1. Elektro, the world’s first humanoid robot, debuted in 1939. Built by Westinghouse, the seven-foot-tall walking machine “spoke” more than 700 words. Elektro later appeared in the 1960 B movie Sex Kittens Go to College.
2. The first known case of robot homicide occurred in 1981, when a robotic arm crushed a Japanese Kawasaki factory worker.
3. Leonardo da Vinci drew up plans for an armored humanoid machine in 1495. Engineer Mark Rosheim has created a functional miniature version for NASA to help colonize Mars.
4. Archytas of Tarentum, a pal of Plato’s, built a mechanical bird driven by a jet of steam or compressed air—arguably history’s first robot—in the fifth century B.C.
5. There are currently 4,000 robots serving in the US Military, including reconnaissance Talon bots that scout for roadside bombs in Iraq and PackBots that unsuccessfully poked around for Osama bin Laden’s hideout in Afghanistan.
