1978-9 – Mobile Suit Gundam (Fiction) – Yoshiyuki Tomino (Japanese)

Although inspired by Robert Heinlein's "Starship Troopers" that had infantrymen wearing "power suits" that surround their bodies and amplify their movements, most of the Gundam mobile suits were of the "driveable robot" tradition, where operators sat in cockpits and manipulated levers and pedals. The Gundam concept was developed in 1978, with the TV series first …

1971 – 3-legged Walker – Grundmann & Seireg (American)

Shown above is the original three legged walking machine. Contrary to above caption, the 3-legged walker was developed in 1971. Van Derhei, Jack (ed.) / The Wisconsin engineer Volume 77, Number 2 (November 1972) Sanborn, Steve Everyone should walk,   pp. 8-9 During the 1971 Engineering Exposition people on this campus were exposed for the first time …

1969 – Self-propelled Anthropomorphic Manipulator (SAM) – Edwin Johnsen (American)

SAM, a mobile manipulator, mimics the movements of an operator stationed at a far-distant control center. The Self-propelled Anthropomorphic Manipulator (SAM) that wears NASA logos was developed under Edwin Johnsen's direction in 1969 by the now defunct Space Nuclear Propulsion division of the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission. Johnsen is credited with introducing the popular term …

1981-3 – Pluto CMU Rover – Hans Moravec et al (American)

CMU Rover (showing camera slide). The CMU rover wheel drive assembly (simplified cross section). CMU Rover base assembly (showing wheels).   Basic robotics concepts – John M. Holland – 1983 The CMU Rover Fully Independent Drive At the time of this writing [1983] Dr. Hans Moravec at Carnegie-Mellon University is constructing a new mobile robotic …

1972 – Free Roving Machine – M. F. Huber (British)

Wireless World, December 1972 Free Roving Machine by M.. F. Huber, B.Sc. A device which will "explore" a room and by finding and tracing the path of a length of tape laid on the floor, return to a charger at intervals to recharge its batteries A number of years ago, Dr. Grey Walter first demonstrated …