The Speedy Weenie machine used Devol’s microwave technology to dispense dogs. This photo was taken in his home.

Robotic arms that can grip and lift have been essential in everything from assembly lines to vending machines. Their creator, George Devol, who patented the invention in 1961 just passed away. An excerpt about the inventor’s beginnings from a New York Times obituary by Jeremy Pearce:

George Charles Devol Jr. was born Feb. 20, 1912, in Louisville, Ky. An experimenter from an early age, he studied mechanics and electronics in high school, but did not attend college. He worked for electronics companies in the 1920s, and in the early 1930s founded a small company, United Cinephone, to develop recording technology for movies.

That initial venture was not fruitful, and Mr. Devol turned his inventor’s hand to making devices that open doors automatically and other devices using machine controls. He also found a way to make laundry presses open or close when a worker approached. In 1939 United Cinephone installed automated photoelectric counters at the New York World’s Fair to count entering customers.

In the 1940s, Mr. Devol helped in an early application of the microwave oven, with the introduction of a machine for cooking and vending hot dogs, known as the “Speedy Weeny.”•

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Devol’s associate, Joseph F. Engelberger, demonstrates the technology for Johnny Carson in 1966, at the 9:09 mark.