At my institution we take great pride in remaining innovative and staying apace with technologies lessons. The past couple years have been rife with meetings, research, and developments about new technology that most American consumers are aware of and know are coming, though don't yet have a deep understanding about. Robotics and artificial intelligence are two sometimes intertwined examples. We have been building and activating degrees and courses in these fascinating, cutting-edge areas of tech. They are both in relatively infant stages, from a historical perspective.

George C. Devol, a largely self-taught inventor who drew from science fiction to help develop Unimate, the revolutionary mechanical arm that became a prototype for robots now widely used on automobile assembly lines and in other industries, died on Thursday at his home in Wilton, Conn. In the early 1950s, before the advent of industrial robotics, Mr. Devol (pronounced de-VAHL) built on his own work in electrical engineering and machine controls to design a mechanical arm that could be programmed to repeat precise tasks, like grasping and lifting. He applied for a patent in 1954 and explained the concept to a fellow engineer, Joseph F. Engelberger, at a cocktail party where they discussed their favorite science fiction writers. Mr. Engelberger listened with interest and immediately seized on the significance of the new technology. Mr. Devol named the concept Universal Automation -- later shortened to Unimation -- and received a patent in 1961.

Victor Scheinman, who has died aged 73, designed the first electrically powered, computer-controlled industrial robot, proving that it was possible for machines to do complex manual work. Scheinman's invention, known as the Stanford arm, was a programmable robot with six rotational joints, allowing it to duplicate the shoulder, elbow and wrist movements of a human. Unlike previous machines, which could only perform one task repeatedly, the Stanford arm was capable of following a series of instructions. In 1974 an experimental arm built in accordance with Scheinman's design managed to assemble a car water pump without human help, using sensors to guide it. That same year Scheinman founded Vicarm Inc and began making his robot commercially. He soon fell in with the engineer and businessman Joseph Engelberger, who, with his colleague George Devol, had founded Unimation, the world's first robotics company.