New generation of robotics are industry-agnostic, open-source ZDNet

In 1961, a robotic arm nicknamed Unimate joined the General Motors assembly line to perform basic welding tasks that were unpleasant and particularly dangerous for humans. The 4000-pound, six-axis robot ran off of magnetic tape. "If you start with Unimate," says Melonee Wise, CEO of Fetch Robotics, an industrial robotics startup that received a $20M investment from SoftBank in June, "you see that industrial robots were developed and entered the workforce based on a very specific way of thinking." Though subsequent robots would achieve greater dexterity, strength, and speed, Unimate served as the proto-model. For the next half century most industrial robots were caged-off behemoths that handled repeatable tasks adroitly but required costly physical reconfiguration to take on new tasks or change operating environments.