Ritam grada / Rhythm of the city
Beograd – kolevka humanoidne robotike
Zaštitini znak najstarijeg beogradskog parfemdžije je pumpica iz tridesetih godina prošlog veka The trademark of Belgrade’s oldest perfumer is a fragrance pump dating back to the 1930s
Srpska prestonica je kolevka prvih humanoidnih robota na planeti. Prvu bioničku šaku u svetskoj robotici, pozna- tu kao „beogradska šaka“, sedamdesetih godina 20. ve- ka konstruisali su naučnici Instituta „Mihajlo Pupin“, kao i prve egzoskelete (pomoću njih su paraplegičari prvi put u istoriji mogli da hodaju) – to su preteče svetske huma- noidne robotike. Zanimljivo je i da je prvi analogni računar na vodu na svetu patentirao čuveni beogradski matema- tičar Mika Alas i za taj izum dobio zlatnu medalju na Svet- skoj izložbi u Parizu 1900. godine. Daleke 1972. u Beogradu, u Institutu „Mihajlo Pupin“, na- pravljena je prva bionička šaka, i to ne kao pasivna pro- teza kao do tada, već sa mogućnošću pokretanja prstiju. Bio je to, malo je poznato, početak humanidne roboti- ke na planeti, jer su do tada rađene samo hvataljke za in- dustrijske robote. U Institutu „Mihajlo Pupin“ dočekao me je robotičar Aleksandar Rodić. Kaže da je, bez preteriva- nja, sedamdesetih i osamdesetih godina 20. veka Insti- tut „Mihajlo Pupin“ bio svetska supersila u robotici. Ta pr- va bionička ruka na svetu napravljena je ovde u Institutu i nalazi se u svim svetskim udžbenicima robotike pod nazi- vom „beogradska šaka“, objašnjava profesor Rodić. – Mnogi svetski robotičari iznenađeni su, ne mogu da ve- ruju da je u to vreme neko bio sposoban da napravi nešto tako tehnološki napredno, jer su ti uređaji napravljeni u Beogradu pokrenuli mnogo bogatije države poput Ame- rike i Japana da rade na razvoju ovakvih šaka – objašnjava poznati srpski robotičar. Velesila u humanoidnoj robotici danas je Japan, ali japan- ski naučnici pošteno priznaju da su inspiraciju za svoj pro- gram našli u ranom radu akademika Miomira Vukobrato- vića, osnivača ove laboratorije, koji je sa svojim kolegama konstrusiao prve egzoskelete u istoriji, koji su prvi put na svetu parapelgičarima i nepokretnima omogućili da ho- daju. Ni slutili nisu da će začeti revoluciju. Brojne svetske nacionalne televizije posećuju Institut „Mihajlo Pupin“ da bi sa profesorom Rodićem snimili re- portažu o čuvenoj „beogradskoj šaci“, a u Muzeju nau- ke i tehnike u Beogradu možete da vidite kako su pre 60 godina počele da nastaju preteče svetskih humanoid- nih robota.
U Muzeju nauke i tehnike u Beogradu možete da vidite kako su pre 60 godina počele da nastaju preteče humanoidnih robota You can see how the forerunners of the world’s humanoid robots began emerging
60 years ago by visiting the Museum of Science and Technology in Belgrade
Belgrade – cradle of humanoid robotics
created right here at the Institute and can be found in all the world’s robotics textbooks under the name ‘Belgrade hand’,” explains Professor Rodić. “Many roboticists around the world are surprised; they can’t believe that someone was capable of mak- ing something so technologically ad- vanced at that time, because those devices that were made in Belgrade prompted much richer countries, like America and Japan, to launch fur- ther work on the development of such hands,” explains this renowned Serbi- an roboticist. Today’s humanoid robot- ics superpower is Japan, but Japanese scientists respectfully admit that they found inspiration for their programme in the early work of academic Miomir Vu- kobratović, the founder of this laborato- ry, who – together with his colleagues – constructed the first exoskeletons in history, which enabled paraplegics and immobile people anywhere in the world to walk for the first time. They didn’t even suspect that they would instigate a technological revolution. Numerous national television compa- nies from around the world visit the Mi- hajlo Pupin Institute to film features about the famous ‘Belgrade Hand’ with Professor Rodić. And you can actually see how the forerunners of the world’s humanoid robots began emerging 60 years ago by visiting the Museum of Science and Technology in Belgrade.
