In the 1960s, researchers put a lot of work into developing robotic arms, but one of the most important was . It was one of the first industrial robots, and was fitted on General Motors' assembly line to reduce the likelihood of injuries and deaths on the production floor. The arm would stack pieces of hot die-cast metal and weld the parts to car bodies. Unimate is now listed in the Robot Hall of Fame with the likes of R2-D2 and HAL.

Shakey the Robot by SRI International was one of the first truly successful artificial intelligence robots. It was capable of understanding its own actions--that is, if you gave Shakey a task to complete, it could break down how to complete it by itself, unlike most other robots of the time, which needed specific instructions.

Shakey demonstrated its ability to think and then react by navigating itself around rooms and corridors, turning lights on and off, opening and closing doors, and pushing certain objects around. It is now happily retired and on display in Mountain View's Computer History Museum.