Licensing the original patent awarded to inventor George Devol, Engelberger developed the first industrial robot in the United States, the Unimate, in the 1950s.

Later, he worked as entrepreneur and vocal advocate of robotic technology beyond the manufacturing plant in a variety of fields, including service industries, health care, and space exploration.

[1] He grew up in Connecticut during the Great Depression, but later returned to New York City for his college education.

[7] Finding himself jobless but with a business partner and an idea, Engelberger co-founded Unimation with Devol, creating the world's first robotics company.

The first Unimate robotic arm was installed at a General Motors Plant in Ewing Township, New Jersey, in 1961.

[9] The rapid adoption of the technology also provided Unimation with a working business model: after selling the first Unimate at a $35,000 loss, as demand increased, the company was able to begin building the robotic arms for significantly less and thus began to turn a substantial profit.

[12] Over the next two decades, the Japanese took the lead by investing heavily in robots to replace people performing certain tasks.

In Japan, Engelberger was widely hailed as a key player in the postwar ascendancy of Japanese manufacturing quality and efficiency.

[2] An early proponent of increased investment in robotic systems, Engelberger published articles and gave congressional testimony on the value of using automation in space long before the successes of NASA's Mars landers, Galileo, and other unmanned space science missions.

He hoped to kick-start a new industry for in-home robots, but he started in 1988 by selling his first HelpMate to Danbury Hospital, located in the same Connecticut city where his company was based.

The medical robot was successful enough that the hospital ended up purchasing another, and within a decade, well over 100 hospitals worldwide operated HelpMates, whether purchased outright or rented from Engelberger's company, which he renamed HelpMate Robotics Inc.[4][15] After Engelberger was awarded the Japan Prize in 1997, Senator Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut delivered a floor speech in the U.S. Senate in praise and recognition of the inventor, calling HelpMate Robotics "an example of the way that a patient federal investment in science and technology can lead to new products that employ Americans and make for a better quality of life.