How Robots Lost Their Way

The father of robotics is disappointed. Back in 1961, at a General Motors Corp. (GM ) plant in Ternstedt, N.J., Joe Engelberger switched on his invention. It was a squat, boxy machine called Unimate, with a telescoping, jointed hydraulic arm. Unlike the other machines on the floor, this one needed no operator. And in no time, it was working 24 hours a day, its powerful arm tirelessly shuttling around 20-pound aluminum castings. Although Unimate was expensive up front, GM was sold on the idea. The machine replaced three shifts of workers per day at a job that was heavy, dirty, and dangerous. Soon it was joined by dozens like it.

The industrial-robot revolution had begun. Within a couple of years, Engelberger's company, Unimation Inc., was facing rival robot makers in Europe and Japan. And experts began talking about "lights-out factories," where robots working in the dark would eliminate the need for dreary blue-collar jobs. Robots sparked the public's imagination, too. Engelberger and his successors appeared in print and on TV. On The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, Unimate replaced the bandleader during one song, beating time with a baton in its pistoning arm.