a history of cybernetic animals and early robots
The world's first concept for a powered exoskeleton ? We often forget that even the now bygone era of Steam power and locomotion was new and in its infancy, satirists looked at a future whereby the most absurd objects could be powered and animated. Locomotion – Walking by Steam, Riding by Steam, Flying by …
Read More “1830c – Walking by Steam – Robert Seymour (British)”
See Quester details and other references in David Buckley's website here. Quester was originally designed to be a micromouse maze solver, and later converted into a general purpose robot with added gripper (see above). David also has a reference to the history of Micromouse competitions here. For the original Micromouse competition, "The Amazing MicroMouse Maze …
Read More “1981 – Quester Micromouse – David Buckley (British)”
"Moonlight Special" Photo at Battelle Pacific Northwest Laboratories Top – "Moonlight Special" , Middle- "Moonlight Flash" , Bottom Right – "Midnight Express" all in full dress. In 1977, Machine Design sponsored yet another mouse contest, "The great Clock Climbing Contest", coupled with the rediscovered information of the 1972 "Le Mouse 5000" contest that spurred on …
Read More “1977-79 – “Moonlight Special” Battelle Inst. (American)”
Oakland Tribune 22 Aug 1957 Lauren V. Merritt, 17, son of Mr. and Mrs. L.C. Merritt of El Cerrito, was concerned. "Gizzmo is acting up," he said. "Gizzmo" is a maze-solving robot. Push a button anywhere and a light bounces through a ?complicated maze? and "Gizzmo" remembers the way out. Merritt is a student of …
Read More “1957 – “Gizzmo” Maze-solving Robot – Lauren V. Merritt (American)”
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette – Feb 1, 1967 …….. He [Professor Meredith Wooldridge Thring, 51, professor of mechanical engineering at London's Queen Mary College] suggested a trip to one of his laboratories. "Here you see our mechanical rat," he explained. He pointed to a gadget about the size of a boy's electric train. Before it lay a …
Read More “1966 – Mechanical Rat – Meredith Thring (British)”