4. The Birth of Industrial Robots (Unimate, 1961)
In 1961, Unimate became the first industrial robot, revolutionizing manufacturing on General Motors’ assembly lines and launching the age of automation in industry. Developed by George Devol and Joseph Engelberger, Unimate was installed at the GM Ternstedt plant in Trenton, New Jersey, where it performed tasks such as transporting die-castings and welding parts onto car bodies. This innovation marked a significant milestone in industrial automation (guinnessworldrecords.com).
