Creation Myths: The Beginnings of Robotics Research

Some readers will wonder why I date the origin of robotics research to the 1940s and 1950s when there are so many important precursors. By most accounts, robotics history starts with ancient machines followed by centuries of progress in machine design, philosophy, and literature. But I am focusing more narrowly on robotics research: the substantial sustained communal scientific enterprise that has now been in progress for approximately 50 years (Figure 1).