THE CITY’S LAST PERFUMERY The oldest perfumery workshop in Bel- grade is among the few still in existence around the world, which is why numer- ous international television companies come to film the small factory of fra- grances in the city’s Kralja Petra Street. That’s because this ancient craft has been forgotten around the planet. The last Belgrade perfumer, Nenad Jovanov, who maintains a family tradition that has been passed down from generation to generation, still remembers the sto- ries of his elders. I am greeted at the door of that little factory of fragrances, at 75 Kralja Pet- ra Street, by a gentlemanly Mr Jovanov. His perfumery, Sava, has remained un- changed for 70 years. If it weren't for the calendar and the digital clock, you’d think that you were in post-WWII Bel- grade. That’s because the last perfumer in the city still types bills on his father's typewriter, which was bought in the then occupied Belgrade from a German soldier who had seized from a French- man on the front. And shopping here looks like it did during the last century. Mr Jovanov always welcomes his pa- trons dressed in a white coat, while a bell attached to the door announces that a customer has entered the shop, and the trademark of Belgrade’s oldest perfumer is a fragrance pump dating
back to the 1930s, of a type no longer produced anywhere, and which this el- derly Belgrader uses to apply fragranc- es to different parts of your hands and arms. He does this to allow them stay on the skin for a few minutes, so that you can slowly discover which perfume best suits your sensibility and phero- mones... The Sava perfumery began operating way back in 1941 in the Topličin Venac area. During the time of the Nazi occu- pation, Belgraders bought cologne and pomade and paid in kind, with a chick- en or ten eggs, Nenad tells me, recalling his ancestors. Following nationalisation, Nenad’s parents, Leposava and Dragol- jub, opened a new perfumery at the current address in 1954. It was then one of 23 shops in the city that produced hand-made cosmetics and fragranc- es. Nenad still makes powders and po- mades by hand in his laboratory, using natural materials without emulsifiers, on a machine with a crank that serves as a reminder of the time when electricity was unavailable. His perfumes are orig- inal, sold by the measure, but he some- times creates new ones at the request of customers. Lipsticks also used to be made here, by machine. That isn’t prof- itable today, Nenad admits, just as kindness has ceased to be profitable. And kindness is nurtured here.
The Serbian capital is the cradle of the planet’s first humanoid robots. The first bionic hand in world robotics, known as the ‘Belgrade hand’, was created by scientists of the Mihajlo Pupin In- stitute back in the 1970s, as were the first exoskeletons (which helped par- aplegics walk for the first time in histo- ry) – these are the forerunners of hu- manoid robotics around the world. It is also interesting to note that the world’s first analogue water-powered comput- ing machine was patented by famous Belgrade mathematician Mika Alas, and that invention led to him receiving a gold medal at the 1900 Paris Exposi- tion world’s fair. It was way back in 1972, at the Mihajlo Pupin Institute in Belgrade, that the first bionic hand was made. Not as a pas- sive prosthesis – as had hitherto been the case – but as an externally pow- ered adaptive prosthetic with moving fingers. Few know that this marked the beginning of humanoid robotics world- wide, because previously only grippers for industrial robots had been made. I was awaited at the Mihajlo Pupin Insti- tute by roboticist Aleksandar Rodić. He says that, without any exaggeration, the Mihajlo Pupin Institute had been a powerhouse of world robotics dur- ing the 1970s and ‘80s. “That first bi- onic hand anywhere in the world was
Prva bionička ruka na svetu napravljena je ovde u Beogradu The first bionic hand in the world was created here in Belgrade
76 | Beograd » Belgrade
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