1971-4 – JASON a low-cost mobile robot – L. Stephen Coles, Michael H. Smith (American)

JASON, a robot built by students in the EE Dept. at University of California, Berkeley. They include L. Stephen Coles, Michael H. Smith, Alan M. Robb, Paul L. Sinclair, and Ralph R. Sobek. The robot is equipped with a number of infrared proximity sensors and a radio link to its remote computer controller. Its onboard …

1980-1 – Unicorn-1 – James A. Gupton, Jr. (American)

Unicorn-One ( Universal Controllable Robot ) is truly universal and a robot that you can build for between two- and-four hundred dollars, depending on your ingenuity and scrounging abilities. It is fully mobile and has the ability to use its arms and hands. It can be controlled by a cable link to a console, by …

1962 – The Creep – T. R. Bridge (British)

Creep Mk-2 – 1962 A radio controlled programmable robot with an arm and gripper, designed by T R Bridge, Radio Control Models & Electronics April 1962. Creep was programmable by recording, on a tape recorder, the control tones then playing back the tones and feeding them into the transmitter (see text in pdf below). The …

1972 – JPL/AMES Manipulator Arm – Hubert “Vik” Vykukal (American)

The JPL/AMES Manipulator arm came about around 1972. It utilises the arms of Vykukal's Hard Space Suit (see patent infomation below).  The patent has Hubert C. Vykukal, Reginald F. King, and Wilbur C. Vallotton as the joint inventors. Around 3 models were built. "Unilateral" means that there is no "force reflection" (feedback) provided in this …