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The word 'robotics' comes from "Runaround", a short story published in 1942 by Isaac Asimov. One of the first robots Asimov wrote about was a robo-therapist. A Massachusetts Institute of Technology Professor, Joseph Weizenbaum, wrote the Eliza program in 1966, a modern counterpart to Asimov's fictional character. Weizenbaum initially programmed Eliza with 240 lines of code to simulate a psychotherapist. The program answered questions with questions.

Asimov created the four laws of robot behavior, cyber laws all robots had to obey and a fundamental part of positronic robotic engineering. The Isaac Asimov FAQ states, "Asimov claimed that the laws were originated by John W. Campbell in a conversation they had on December 23, 1940. Campbell in turn maintained that he picked them out of Asimov's stories and discussions, and that his role was merely to state them explicitly. The first story to explicitly state the three laws was "Runaround", which appeared in the March 1942 issue of "Astounding Science Fiction". Unlike the Three Laws, however, the Zeroth Law is not a fundamental part of positronic robotic engineering, is not part of all positronic robots, and, in fact, requires a very sophisticated robot to even accept it."

Law Zeroth: A robot may not injure humanity, or, through inaction, allow humanity to come to harm.
Law One: A robot may not injure a human being, or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm, unless this would violate a higher order law.
Law Two: A robot must obey orders given it by human beings, except where such orders would conflict with a higher order law.
Law Three: A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with a higher order law.
-Isaac Asimov

An early example of robot technology, Grey Walter's "Machina Speculatrix" of the 1940's was recently restored to its working glory after being lost for some years. Walter's "Machina" were small robots that looked like turtles. The restored cyber turtles are freewheeling and light-seeking creatures, propelled by two small electric motors. They roam in any direction with sensor-contacts to avoid obstacles. A photoelectric cell mounted on the steering column helps the turtles search and aim towards the light.

In 1956, an historic meeting occurred between George Devol and Joseph Engelberger. The two met over cocktails to discuss the writings of Isaac Asimov. The result of this meeting was that Devol and Engelberger agreed to work on creating a robot together. Their first robot (the Unimate) served at a General Motors plant working with heated die-casting machines. Engelberger started a manufacturing company called Unimation, which stood for Universal Automation, the first commercial company to produce robots. Devol wrote the necessary patents for Unimation. Unimation is still in production today, with robots for sale.

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