What was the world's first truly humanoid robot, and who created it?

Hello! When it comes to this topic, I'm wide awake.

Speaking of the world's first truly meaningful humanoid robot, it has to be WABOT-1.

Who is it? Where did it come from?

• Name: WABOT-1 (WAseda roBOT 1)
• Creator: Developed primarily by Professor Ichiro Kato and his team at Waseda University in Japan.
• Birth Year: 1973

You can think of it as the "great-great-great-grandfather" of all modern humanoid robots (like Boston Dynamics' Atlas).

Why is it considered "the first truly meaningful one"?

Before WABOT-1, there were machines that could mimic human movements, but most were pre-programmed "automata" like clockwork mechanisms, not truly robots.

WABOT-1 was a milestone because it integrated multiple systems for the first time, allowing a machine to:

1. See (Visual System): It had two "eyes" (cameras) that could recognize objects and measure their distance and direction.
2. Walk (Lower Limb System): It had two legs, and although it walked very slowly and wobbled, it did achieve bipedal locomotion.
3. Grasp (Arm System): It had two hands that could reach out, grasp, and move objects based on what its eyes saw.
4. Speak (Communication System): It could understand simple Japanese and respond with a synthesized voice.

What could it do?

Imagine, in the 1970s, you told a large hunk of metal, "Go get that block."

Then, WABOT-1 would:

• Turn its "head" to find the block you mentioned with its cameras.
• Calculate the block's position.
• Take clumsy steps towards it.
• Extend its hand and grasp the block.

Although the entire process might take several minutes, and its movements were incredibly stiff, at the time, this was like a scene from a sci-fi movie coming true! It proved that robots could be more than just industrial arms on an assembly line; they could possess comprehensive perception and action capabilities similar to humans.

So, the next time you see those cool humanoid robots, remember this somewhat clumsy "old predecessor" WABOT-1, born half a century ago – it started it all.