Page 42 - Modern Robotics Building Versatile Macines

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REVOLUTIONIZING

INDUSTRY

JOSEPH ENGELBERGER AND UNIMATE

n 1961, a new worker joined the General Motors assembly line in
ITurnstedt, New Jersey. The worker’s job was to cast parts such
as car doors from molten metal, give them a cooling dip in a vat
of water, then handing them off to other workers who would trim
and finish them. The worker belonged to no union, received no sal-
ary, and never needed a rest break. The worker was a robot called
Unimate, and it revolutionized industry perhaps as much as pow-
ered machinery had done a century earlier. Unimate and later robots
were largely the achievement of Joseph Engelberger, an engineer
turned entrepreneur, and his partner, inventor George Devol.

Hands-on Experience

Joseph Engelberger was born on July 26, 1925, in New York City.
Engelberger recalled in a telephone interview with the author that
his navy service in World War II was a career turning point. He
became one of 14 candidates selected for the V12 program that paid
for them to study physics (particularly nuclear physics) at Columbia
University. Just after the war, Engelberger worked as an engineer
on early nuclear tests such as at Bikini Atoll in the Pacific. He also
worked on aerospace and nuclear power projects. After complet-
ing his military duties, Engelberger attended Columbia University’s

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