George C. Devol, a largely self-taught inventor who drew from science fiction to help develop Unimate, the revolutionary mechanical arm that became a prototype for robots now widely used on automobile assembly lines and in other industries.. Mr. Devol said that new technology should be simple and practical. “We should take refuge in the fact that very crude systems can accomplish an awful lot,” he once said. “Elegant capabilities are nice, but often unnecessary.” George Devol, Developer of Robot Arm, Dies at 99 - NYTimes.com.
