1990 - 1999
The Modern Era (1900-2000)
The 1990s and early 2000s saw a return to less threatening robots with a yearning to be human, such David in AI and Andrew in Bicentennial Day, much like Pinocchio and Frankenstein.
1990
Co-founders Colin Angle, Helen Greiner and Rodney Brooks launch ISRobotics, later to become iRobot.
1992
In an attempt to build a radio controlled vacuum cleaner Marc Thorpe has the idea to start a robot combat event.
1993
Dante an 8-legged walking robot developed at Carnegie Mellon University descends into Mt. Erebrus, Antarctica. Its mission is to collect data from a harsh environment similar to what we might find on another planet.
1993
Seiko Epson develops a micro robot called Monsieur, the world's smallest robot as certified by the Guinness Book of World Records.
1994
Marc Thorpe starts Robot Wars at Fort Mason center in San Francsico, CA.
1994
General Atomics Aeronautical Systems awarded contract to develop Predator drone. By 2001 at least 60 drones were in service over Afghanistan.
1994
John Adler, Stanford University, invents he CyberKnife is a frameless robotic radio surgery system. Using a robotic arm, the CyberKnife can deliver highly targeted radiotherapy which helps keep surrounding tissue healthy.
1996
A RoboTuna (fish) is designed and built by David Barrett for his doctoral thesis at MIT. It is used to study the way fish swim.
1996
At the University of South Florida, Chris Campbell and Stuart Wilkinson develop the Gastrobot, robots that power themselves by digesting food.
1996
Honda displays its P2 humanoid robot; it amazes the robot industry with its natural walking ability.
1997
The Mars Pathfinder Sojourner Rover, a lightweight robot on wheels, accomplishes a revolutionary feat on the surface of Mars. For the first time, a thinking robot equipped with sophisticated laser eyes and automated programming reacts to unplanned events on the surface of another planet. Sojourner's ability to navigate with little data about its environment and nearby surroundings allows the robot to react to unplanned events and objects.
1997
The first RoboCup soccer tournament is held in Nagoya, Japan.
1997
iRobot begins work on the project that will lead to iRobot Roomba vacuum cleaning robot
1997
Deep Blue, IBM’s chess-playing computer, wins a six-game match against Grandmaster Garry Kasparov.
1998
iRobot receives a DARPA contract for the Tactical Mobile Robots program, eventually leading to the development of the iRobot PackBot®.
1998
Tiger Electronics introduces the Furby for the Christmas toy market. It quickly becomes "the toy" to get for the season. Using a variety of sensors this "animatronic pet" reacts to its environment and communicates using over 800 phrases in English and its own language, "Furbish."
1998
LEGO releases their first Robotics Invention SystemTM 1.0. LEGO names the product line MINDSTORMS after Seymour Papert's seminal work.
1998
The P3 humanoid robot was revealed by Honda in 1998 as a part of the company's continuing humanoid project.
1999
Sony builds AIBO K9, the next generation. One of the first robots intended for the consumer market, it reacts on sounds and has some preprogrammed behavior. It sells out within 20 minutes of going on sale.
1999
LEGO releases The Robotics Discovery Set, Droid Developer Kit and the Robotics Invention System 1.5.