Income and wages in the United States; Information
age; Reaganomics; Science-fiction films; Special ef-
fects; Unemployment in the United States.
Robots
Definition Machines devised to carry out a series
of actions automatically or with minimum
external impulse
The advancements made with robots during the 1980’s led
to the development of robots that could replace humans in
performing many routine and dangerous jobs with speed
and precision.
By the late 1970’s, new technologies were emerging
that made the production of personal mobile robots
feasible. The development of computer processing
technology and storage in the 1980’s was the vital
link needed to implement simple and more complex
actions in robots. The processing power necessary to
develop artificial intelligence became available in
smaller packages. Developing software interpreted
signals from sensors that controlled where the robot
was going and what it was doing. Through the soft-
ware, robots could interact to some extent with hu-
mans in a reasonable, predictable manner.
In 1983, a robot dubbed TOPO-I was released by
Androbot. TOPO-I was designed as a mobile exten-
sion of the home computer. Standing three feet tall,
it could be moved with a joystick or with software
control. Improved versions of TOPO-I in the 1980’s
included a bidirectional infrared link to the host
computer, some speech support, and an onboard
vacuum cleaner.
The Heathkit HERO robot of the mid-1980’s con-
tained sensors for sound, visible and infrared light,
and motion detection. It utilized an 8-bit 6808 pro-
cessor. A significant improvement in the HERO se-
ries was the HERO 2000, a multitasking robot that
had a robotic arm and utilized eleven 8-bit per-
ipheral microprocessors. Each microprocessor per-
formed separate tasks and activities that were all
coordinated by the main processor.
The breakthrough robot of the 1980’s was the
Gemini. It stood four feet tall and weighed seventy
pounds. Three onboard computers, all CMOS chip
devices, provided artificial intelligence, voice and
speech synthesis, and propulsion control. The robot
could respond to voice commands and be navigated
by using infrared beams. During the 1980’s, the pub-
lic perception of robots was heightened in numer-
ous television episodes and films, including the Star
Trek and Star Wars series,The Terminator(1984), and
RoboCop(1987).
Impact Personal mobile robots built in the 1980’s
became the prototypes for the evolution of robots in
the 1990’s and into the twenty-first century. During
the 1980’s, the evolution of computer processing
technology led to mobile robots that possessed artifi-
cial intelligence. Mobile robots can free workers
from dirty, heavy, dangerous, and mundane labor.
The implementation of robots by industrial com-
panies provides improved management control,
better productivity, and consistent production of
high-quality products. The military uses robots to
clear mine fields and survey battlefields. About a
dozen small robots were used as part of the rescue
and recovery operations after the 2001 World Trade
Center disaster. Personal mobile robots are being
designed to provide entertainment, education, com-
munications, security, and other useful functions.
Further Reading
Gutkind, Lee.Almost Human: Making Robots Think.
New York: W. W. Norton, 2006.
Patnaik, Srikanta.Innovations in Robot Mobility and
Control. New York: Springer, 2006.
Spong, Mark W., and Mathukumalli Vidyasagar.Ro-
bot Modeling and Control. Hoboken, N.J.: John
Wiley & Sons, 2006.
Alvin K. BensonSee also Apple Computer; Computers; Inventions;
RoboCop; Science and technology; Science-fiction
films; Space exploration.Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
Definition A repository dedicated to the rich
heritage of rock and roll
Date Created in 1983
The establishment of this institution exemplified the trend
toward the preservation of heritage that marked the 1980’s.
In 1983, Ahmet Ertegün, cofounder of Atlantic Rec-
ords, decided to establish an organization that
would recognize those who had created rock-and-
roll music and those who had propelled it to the834 Robots The Eighties in America