Unimate
![A historical looking factory robot with a large silver base, and a brown joint supporting a beige rectangle labelled Unimate, which ends in a simple gripper.](https://cdn.sanity.io/images/7p2whiua/production/5b7d3b5a798829d32f5086c5612ac88d8c9a2b99-2048x1536.jpg?w=900&auto=format)
The Unimate was the first industrial robot ever built. It was a hydraulic manipulator arm that could perform repetitive tasks. It was used by car makers to automate metalworking and welding processes.
- Creator
- Year
- 1961
- Country
- United States 🇺🇸
- Categories
- Features
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Did you know?
The first Unimate was installed at a General Motors plant in New Jersey in 1961.
![A robot arm sitting on a rectangular base with control panels at the back.](https://cdn.sanity.io/images/7p2whiua/production/b6f1133940aad07590eabf358936c158d5277efa-2048x1536.jpg?w=900&auto=format)
![Black and white photo of a large robotic arm on a massive base that is almost as tall as the 4 men standing behind it.](https://cdn.sanity.io/images/7p2whiua/production/6b95469a65968d735f3056453a91c483e256c062-2048x1536.jpg?w=900&auto=format)
History
In 1954, George Devol, an inventor and entrepreneur, filed a patent describing an autonomous machine that could store step-by-step digital commands to move parts in a factory (he called it a "programmed article transfer" device). Devol teamed up with another entrepreneur, Joseph Engelberger, and they built a prototype in 1958. They later started the first robotics company, Unimation, in Danbury, Conn. In 1961, they put the first Unimate into service at a General Motors plant in Ewing Township, N.J., where the robot extracted hot metal parts from a casting machine. The first Unimates sold for US $35,000 in the early 1970s (more than $200,000 in today's dollars). In 1978, after acquiring Vicarm, a company that had invented an innovative robot arm design, Unimation introduced the PUMA, or Programmable Universal Machine for Assembly, which went on to become a popular robot in industrial and research settings. Unimation eventually grew to have 800 employees and $90 million in revenue in the early 1980s, but sales declined as competition grew. Westinghouse acquired Unimation for $107 million in 1983 and transferred operations to Pittsburgh. Staubli, a French automation firm, later bought Unimation from Westinghouse.
![Black and white photo of two men at a bar being served drinks by a robotic arm](https://cdn.sanity.io/images/7p2whiua/production/77521127cf093ea9afeb9340693a5f83aa3a20d6-2048x1536.jpg?w=900&auto=format)
![A black and white photo of a business man in front of a tabletop black industrial robot arm.](https://cdn.sanity.io/images/7p2whiua/production/79426361405369271c1ad0c2af78735e5b2888cf-2048x1536.jpg?w=900&auto=format)
Specs
- Overview
Equipped with hydraulic actuators and memory for hundreds of programmed steps. Position repeatability within 1 mm.
- Status
Discontinued
- Year
1961
- Website
- Height
- 142 cm (approximate)
- Length
- 400 cm
- Weight
- 1575 kg (early models)
- Sensors
Custom rotary encoders
- Actuators
Hydraulic actuators
- Degrees of Freedom (DoF)
- 6 (Arm: 3 DoF; Wrist: 3 DoF)
- Materials
Steel base and aluminum arm.
- Compute
Magnetic drum memory (CMOS memory in later models).
- Power
460-V power supply
- Cost
- $200,000 (approximate cost in today's dollars; $35,000 in 1972)