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Professor Katsyu [Профессор Г. Катыс] with his walker.

Source: «Техника-молодежи» 1972 г №2, с.16-17, 19

Build the model! Full source: Юный-техник 1972-01 

Sample walking actions.

Professor GP Katysu proposed a model of two-link wheeled walking mechanism, the principle of operation is reduced as an obstacle to one link and deferred to his center of gravity of the mechanism, and then pulled up and the second link.

The idea of transferring alternating legs relative to the main housing like the construction described above lies in the other model walker Professor GP Katysu. Here are the two pillars of hard tripod that can mark again thanks to a long block frame mechanism. While a tripod is lifted and moved forward by a certain distance, the machine rests on the other, and then moves toward the first and second transfers over the obstacle. The design is extremely simple, as well as the scheme itself pacing, so has good prospects praktichegkogo use. The Ka-76 NTTM exhibition was shown a working model of such a device built young technicians.

Source: here.

Source: Юный-техник 1978-11

Prof. Katsyu with a "manned" model of Katsyu's unique walker.

Source: Popular Mechanics May,1994.
The Beast That Walks
Beast slides its equipment box back and forth, using it as a counterbalance while it lifts and moves one tripod leg at a time.
STATE COLLEGE, MS — Brains, batteries, sample bins—all these burdens can weigh down a walking robot. But a unique design by Matt Michel and Robert Ferguson, two former Mississippi State University students, throws its weight around to good use.
The Beast (short for Best Economical All-Terrain Space Traveler) consists of two tripod legs and an equipment box that shuttles across an I-beam. The box serves as a counterweight while the Beast walks. First one tripod, counterbalanced by the box, raises its scissor jack legs. Then a motor in the other tripod turns the I-beam to swing the lifted tripod forward. That tripod then replants its   feet, and the box slides over to the opposite end of the beam. The Beast then takes another step. In confined spaces, the robot can also inchworm straight along the I-beam.

A concept excavator using the sliding beam, but without counterweighted pivoting.

Robots on display at the Regional exhibition of Technical Creativity Pioneers (Kirov, 1962).

Source: Tornado 84

Kybernetisches Demonstrationsmodell Schildkröte
1966 Otto-von-Guericke-Universität Magdeburg

Als Ergebnis einer fast 2jährigen Arbeit der AG "Regeltechnik" im Haus der Pioniere kann ein kybernetisches Demonstrationsmodell vorgestellt. werden – die Schildkröte. Das Modell wurde bereits mehrfach ausgezeichnet. Hier Dipl.-Ing. Walther und Christine Poethke (Wilhelm-Weitling-Schule) bei der Überpfüfung der Lenkanlage der Schilkröte. (UA)
 
Die "Eingeweide" der Schildkröte. Sie hat 2 Fotozellen als "Augen", 2 Mikrophone als "Ohren", 2 Motoren zum Antrieb und einen Motor zur Lenkung. (UA)
——–Google Translation————
As a result of almost 2 years of work of the AG "Control systems" in the House of Pioneers, a cybernetic model presented demonstration. be – the turtle. The model has already won several awards. Here Ing. Walther and Christine Poethke (Wilhelm-Weitling-school) in the steering mechanism of Überpfüfung Schilkröte. (UA)
 
The "guts" of the turtle. She has 2 photo cells as "eyes", 2 microphones as "ears", 2 motors to drive and a motor for steering. (UA)

Original article sourced from here.

Tinius the Cybernetic Turtle c1950 – An engineering student takes a robot through its paces, 1950.  [RH-2013- Although looking like a turtle (tortoise) which suggests being a Grey Walter-inspired machines, With it two "eyes" appearing as though it is fixed to the steering, suggests more that it is just phototropic i.e. it is attracted to and will follow a light source as per Norbert Wiener's Moth.]

In 1920, the 1st Rice Engineering Show draws 10,000 spectators from across the city of Houston (Texas) to Rice's campus. Student exhibits include a "bucking bronco," magnetic stunts, nitroglycerin explosions, X-ray demonstrations and a radio-controlled car. The shows continue to draw huge crowds every other year through 1940. An Exposition of Science and Art held in 1950, 1954 and 1956 expands the audience but is phased out after 1956.

Article sourced from here.

TRANSFER ROBOT 200 – NEW BOND STREET

2607.10 | TRANSFER ROBOT 200 – NEW BOND STREET
(1:13:11:00 – 1:14:31:00) 1961 London.

LS. Mr Miduch, the mechanic, switches on three robots. CU. Mechanic looking on. CU. Robots working. CU. Switch panel. CU. One robot working. MS. Three robots working together, they pause and two robots wait for signal from first then continue. MS. The inventor Mr Shelly, talking to mechanic, Mr Miduch and to camera – no sound.

(Orig. Neg.) Date found in the old record – 14/08/1961.

Edwin F. Shelley.

Automatic Handling and Assembly Servosystem by E. F. Shelley et al. See full patent details here.

Patent number: 3007097
Filing date: Jul 2, 1959
Issue date: Oct 31, 1961

N/C-type programming for robots was pioneered in the 1950s by Edwin F. Shelley and his colleagues at US Industries. While research director at the Bulova Watch Company, Shelley sought ways to eliminate repetitive, monotonous manual tasks typical of light assembly work. In 1959, after moving to US Industries, Shelley filed for a patent on an "automatic handling and assembly servosystem," a device which evolved into US Industries' TransfeRobot. This fully programmable positioning system was designed for precision parts transfer and accurate placement operations for small parts, and had closed loop positioning control in three axes. Unlike the record-playback Unimate, the Transferobot was programmed much like a plugboard-type N/C machine. A kinematic study of the task to be performed was made to break it down into a series of discrete motions described as a sequence of positions. These preselected motions (and times) were listed in order on a process sheet and then transcribed onto a cardboard template used to pre-set the machine control. The template was placed over a panel of switches on the machine control and indicated which switches had to be thrown to achieve the desired sequence of motions. (The template also constituted a permanent record of the program which could be used to reconfigure the machine identically for future performance of the same operations.) The Transferobot was widely advertised as a reliable, low-cost, off-the-shelf, fully programmable automation device suitable for a broad range of industrial applications. US Industries President John Snyder explained that the TransfeRobot marked "a significant step in the process of liberating the working force of this country from mechanized drudgery" and Shelley estimated that it could displace a minimum of three million workers. The company scheduled their robot's debut for Labor Day, 1959. (Widely publicized also was a joint effort by US Industries and the International Association of Machinists to aid displaced workers; US Industries paid "dues" on each TransfeRobot sold to underwrite a cooperative American Foundation on Automation and Employment, which was devoted to worker retraining.) Several Transferobots were in fact sold to manufacturers of clocks, typewriters, automobiles, and candy but this pioneering venture into industrial robotics was prematurely interrupted when, in 1963, US Industries decided to discontinue its robot business, for financial reasons.

Footnotes: Edwin F. Shelley et al., "Automatic Handling and Assembly Servosystem," U.S. Patent No. 3,007,097 (filed September 1959, issued October 31,1961); US Industries brochures (Robodyne Division); "An Electrically-Programmed Small Parts Handling Device," Automatic Control, February 196o; John Snyder, quoted in Chicago Daily Tribune. September 8,1959; Edwin Shelley quoted in Edwin Darby, "Builds Robot to Man Production Lines," Chicago Sun Times, March 28, 196o, p. 44; telephone interview with Edwin Shelley, November 1983.

Source: Forces of Production: A Social History of Industrial Automation, David F. Noble, 2011.