1984 – FETAL I Omnidirectional Robot – William H. T. La (Vietnamese/American)

FETAL I had its major public appearance at the International Personal Robots Congress (IPRC) held in Albuquerque, New Mexico in 1984. Fetal I, constructed by Bill La, is a three-wheeled vehicle capable of moving in any direction, A later prototype, Fetal II [no picture available], was presented a Golden Droid award at the 1984 IPRC. …

2011 – “Mystic Mec” Meccano Automaton – Chris Shute (British)

Above Photo by Chris Shute A Meccano machine to read your palm. Built in 5 months from mostly modern Meccano parts and 13 salvaged motors. All 24 electrical switches and the 32 – step Sequencer are made from Meccano. Mystic Mec will choose an almost 'random' letter to hint at your future. Working eyelids, index …

1937 – The Robot Gargantua – “Bill” Griffith P. Taylor – (Australian/Canadian)

The Robot Garguantua. gar·gan·tu·a -n. A person of great size or stature and of voracious physical or intellectual appetites. [After the giant hero of Gargantua and Pantagruel by François Rabelais.] Like most, including myself, the true significance is lost in the title ("An Automatic Block-Setting Crane") and opening description of the original article published globally in …

More Meccano Walking Machines & Robots

Meccano model of GE's Walking Truck designed by Hugh Henry. All legs are completely rotatable in the same direction. For a complete set of images see the NZ Meccano web site here.  Thanks Antonio Gual for encouraging  Tony Brown (the author of the Modelplan) who found some pictures of Hugh Henry's original. (Has anyone built …

1965 – Meccano Walking Horse and Chariot – Andreas Konkoly (Hungarian)

Source: Meccano Magazine, March 1965 …Since then, we have featured examples of his skill at fairly regular intervals in the M.M., one model which I personally remember very well being a Walking Horse and Chariot which was described in a 1965 issue. In fact, Mr. Konkoly himself said of this model recently, "Although I later …