimation installed the first Unimate robot at General Motors in 1961 in Ewing Township, New Jersey—the robot never looked back. At GM, one of its tasks was to handle red-hot metal parts coming off the production line. The robot could also spot-weld.

By 1967, Unimate was robotizing Europe, and Japan-based Kawasaki, per a license agreement, began selling their own versions of the robot, the Kawasaki-Unimate 2000. Kawasaki’s 2000 version helped the Japanese car market become a juggernaut in the 1970s and 1980s—it became the world’s top auto producer in 1980. Nissan installed the first Japanese automaker robot, followed by Suburu, Toyota, and Mazda. By 1980, Kawasaki had shipped more than 1,000 units, many to automakers for welding, material handling, and painting.

This set the stage for robotic companies such as Cinncnnati Milacron, FANUC, and KUKA to manufacture robots with improved software, microchips, sensors, and eventually AI tools.

Rapid Expansion (1960s–1980s)

• 1960s: Robots spread to multiple U.S. automakers. In 1967, the first Unimate was sold in Europe. Japan adopted the technology as well, and made the most of it—Kawasaki licensed Unimate and produced its own versions by the late 1960s, leading to Japan's robotics boom and auto boom.
  
  
• Late 1960s: The Stanford Arm, the first electrically driven, computer-controlled, six-axis articulated robotic arm was produced.
  
  
• 1970s: Minicomputer-controlled robots emerged, such as Cincinnati Milacron's T3. Robots improved vision systems and upgraded programming. Unimation faced serious competition.
  
  
• 1980s: Widespread robot adoption occurred in manufacturing. Japan became the leader in robot density. Companies like KUKA (Germany) made advanced six-axis electromechanical robots.
  
  
• 1990s: Less expensive, more reliable robots with sensors and advanced software integration were becoming the norm. In 1997, NASA launched Pathfinder, the first robotic rover to explore Mars.

Partial numbers and data sources: HistoryofInformation.com, automate, invent, and kawasakirobotics.

High Power Pin and Sleeve Devices

Our IEC 60309 high-power pin and sleeve devices contain plastic sleeves and shells for better protection when using high-voltages. And they come with IP 67 and IP 44 ratings against water and dust.

In Part II We Will Look at Modern-day Industrial Robots Using Wi-fi, GPS, and AI.

Interpower Corporation manufacturers country-specific cord sets including hospital-grade cord sets. It also manufactures IEC 60320 jumper cords and appliance couplers—and it produces three-phase cord sets as mentioned in the Unimate 1900 portion of this article for equipment requiring more amperages and voltages.