Robot
Walter stressed the importance of using purely analogue electronics to simulate brain processes at a time when his contemporaries such as Alan Turing and John von Neumann were all turning towards a view of mental processes in terms of digital computation. His work inspired subsequent generations of robotics researchers such as Rodney Brooks, Hans Moravec and Mark Tilden. Modern incarnations of Walter's "turtles" may be found in the form of BEAM robotics.
The first digitally operated and programmable robot was invented by George Devol in 1954 and was ultimately called the Unimate. This ultimately laid the foundations of the modern robotics industry. Devol sold the first Unimate to General Motors in 1960, and it was installed in 1961 in a plant in Trenton, New Jersey to lift hot pieces of metal from a die casting machine and stack them. Devol's patent for the first digitally operated programmable robotic arm represents the foundation of the modern robotics industry.
ASEA IRB
The ASEA IRB was constructed by Björn Weichbrodt, Ove Kullborg, Bengt Nilsson and Herbert Kaufmann and was manufactured by ASEA in Sweden/Västerås. The first model, , was developed in 1972–1973 on assignment by the ASEA CEO Curt Nicolin and was shown for the first time at the end of August 1973. The example shown in the Swedish National Museum of Science and Technology is the first robot that was sold. It was bought by Magnussons in Genarp to wax and polish stainless steel tubes bent at . This robot was donated to the museum during ASEA's 100-year anniversary in 1983.