Five Real Life Robots That Changed the World

With life becoming more and more like science fiction every day, it's sometimes easy to take things like robots for granted. However, the fact is that robots have changed everything about how we live our daily lives. Without robots, everything from production methods to children's toys would be completely stunted. So here's a few robots that go down in the history books as being particularly notable.

1. Unimate
Created by George Devol in the 1950's, Unimate was the first programmable robot. It was sold to General Motors in 1960, and heralded in a new age of production that used robots to do the labor that might be too dangerous for a human to do. A GM factory in Trenton, New Jersey, used the Unimate to lift hot metal from die casting machines, cutting down on worker injury and increasing productivity.

2. The Space Probes
Every space probes ever launched counts as a robot, as they are unmanned and go places and distances humans could never otherwise reach. Without these probes, our knowledge of the outside universe would be almost nonexistent.

3. The laparoscopic robot
Used during many modern surgeries, the laparoscopic robot allows doctors to not only perform procedures that were previously impossible, but to perform more routine surgeries with greater ease and less risk to the patient. These forward leaps in medical technology help increase the life expectancy and quality of people around the world.

4. FRIEND
Otherwise known as the Functional Robot arm with user-FrIENDly interface for Disabled people, this care-providing robot allows the elderly or the disabled to perform daily tasks. As this product and others like it become more available, the freedoms of these populations can be easily increased to help them live self-sufficient lives regardless of their physical state.

5. ASIMO
The kind of robot that fuels scifi thrillers everywhere, ASIMO is a humanoid robot created by Honda. It looks like a person, can walk like a person, recognize sounds and movements, and even recognize people. With its list of functions improving with every model, this is the sort of robot that offers cutting edge technology and a series of ethical questions to lead us into the twenty-first century.

Other Useful Robots?
As you can see, there have been a lot of useful robots and robotic technology over the years. These are just five of them. If there's a robot missing from our top five list, be sure to leave a comment and let us know.