a history of cybernetic animals and early robots
The Kaufmann Trumpeter had leather bellows for lungs and reeds which imitated the sound of a brass instrument. The Kaufmann family from Dresden. Friedrich id on the right. Text incorrectly dates the 'Robot' from 1910, it should be 1810. [Source: Popular Mechanics Aug 1950] Trompeter This is an example of a program (e.g. stepped drum) …
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1849 – Flute-Playing Automaton by Innocenzo Manzetti. A comparison photo above showing the Flautist's size with a real person. In 1849 Innocenzo Manzetti constructed a flute-playing automaton, in the shape of a man, life-size, seated on a chair. Hidden inside the chair were levers, connecting rods and compressed air tubes, which made the automaton's lips …
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From Kenji Yanobe, one of Japan’s most creative contemporary artists, comes the whimsical sculptural work "Soul of Bubble King" . Inspired by the Japanese subculture of Anime and Manga, Yanobe’s works are intellectually inquisitive and convey a stoic persistence in facing adversity in everyday life. Created in 1992, "Soul of Bubble King" is a monumental sculpture …
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[Sourced from: Mechanical Toys: How Old Toys Work, by Athelstan and Kathleen Spilhaus (New York: Crown Publishers Inc., 1989)] The principle of the Bourdon tube, a flattened, flexible tube that straightens out under pressure, was used in pneumatic toys such as the rubber monkey that plays a drum when a rubber bulb is squeezed by …
Plot Summary for Rikky and Pete (1988) Follow the lives of Rikky, a talanted geologist, and her brother Pete, an off-the-wall mechanical genius. To find peace of mind they travel to the outbacks of Australia and meet up with a desert mining town full of zany individualists. In the movie, Pete builds a newspaper folding and …
Read More “1988 – “Rikky and Pete” Mechanical Horse – David Parker et al (Australian)”