In 1987, Maple Cybernetic released ISAAC. It blew the world away, because unlike their previous machines, and in fact any previous robot on Earth, ISAAC was designed to hold practical conversations with humans.
Rather than forcing users to interface with a microcomputer, or enter verbal commands as per the manual, one could now just speak with the robot as they would with anyone else. It would even be able to respond, and eventually learn any language or dialect.
Sadly, where ISAAC excelled in interface design, it came up short in every other way. Its physical strength and mobility were limited, its other learning capabilities and overall computing power was low, and software designed for ISAAC wasn’t common.
Other companies began to emulate the interface design introduced by ISAAC. By the early 2000s, any robot designed to interact with a person could speak with them.
The underlying technology behind ISAAC would be upgraded over the years. A version of this software would be used in the first teleindexer several decades later, the PAL.
ISAAC models that continue to operate after the disappearance of mankind have a hard time performing repairs on themselves, thanks to the uncommon parts and the integrated design.
“Hello, I’m Isaac. It sure is nice to meet you!”
Meet Isaac, the robot that speaks your language.
Picture a world where using a robot actually felt good.
A world in which asking a robot for the time didn’t mean memorizing fifty-five pages of commands.
Where using one didn’t mean sitting through a mind-numbing interfacing course, or buying a dubious datasette.
That’s the world that we’ve been imagining.
After months of research and hard work, the cyberneticists and engineers at our Sunnyvale offices have come up with a revolutionary solution to the cybernetic communications dilemma… plain human speech.
It’s our pleasure to introduce ISAAC — the first robot actually designed for humans.
ISAAC understands what you’re trying to say or gesture before you need to reach for a manual, using some complicated software you really don’t need to worry about.
If you know how to talk, you already know how to use it.
maple cybernetic See things differently.
All rights reserved. Maple, the Maple logo, ISAAC, and Isaac are registered trademarks of Maple Cybernetic Inc. To learn more about the product or to find an authorized Maple dealer nearest you, please call (800)-662-9238 or write Maple Cybernetic Inc. Advertising and Promotion Department, 1009 McIntosh Road, Sunnyvale, CA 95088.