1935 – Robota the Mechanical Man (American)

from The Syracuse Herald 9 May 1935.

Both the Electrical Circus, with its thrilling Chicago entury of Progress demonstrations of man-made lightning, black light, the electric eye,  and electric robots with both tastes and sounds vegetable ripeness, and Robota. the mechanical man, remain bright spots of the big Exposition.
Describlng himself as one of four mechanical men still in the game, Robota declared today that he won a wager recently by standing statuelike for 45 minutes without moving a muscle or an eyelid. So lifeless is his appearance and so mechanical his movements, that many In the crowd assert he's "all done with wires and mirrors."


Most likely "Robota" is a stage name for Ray A. Willis. See most post on him here.