Shakey becomes the first robot that reasons about its actions
SRI's four-layer robot plans routes, moves blocks, and recovers from its own mistakes
Quick facts
- Institution
- Stanford Research Institute (SRI)
- Key researchers
- Charles Rosen, Nils Nilsson, Peter Hart
- Planning system
- STRIPS
What happened
Researchers at the Stanford Research Institute, led by Charles Rosen, Nils Nilsson, and Peter Hart, built Shakey, a wheeled robot that operated in a set of rooms containing blocks and ramps. Shakey used a camera and bump sensors to perceive its surroundings, and a planning program called STRIPS (Stanford Research Institute Problem Solver) to break a goal such as 'push block 9 to doorway 4' into a sequence of achievable actions. If an action failed partway through, Shakey could re-plan around the failure rather than simply stopping. Its control software was organized into layers, from low-level motor control up to high-level planning, an architecture that later became a template for other robots. It was not fast or practical: a single task could take Shakey hours to complete.
Why it matters
Shakey was the first machine to combine perception, planning, and physical action in one system, and the STRIPS planning language it used influenced automated planning research for decades afterward.
How we know
SRI International and the Computer History Museum, which preserves the physical robot, both document Shakey's capabilities, the STRIPS planner, and its layered control architecture.
Sources
- Computer History Museum, CHM Revolution exhibit. Shakey · Reputable sourcecomputerhistory.org · The domain "computerhistory.org" is on our Reputable source registry. · Link is live and its text matches the event's key terms (Jul 2026)
- IEEE Spectrum. SRI's Pioneering Mobile Robot Shakey Honored as IEEE Milestone · Peer-reviewedspectrum.ieee.org · The domain "spectrum.ieee.org" is on our Peer-reviewed registry. · Link is live and its text matches the event's key terms (Jul 2026)
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