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"The wealth of the universe is all over your head. We need to take command of the solar system to gain that wealth..."
- Larry Niven
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| Robotic Arm | ||
| A specialized robotic reaching and grasping device. |
Early use of the idea of a specialized robotic arm.
| Suddenly the mower stopped and clicked excitedly. A panel in its side snapped open and a cranelike arm reached out. Grasping steel fingers fished around in the grass, came up triumphantly with a stone clutched tightly, dropped the stone into a small container, disappeared back into the panel again. The lawn mower gurgled, purred on again, following its swath. |
| From City,
by Clifford Simak. Published by Astounding Science Fiction in 1944 Additional resources -
|
In this case, the arm belongs to a robotic lawn mower. Compare this to the steel tentacles of the invading Martian machines in H.G. Wells' War of the Worlds (1898) and Robert Heinlein's waldoes from his 1942 novella Waldo. Oh, and don't forget the sensor arm used by R2D2 in Star Wars (1976).
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Gerry was dubious. She had seen abortive attempts at paralysis rays before.
Let your fingers - uh - your robot do the walking. And hopping.
