Origin. Definition. Classification
Handling arms and industrial robots

As in all areas of materials handling, we are often surprised by the relatively late arrival (1959, the first American patent) of multi-axis handling equipment in the industrial sector. Previous generations were a collection of one-way moving devices.

As we shall see, the gradual sophistication of production machinery was often behind the development of these handling devices. They were virtually non-existent in factories before 1940. This was due to the...