a history of cybernetic animals and early robots
CMU Rover (showing camera slide). The CMU rover wheel drive assembly (simplified cross section). CMU Rover base assembly (showing wheels). Basic robotics concepts – John M. Holland – 1983 The CMU Rover Fully Independent Drive At the time of this writing [1983] Dr. Hans Moravec at Carnegie-Mellon University is constructing a new mobile robotic …
Read More “1981-3 – Pluto CMU Rover – Hans Moravec et al (American)”
Thring, at Queen Mary College built a fire-fighting robot in 1962. This robot navigated its way round a "track" using signals from a gyro compass and measuring distance by wheel-rotation. It left the track when it "saw" a fire and extinguished the fire when its "finger" sensed the flame. The idea was to develop a …
Read More “1962 – Robot Fire Cart – Meredith Thring (British)”
Emily – The Robot with a One Track Mind by Bernard Dickman Popular Electronics March 1962 The strange-looking object following the white line is named "Emily." She may look like a dishpan with eyes, but this "Electro-Mechanical Inebriated Ladybug" is actually an electronic robot of the simplest type. Though equipped with only one "sense organ" …
Read More “1962 – “Emily” the White-line Follower – Bernard Dickman (American)”
JASON, a robot built by students in the EE Dept. at University of California, Berkeley. They include L. Stephen Coles, Michael H. Smith, Alan M. Robb, Paul L. Sinclair, and Ralph R. Sobek. The robot is equipped with a number of infrared proximity sensors and a radio link to its remote computer controller. Its onboard …
Read More “1971-4 – JASON a low-cost mobile robot – L. Stephen Coles, Michael H. Smith (American)”
Unicorn-One ( Universal Controllable Robot ) is truly universal and a robot that you can build for between two- and-four hundred dollars, depending on your ingenuity and scrounging abilities. It is fully mobile and has the ability to use its arms and hands. It can be controlled by a cable link to a console, by …
Read More “1980-1 – Unicorn-1 – James A. Gupton, Jr. (American)”