Timeline 400 BC Philosopher and mathematician Archytas of Tarentum built a wooden dove that could flap its wings and fly. Early 16th Century Hans Bullmann creates the first androids - simulated people that can play musical instruments for the delight of paying customers. 1737 Vaucanson creates a mechanical musician that can play 11 different tunes. He also creates an automatic duck that can drink, eat, paddle in water, digest and excrete like a real duck. 1847 George Boole invents a symbolic logic that would later become widely used in computers. 1890 Nikolai Tesla creates the first remote-controlled vehicles. 1943 Warren McCulloch and Walter Pitts do pioneering work on neural networks that can learn about the world in much the same way that we do. 1943 Colossus, the world's first electronic computer, is built in Britain to crack Nazi codes. 1945 Eniac, which set the framework for post-war mainframes, is switched on. 1950 Alan Turing proposes the Turing Test to decide if a computer is exhibiting intelligent behaviour. 1966 The Stanford Research Institute creates Shakey, the first mobile robot that can reason about its surroundings. Five years later, funding is cancelled when the shortcomings of the machine become apparent. 1979 Hans Moravec creates the Stanford Cart, an autonomous vehicle that can navigate across a room full of obstacles. 1994 A robot called Dante II, built by scientists from Carnegie Mellon, strolls around the interior of the Mount Spurr volcano in Alaska, US, collecting samples of volcanic gases as it goes. 1996 Honda unveils the P-2 (prototype 2), a humanoid robot that can walk, climb stairs and carry loads. May 1999 Sony releases the first Aibo electronic dogs that sell out within 20 minutes of going on sale. October 2000 The UN estimates that there are 742,500 industrial robots in use worldwide. More than half of these are being used in Japan. April 2001 The Global Hawk robotic spyplane charts its own course over a distance of 13,000 km (8,000 miles) between California, US, and Southern Australia.

Past of AI Although the computer provided the technology necessary for AI, it was not until the early 1950's that the link between human intelligence and machines was really observed. Norbert Wiener was one of the first Americans to make observations on the principle of feedback theory. The most familiar example of feedback theory is the thermostat: It controls the temperature of an environment by gathering the actual temperature of the house, comparing it to the desired temperature, and responding by turning the heat up or down. What was so important about his research into feedback loops was that Wiener theorized that all intelligent behavior was the result of feedback mechanisms. Mechanisms that could possibly be simulated by machines. This discovery influenced much of early development of AI. In 1956 John McCarthy regarded as the father of AI, organized a conference to draw the talent and expertise of others interested in machine intelligence for a month of brainstorming. He invited them to Vermont for "The Dartmouth summer research project on artificial intelligence." From that point on, the field would be known as Artificial intelligence. In the seven years after the conference, AI began to pick up momentum. Although the field was still undefined, ideas formed at the conference were re-examined, and built upon. Centers for AI research began forming at Carnegie Mellon and MIT, and a new challenges were faced: further research was placed upon creating systems that could efficiently solve problems, by limiting the search, such as the Logic Theorist. And second, making systems that could learn by themselves. In 1957, the first version of a new program The General Problem Solver(GPS) was tested. The program developed by the same pair which developed the Logic Theorist. The GPS was an extension of Wiener's feedback principle, and was capable of solving a greater extent of common sense problems. While more programs were being produced, McCarthy was busy developing a major breakthrough in AI history. In 1958 McCarthy announced his new development; the LISP language, which is still used today. It was soon adopted as the language of choice among most AI developers. In 1963 MIT received a 2.2 million dollar grant from the United States government to be used in researching Machine-Aided Cognition (artificial intelligence). The grant by the Department of Defense's Advanced research projects Agency (ARPA), to ensure that the US would stay ahead of the Soviet Union in technological advancements. The project served to increase the pace of development in AI research, by drawing computer scientists from around the world, and continues funding.