What is Delaying the Manipulator Revolution?
This report describes research done at the Artificial Intelligence Laboratory of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Support for the Laboratory's artificial intelligence research is provided in part by the Office of Naval Research of the Department of Defense under ONR contract N00014-77-C-0389.
Working Paper
Despite two decades of work on mechanical manipulators and their associated controls, we do not see wide-spread application of these devices to many of the tasks to which they seem so obviously suited. Somehow, a variety of interacting causes has conspired to prevent them from fulfilling their much talked about potential. In part, this appears to be the result of a research effort that was too small, too fragmented, and too discontinuous in time.