1964 – “Fred”, a light-seeking creature – Peter Holland (British)

Fred – a light-seeking robot by Peter Holland. from Radio Control Models & Electronics, December 1964. Fred is a light seeking elictrically propelled tricycle with a light sensitive automatic homing device. The basic principles of light sensitive circuits have been combined with a simple scanning device to give proportional automatic steering to a single driving …

1920 – Electro-mechanical “protozoon” – Fritz Lux (German)

Lux' protozoon * This device is a model of a unicellular animal: it consists of a short rubber cylinder with two slots (Fig. 98). According to the ideas of its inventor, it is anchored in a brook, half submerged in the water. The water in the "protozoon" is considered as the "food" it is in …

W. Grey Walter and his Tortoises

The published posts for W. Grey Walter and his Tortoises.    ELMER – a new species of animal – M. speculatrix   ELSIE – M. speculatrix  ELSIE – upgraded  CORA – the tortoise – M. docilis    Grey Walter’s Tortoises – the video clips   Time-Lapse Photographs of ELMER with ELSIE  W. Grey Walter and the Festival of …

M. speculatrix – Scanning: It makes all the difference

scanning – a form of behavior (sniffing, looking, listening, palpating) by which a sensory stimulus is sought or expected, and which is guided by an expectancy of input instead of a future internal state (goal). The search must be broad in the sense of looking everywhere, but narrow in the sense of being specific as …

1980-1 – “SUPERKIM Meets ET-2” – D. F. McAllister (American)

Extract from 1980's article: The articles present experiences in interfacing and programming a SUPERKIM single board computer for the control of a Lour Control ET-2 robot shell. The ET-2 (Experimental Transmobile with 2 drive motors) consist of a three level frame powered by two separately driven wheels and balanced by a free caster. Part 2 …