{"id":4792,"date":"2014-12-17T21:16:47","date_gmt":"2014-12-17T21:16:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/?p=4792"},"modified":"2015-01-05T21:50:00","modified_gmt":"2015-01-05T21:50:00","slug":"primitive-robots-made-in-pittsburgh","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/2014\/12\/17\/primitive-robots-made-in-pittsburgh\/","title":{"rendered":"Primitive robots made in Pittsburgh"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\n
\"Primitive <\/a> <\/div>
\"Oct. <\/a>
Oct. 28, 1980: Robotics engineers direct robot arm to pick up notebook. (Darrell Sapp\/Post-Gazette) <\/div> <\/div>
\"Oct. <\/a>
Oct. 1989: Ruth Rubenstein, health care specialist, is served french toast by a robotic arm from refrigerator, to microwave, to table. (Levis\/Post-Gazette) <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Jan. <\/a>
Jan. 30, 1955, Ann Gillis, KDKA disc jockey, gives Electro a light for his cigarette (Post-Gazette photo) <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"March <\/a>
March 1988: The robot arm can lift a stack of mail or pick up a flower without damaging it. (Andy Starnes\/The Pittsburgh Press) <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>\n

In the 1970s, newspapers believed that we will be living in homes where a robot plays a prominent role.<\/p>\n

“Uses for robots are constantly developing,” you\u2019d read in the Post-Gazette in 1979, “A robot manufacturer predicts the robotized home will be with us by the end of the century \u2014 all the appliances in the home would be bought so that the robot could repair then as well as carry out many other chores it would be programmed for.”<\/p>\n

Wouldn\u2019t it be nice?<\/p>\n

CMU\u2019s Robotics Institute developed, demonstrated and in the \u201870 and \u201980s kept introducing cool, but somewhat simplistic robots that could change lives. Some of the robots looked\u2026 useless, for example, \u201cthe robot arm that could lift a stack of mail or carefully pick up a flower without damaging it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Researchers, it looks like \u2014 based on the images we found \u2014 spent too much time focused on developing robots\u2019 ability to pick up stuff: notebooks, flowers, garbage, steaks and a french toast.<\/p>\n

Robotics researchers in Pittsburgh had a noble motivation while developing new robots, to make them more sophisticated, keep expanding a list of tasks they could perform. Some were hoping that robots could help the elderly and disabled, to make their lives easier and more independent.<\/p>\n

There were robots built as luxury items or their development was driven by needs of the rich. In 1986, CMU in collaboration with MIT and a private firm based in Pittsburgh introduced \u201ca fearsome 4 feet tall robot, weighing 480 pounds that could move at up to 5 miles per hour. He had a 360-degree field of vision and could even \u2018see\u2019 through the walls.\u201d His name was Sentry. Sentry was distributed by a security firm in Pittsburgh. We are not so sure how popular he was. One thing is certain though: you don\u2019t see robots guarding properties, celebrities or politicians\u00a0 \u2014 advances in non-robot technology made them irrelevant.<\/p>\n

Robot makers of the 1950s were less about utility. Westinghouse, for example, built a mechanical man named Elektro. Elektro\u2019s claim to fame was his skill to smoke a cigarette. He was also an official guest on KDKA-TV. His sole purpose \u2014 and that\u2019s pure speculation \u2014 was to sit around and smoke.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“Uses for robots are constantly developing,” you\u2019d read in the Post-Gazette in 1979.<\/p>\n

Look at the picturesPrimitive robots made in Pittsburgh<\/span><\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":4793,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true},"categories":[946],"tags":[963,1200],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/Primitive-robots-made-in-Pittsburgh-1.jpg?fit=1280%2C830&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":7713,"url":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/2017\/05\/30\/the-force-has-always-been-strong-in-pittsburgh\/","url_meta":{"origin":4792,"position":0},"title":"The Force has always been strong in Pittsburgh","date":"May 30, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Pittsburgh has been one with the Force since \u201cStar Wars Episode IV: A New Hope\u201d first debuted in theaters on May 25, 1977. 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