a history of cybernetic animals and early robots
ROBOTIAN-LIKE COSTUMED FIGURE – Ernest Walling – see full patent design here. Patent number: D171959 Filing date: May 27, 1953 Issue date: Apr 1954 It looks as if it was easier for Westinghouse to use people inside Robot costumes going forward. The old robots Vocalite, Elektro, were getting on and probably costly to run.
FRANKEN The original Franken maze solver was designed and built by Bert and Ivan Sutherland. I suspect it was built for Edmund C. Berkeley. Berkeley , it appears, had used the early version as a prototype, and engaged his other associates, namely Bob Jensen, Juli Skalski and Stan Skalski in drawing up a revised document suitable for …
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Mr. Magnetron – At the National Radio Show held at Earls Court, London, England, Signalman Mellor, of Manchester, introduces a young man to the robot Mr. Magnetron. © Hulton-Deutsch Collection/CORBIS Date Photographed: September 1, 1953 Mr Magnetron 24th March 1954: Lieutenant Corporal Pauline Bevan and Private Smith of the WRAC look at Mr Magnetron …
Details from British Pathe film clip here: 1337.25 | GARAGE ROBOT (1:41:02:00 – 1:42:03:00) 14/09/1953 Stratford St Mary, Suffolk. At a petrol station we see garage owner Ivan Robinson setting up his own invention – 'Horace the Robot' – on the forecourt. Horace is connected to an electric cable which makes him salute passing vehicles. …
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GARCO represents one of the first attempts at an all-purpose functional humanoid robot. Although he had most of his success as an entertainment robot, the inventor, Harvey Chapman Jr., believed he had other uses, such as "taking on a variety of tasks that would prove too dangerous for humans. Mixing the ingredients for TNT is one. …