Westinghouse's first robot was "Herbert Televox" built by Roy Wensley out at their East Pittsburgh, Pensilvania plant. Wensley left Westinghouse, but another man of metal was born. Referred to as the son of "Herbert Televox", "Mr. Vocalite", later called "Willie Vocalite" was conceived and designed by Joseph (Barney) M. Barnett, member of the Westinghouse Engineering Department at their plant …
Above: Mr. 'Rastus Robot, the most lifelike of mechanical men, conducting a conversation with S. M. Kintner, assistant vice-president of the Westinghouse Co., Mr. Robot needs some prompting, it is true; that is given by the flashlight in his interlocutor's right hand, which controls the "sound-on-film" conversation previously rehearsed. Here we have 'Rastus playing the …
Targeting a different market audience, Westinghouse produced a female version of Herbert Televox. Katrina was based on the second model that ran sound tapes, and appeared between May 1930 through April 1931. Note that only the wallboard cutout is different, and I suppose the voice tapes were of a female voice as well. from Kerrville Mountain …
A rare picture of " Telelux ". The "Telelux" Sound and light were transformed into mechanical action at the banquet of the National Tool Exposition recently to illustrate their possibilites in regulating traffic, aiding the aviator, and performing automatic functions. A beam of light was thrown into the "eyes" of a mechanical contrivance known as …
Whilst Roy James Wensley's "Televox" came about in 1927, he had invented and patented an earlier "supervisory control system" (patent filed in 1923). This system was effectively a system that could "remotely control" equipment via power lines, wireless, telephone lines, but not sound, which is how it is differentiated with the later "Televox". Some articles give this earlier "supervisory …