1937 – Maze Solver – Hugh Bradner (American)

The above is an excerpt from Cordeshi's book "Discovery of the Artificial". Hugh Bradner was at the Psychology laboratory at the University of Miami, Ohio. His robot learnt by trial and error. The cart was 12 inches long, 6 inches wide with 2 wheels on a front axle. a driving wheel in the middle, and …

1936-37 – B2M – (ROM or V2M) – Vadim Matskevich (Russian)

ROM (or V2M) as it appeared in the 1937 Paris Exhibition. Possibly the first Russian Humanoid Robot ever built. [Note: I haven't quite worked out the Russian <-> English translation of this Robots names as yet.] Retired Lieutenant Colonel Vadim Viktorovich Matskevich turned 82 years old [in 2002] .  As well as writing many children's books on …

1937 – Elektro – Joseph M. Barnett (American)

    Colour photo of Elektro at the 1939-40 World's Fair held in New York.   ELEKTRO- "the Moto-Man This 260-lb. mechanical man at the New York World's Fair 1939 walks, talks, smokes, and selects colors! His anatomy includes an "electric eye," 48 relays, 11 motors, a microphone, grid-glow tube, and amplifiers. THIS mighty automaton …

1937 – “Machine-Man”, the Budapest Robot – László Zelenka and Sándor Bortnyik (Hungarian)

The Budapest Robot at the International Fair 1937. Above image source: Robots: Facts, Fiction and Prediction. I haven't been able to find any relevant text to this robot, but it appears to be able to detect an audience (via photo-electric cells in its eyes?), stand using motors in the base guided by the geometry of …