First Glimpse of Robotics at Poly
Considering that we now know schools like Rensselaer and Carnegie Mellon were first introducing classes on robotics and automation in the 1950s-1960s, when was Brooklyn Poly, and what did they first introduce (Inigo & Angulo, 1985)? The first ever mention of robotics education at Brooklyn Polytechnic Institute would be the CS756 “Advanced Topics in Artificial Intelligence” and the SA788 “Advanced Topics in Artificial Intelligence” classes introduced in the 1975 course catalogs, where the word “robots” is mentioned in both courses (Polytechnic Institute of New York, 1975-1976). These classes, however, focus on the theoretical and potential programming of robotics rather than on the actual design or creation of robotic mechanical systems.
(Polytechnic Institute of New York, 1975-1976)
(Polytechnic Institute of New York, 1975-1976)
While these classes are a start, they still reflect investments in computer science (CS) at the time more than in robotics research and development. The only other class ever mentioning robotics in the early stages was CS 662 “Artificial Intelligence II” in the 1977-1978 course catalogs, which further studies automation, robotics, and theorems, but is essentially just a continuation of the classes above.
(Polytechnic Institute of New York, 1977-1978)
This same class, CS 662, with the same course number, is listed throughout up to the 1979-1981 and 1981-1983 course catalogs, with no changes to other classes or prerequisites, and it is the only course in the entire catalogs to mention the word “robot” at this time (Polytechnic Institute of New York, 1979-1981).
However, once 1985 rolls around, we finally have several new courses related to robotics, not just in Computer Science. This set of course catalogs now not only has CS 662 listed, but professor Evelyn Gall Roman is mentioned as a computer science professor of robotics, a technology and society course is listed as investigating trends in robotics, a blurb on manufacturing mentioning robotics, and an introduction to robotics elective in industrial engineering that mentions robotics five times in the course description (Polytechnic Institute of New York, 1983-1985).
(Polytechnic Institute of New York, 1983-1985)
(Polytechnic Institute of New York, 1983-1985)
(Polytechnic Institute of New York, 1983-1985)
(Polytechnic Institute of New York, 1983-1985)
(Polytechnic Institute of New York, 1983-1985)
Finally, in 1986-1989, when Polytechnic Institute of New York became Polytechnic University, we saw real substantial progress in robotics at Poly. There are over 36 mentions of robotics throughout the course catalogs, with multiple professors listed as robotics experts and a variety of robotics labs and courses mentioned across different engineering disciplines (Polytechnic University, 1986-1989). In 1999-2001, we even started to see more courses in robotics relating to seemingly unrelated disciplines like civil engineering and construction methods with “CE 831 Engineering for Construction I: Methods and Technologies,” where the course directly cites the review of conventional construction equipment and trends in robotics (Polytechnic University, 1999-2001). While it seems like Poly finally picked up the pace in robotics advancement, it took them considerably longer than most other top institutions at the time to implement robust robotics education initiatives. It took Poly almost 10 years to offer even just one non-CS-related robotics course.
Carnegie Mellon University first established its Robotics Institute in 1979, offering a variety of courses before that (University, 2024). Stanford’s Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (SAIL) was facilitating robotics research and education as early as 1963. In 1988, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute opened the Center for Automation Technologies and Systems (CATS) after offering courses for a decade (University, Stanford, & California 94305, n.d.; Polytechnic Institute, 2017). We know that Brooklyn Poly was struggling financially during its first merger, but why were they so slow to adapt to new advances in robotics? Not even adding any non-CS related robotics coursework until 1985, when other similar universities were already establishing entire centers dedicated to robotics. Considering all the financial difficulties the school was going through until the 1970s-80s, it makes a lot of sense that, after the merger was established, the school was unlikely to make such a risky investment right away in an emerging niche industry when it had other problems to worry about.
While I couldn’t find much in the meeting minutes about the administrative history of implementing robotics at Poly, I did discover an interesting 1973 conference that revealed more about how Poly interacted with other universities from an automation perspective.