UnimationUnimation was the world's first robotics company. It was founded in 1962 by Joseph F. Engelberger and George Devol and was located in Danbury, Connecticut. Devol had already applied for a patent an industrial robotic arm in 1954; was issued in 1961. Devol collaborated with Engelberger, who served as president of the company, to engineer and produce an industrial robot under the brand name Unimate. They introduced their new robot in 1961 at a trade show in Chicago.
StäubliStäubli (in English usually written as Staubli) is a Swiss industrial and mechatronic solution provider with four dedicated Divisions: Electrical Connectors, Fluid Connectors, Robotics and Textile. Stäubli was founded in Horgen, Switzerland in 1892 as "Schelling & Stäubli" by Rudolph Schelling and Hermann Stäubli as a workshop specialized in producing dobbies. In 1909, the company opened a new manufacturing site in Faverges, Haute-Savoie, France. After the death of Rudolph Schelling in the same year, the company was renamed to "Gebrüder Stäubli" ("Stäubli Bros.
Robot end effectorIn robotics, an end effector is the device at the end of a robotic arm, designed to interact with the environment. The exact nature of this device depends on the application of the robot. In the strict definition, which originates from serial robotic manipulators, the end effector means the last link (or end) of the robot. At this endpoint, the tools are attached. In a wider sense, an end effector can be seen as the part of a robot that interacts with the work environment.
Mobile robotA mobile robot is an automatic machine that is capable of locomotion. Mobile robotics is usually considered to be a subfield of robotics and information engineering. Mobile robots have the capability to move around in their environment and are not fixed to one physical location. Mobile robots can be "autonomous" (AMR - autonomous mobile robot) which means they are capable of navigating an uncontrolled environment without the need for physical or electro-mechanical guidance devices.
Degrees of freedom (mechanics)In physics, the degrees of freedom (DOF) of a mechanical system is the number of independent parameters that define its configuration or state. It is important in the analysis of systems of bodies in mechanical engineering, structural engineering, aerospace engineering, robotics, and other fields. The position of a single railcar (engine) moving along a track has one degree of freedom because the position of the car is defined by the distance along the track.
Floppy disk[[File:Image3,5-Diskette removed.jpg|thumbnail|A 31⁄2-inch floppy disk removed from its housing]] A floppy disk or floppy diskette (casually referred to as a floppy or a diskette) is a type of disk storage composed of a thin and flexible disk of a magnetic storage medium in a square or nearly square plastic enclosure lined with a fabric that removes dust particles from the spinning disk. Floppy disks store digital data which can be read and written when the disk is inserted into a floppy disk drive (FDD) connected to or inside a computer or other device.