1991 – TOPS TeleOperator/telePresence System – Smith and Shimamoto (American)

TeleOperator/telePresence System / Concept Verification Model (CVM) The TeleOperator/telePresence System/Concept Verification Model (TOPS/CVM)[34], was developed as the successor to the 'Greenman'. The TOPS/CVM consisted of a 3-DOF (degrees-of-freedom) head, a 3-DOF torso and a dexterous, force-reflective 9- DOF hand coupled to a force-reflective 7-DOF arm. Fig. 1 TOPS from Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center, San …

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 …

1770 – “The Turk” Chess Automaton – Wolfgang von Kempelen (Hungarian)

John Gaughan's version of "The Turk" Like my post on Maskelyne's "Psycho" and "Zoe" automatons, the interest here is its place in history in terms of remote master-slave manipulators, and I shall confine myself to just that. There is significant other matter on "The Turk" published elsewhere already. Well established as a fake contrivance [pseudo automaton, faux (false) automaton], …

1953 – GARCO – Harvey G. Chapman Jr. (American)

GARCO represents one of the first attempts at an all-purpose functional humanoid robot. Although he had most of his success as an entertainment robot, the inventor, Harvey Chapman Jr., believed he had other uses, such as "taking on a variety of tasks that would prove too dangerous for humans. Mixing the ingredients for TNT is one. …