The iconic Canadarm is marking its 30th anniversary on Sunday, even though it has been retired.

It was on Nov. 13, 1981 that Canada's first robotic spacearm was deployed on the U.S. space shuttle Columbia.

The space shuttle Canadarms have been used to support astronauts on spacewalks, like this one to service the Hubble telescope in 1993. NASA

The robotic arm with its Canada workmark retired last July after making its final voyage into space on board Atlantis, the last of its 90 shuttle missions and voyages totalling over 624 million kilometres. That trip also marked the end of the American shuttle program.

Two other robotic arms — Canadarm2 and DEXTRE, a two-armed, $200-million robot — are still on the job on the space station.

The Canadian Space Agency says work is underway on prototypes for the next generation of Canadarms and would put robotic technology to use on small-, medium- and large-sized rovers.

MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates built the original Canadarm, which cost $108 million to develop from scratch, as well as four other robotic arms.

The two-armed Dextre is used for maintaining the exterior of the Interational Space Station. NASA

More recently, the company has been developing smaller robotic arms which perform brain surgery and help doctors operate on children.

The Canadarm's anniversary, and the recent end of the shuttle program, provide an occasion to remember the past of the Canadian robotics sector and consider where it goes from here.

Over 30 years, the Canadarm has helped build the International Space Station, repaired satellites in space and even fixed broken toilets.

MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates (MDA), which built five Canadarms, also developed "neuroArm" — a two-armed system that performs surgical procedures inside an MRI machine.

It's still undergoing clinical trials, but Christian Sallaberger, MDA's vice-president of space exploration, says neuroArm has been used in 10 to 15 operations at the University of Calgary Foothills Hospital.

He proudly points out that the medical arm filters out high-frequency tremors so "the surgeon has the experience of age but the steady hands of youth."

MDA also built KidsArm which is designed for operations on small children and babies at Toronto's Hospital for Sick Children. It's intended to be used by surgeons to reconnect delicate vessels like veins, arteries and intestines.

The Richmond, B.C., based company is also developing a robotic system to help in the detection and treatment of breast cancer.

Another arm can inspect nuclear power plants.

But Canada is not alone in the robotics business and can't expect to rest on its laurels for long.

Kevin Shortt, the head of the Canadian Space Society, says the original Canadarm was a great piece of equipment that Canadians can be proud of — but it's history.

"We can't continue to keep going back to that because countries like Germany and Japan are hot on the heels of building their own technology in that respect," he said in an interview.

"I think they're knocking on our doorstep."

Shortt points to a small Japanese robotic arm on a module outside the space station which is helping to manage an experimental payload.

General Motors is also developing "R-2" — a humanoid-style flexible robot which, he says, "basically leaves DEXTRE in the dust."