Robotics
4 milestones in AI history
Unimate: First Industrial Robot
The first Unimate robot was installed on a General Motors assembly line in New Jersey, performing die-casting and spot-welding tasks. It was the first industrial robot to replace humans on a production line.
Shakey the Robot
Shakey was the first mobile robot that could reason about its actions. It combined computer vision, natural language processing, and planning to navigate rooms, push objects, and solve simple tasks. It used the A* search algorithm and STRIPS planner.
iRobot Roomba
iRobot released the Roomba, a robotic vacuum cleaner that used sensors and algorithms to autonomously navigate and clean floors. At $200, it brought autonomous robots into millions of homes.
DARPA Grand Challenge: Self-Driving Cars Begin
DARPA offered $1M for an autonomous vehicle to complete a 150-mile desert course. In 2004, no vehicle finished — the best went 7.4 miles. In 2005, Stanford's 'Stanley' (led by Sebastian Thrun) won by completing the course in under 7 hours. The 2007 Urban Challenge tested autonomous driving in traffic.