[wilsonmw04]

Originally Posted by GeeTwo

As much a fan of SF (and Asimov in particular) that I am (I started with his non-fiction in middle school (OBTW he taught me to use a slide rule), wore mutton chops through most of the '80's following his lead, and have read the full robots-empire-foundation series about a dozen times), if you really want to honor a ground-breaker in the field of robotics, you can't do much better than Heron of Alexandria. Though he is best known today for his formula for the area of a triangle given the length of the three sides, he invented robotics more than a millennium before the term was coined. He built devices powered by falling weights and cords. In the first century, he programmed a ten-minute long autonomous play using strings and knots and pulleys. He also invented a steam engine, the vending machine, and (particularly noteworthy to this acoustician) the principle of the shortest path.

Your facts pale in comparison to the sheer awesomeness of Robert Heinlein. That is all.