1801- Joseph-Marie Jacquard invents a textile machine, operated by punch cards, called a programmable loom and went into mass production

1854- George Boole publishes his paper on "The Mathematical Analysis of Logic," later known as Boolean Logic or Boolean Algebra.

1890- Herman Hollerith's tabulating machine, which used punch cards, is first used for the 1890 American census

1896- the pianola is invented by Edwin Votey; large, cumbersome wooden cabinet which is placed in front of a piano. The pianola itself was almost as large as an upright piano.

1900- shortly after the turn of the century the first player piano, called the "Apollo" is invented by Melville Clark. It had a built in player mechanism.

1920- the word "robot" is first used in the play "R.U.R" or "Rossum's Universal Robots" by the Czech writer Karel Capek, it comes from the Czech word robota, meaning drudgery or labor.

1941- sci-fi writer Isaac Asimov is the first to use the word "robotics" to describe the technology of robots

1942- Isaac Asimov came up with the famous "Three Laws of Robotics"

1946- American scientists J. Presper Eckert, John Mauchly build the first large electronic computer called the ENIAC at the University of Pennsylvania

1948- the Whirlwind Computer Project is completed, led by M.I.T. Professor Jay Forrester, first general purpose digital computer with a magnetic core memory

1956- the term "Artificial Intelligence" is coined.

1961- Unimation install the first working industrial robot, in a General Motors plant.

1965 Lotfi A. Zadeh publish the paper "Fuzzy Sets," which leads to the innovation of fuzzy logic

1982- Time magazine names the computer "Man of the Year."

1992- Issac Asimov, one of the world's most influential science-fiction writers, dies.

1999- Sony releases their first Aibo units at a price of $2 500, they are sold out almost immediately.