Up until the twentieth century most robots were simply moving wax figures. Wheels and gears within the machines made them move and perform complex operations but they were just a wind-up doll which were not useful for practical applications.
The first truly useful robot was the Unimate. This robotic arm was designed in the 1950's by George Devol. It was implemented in GM auto assembly plants to act as a welder in 1961.
While Unimate is what many consider to be a modern robot, it had electronic memory, it was articulated, it had sensor feedback, it was still basically a clockwork mechanism. What made it different from any previous clockwork machines was that it could be programmed. The clockwork could be changed by simply by loading some new 0's and 1's. This is what made the Unimate valuable because instead of having to retool an entire factory for a new product the robots just had to be reprogrammed. Retrain the robot as one would retrain people.
But within the context of this book, Unimate, really isn't full robot. It couldn't make decisions it simply executed actions. The fuel injection system in your car is equally intelligent.
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