My initiial intention with this posting was to show "Zoe" as an example of an early Anthropomorphic mechanical master-slave manipulator as well as being a drawing machine. What is presented are some images and illustrations of John Nevil Maskelyne's "Zoe", and an operational description of what could be "Zoe", but nevertheless a contemporary suggestion of how a …
Read More “1877 – “Zoe” the Drawing Automaton – John Nevil Maskelyne (British)”
I recently placed on Youtube a video clip (see below) of the Torres Chess Computer as demonstrated at the Congress on Cybernetics in France of 1951. I wasn't going to put a post together as I still have a lot of work to do in completing my existing categories. I've rushed this one together as a …
Read More “1911-20 – Chess Playing Machines – Leonardo Torres y Quevedo (Spanish)”
[Source: A Century of Toys From The London Toy & Model Museum, 1982, Exhibition Catalogue] Blurb from Youtube: A very rare and clever toy produced in Germany approximately 1885 until about 1905. The little hand-cranked tin artist draws with a graphite stick onto paper via 'programmed' double-cams (x and y axis). I read about it …
Read More “1895 – Mechanical Toy Artist – Caroline Spilsbury Pocock (British)”
A photograph of a woman listening to the 'telepathovox', taken by an unknown photographer for the Daily Herald newspaper on 17 August, 1935. Displayed on the Marconiphone stand at the Radiolympia show held at Olympia, London, the device was described as an 'amazing machine which answers questions in an uncanny manner.' Another Marconi robot (similar …
Read More “1935 – Telepathovox – (British)”
See Cinemagic complete article in this pdf.