1892 – Crane – Seward Babbitt (American)

CRANE by SEWARD S. BABBITT. See full patent details here. Patent number: 484870 Filing date: Jun 13, 1892 Issue date: Oct 25, 1892 Seward Babbitt's crane first mentioned around 1980 in terms of robotics history and timelines in textbooks, but in terms of enabling technology only, rather than being identified as a robot in itself.  That distinction …

1892 – Electric Bob’s Big Black Ostrich – Robert T. Toombs (American)

Electric Bob. Image courtesy Joe Rainone. Electric Bob was introduced in "Electric Bob and His White Alligator; or, Hunting for Confederate Treasure in the Mississippi River" in the New York Five-Cent Library v1 n50 (July 22, 1893) by "Robert T. Toombs," an author about whom nothing is known. E.B. appeared in "Electric Bob's Big Black …

1882 – King-Foo (King Fu) – Unknown (Chinese)

The Maitland Mercury 3 Jun 1882 p5 AN AUTOMATON SWINDLE. A strange prosecution for fraud has just been concluded at Vienna, the defendant being the proprietor of an automaton known as "King-Foo." The whole Court, from Kaiser Francis Joseph to the young princesses, has been delighted with King-Foo's marvellous performances, and the journals have been …

1892 – “Hockbockid” Walking Mechanical Ostrich (Fictional) – Bradshaw (American)

William Richard Bradshaw (1851–1927) was an Irish-born American author, editor and lecturer who served as president of the New York Anti-Vivisection Society. He is known best for his science fiction-type novel The Goddess of Atvatabar: being the history of the discovery of the interior world, and conquest of Atvatabar (1892). Extract from the book. Chapter …