Shakey
The first mobile robot able to reason about its own actions, a wheeled machine that pushed blocks around laboratory rooms under program control.
| Maker | SRI International |
|---|---|
| Country | United States |
| First shown | 1966 |
| Status | Retired |
| Actuation | Wheeled cart with a drive base and a camera mast |
| Power | Onboard batteries with a radio link to a mainframe computer |
| Sensors | Television camera, sonar range finders and bump detectors |
| Autonomy | Off board planning with the STRIPS planner over a radio link |
Shakey was built at Stanford Research Institute between 1966 and 1972 as a tall wheeled cart carrying a television camera, sonar range finders and bump detectors, linked by radio to a mainframe. Given a command such as pushing a block off a platform, it broke the task into steps using the STRIPS planner, then drove, found a ramp and pushed the block. Work on the project produced the A star search algorithm and the Hough transform, both still in use. The robot is retired and displayed at the Computer History Museum in California.
Of note
- Work on Shakey produced the A star search algorithm and the Hough transform
- Inducted into the Robot Hall of Fame in 2004 and marked with an IEEE Milestone
- On display at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, California
Maker: www.sri.com