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REVOLUTIONIZING INDUSTRY 23

School of Engineering and earned B.S. and M.S. degrees in physics
and electrical engineering.
Engelberger said that he believes his grounding in physics
served him well in his later work in developing robots that had
to deal with the physical world. (Engelberger also expressed mis-
givings about modern researchers who think that “everything is
software.”)

Developing Industrial Robots

During World War II, there had
been tremendous progress in devel-
oping servomechanisms, or auto-
matic controls, such as on the
automatic gun turrets of the huge
B-29 bomber. Servomechanisms
allow for precise positioning and
manipulation of parts of a machine.
The rise of nuclear power and the
need to handle radioactive materi-
als safely also spurred the devel-
opment of automatic controls.
Engelberger’s business ventures
into this field included his starting
a company called Consolidated
Controls.
In the mid-1950s, Engelberger
met George Devol, an inventor
who had patented a programma-
Joseph Engelberger and inven-
ble transfer machine. This was a tor George Devol pioneered the
device that could move components development of industrial robot-
automatically from one specified ics, automating some of the most
position to another, such as in a tedious and dangerous jobs on
assembly lines. Here Engelberger
die-casting machine that formed
is shown with Lab Mate, a robot
parts for automobiles. used to prototype mobile helper
Engelberger realized that Devol’s robot applications. (Photo courtesy
machine could, with some additional of Joseph Engelberger)