1890 – Assisted-walking Device – Nicholas Yagn (Russian)

Nicholas Yagn, of St.Petersburg, Russia, designed a set of walking, jumping, and running assisted apparatus from 1889-1890. An earlier version used a giant bow spring. The final version used compressed gas bags to store the energy. An example of a passive and human-powered exoskeleton . Patent number: 440684 Filing date: Feb 11, 1890 Issue date: Nov 1890 See …

1889 – Walking Machine – Ira C.C. Rinehart (American)

Source: St Paul Globe 10 Dec 1889 A WALKING MACHINE A Minneapolis Man Comes to the Front With a Novel Invention. A Minneapolis man comes to the front with a walking machine. It is a cool, breezy day with a refrigerator in the corner when there is anything invented any place in the world ahead …

1969 – G.E. Man-Mate Industrial Manipulator – Ralph Mosher / Donald A. Kugath (American)

Video of Man-Mate CAM 1600 c1976 (narrated by Isaac Asimov).   Text of above. New Industrial Boom Is Displayed by GE Schenectady General Electric recently displayed the third member of its family of "Industrial manipulators," the Man-Mate CAM 1600 industrial boom for material handling. The CAM 1600, like other Man-Mate booms, is designed to amplify the …

1969 – Syntelmann – Kleinwächter (German)

Syntelmann II – Electric Tele-manipulator with 9 degrees of freedom per arm, position- and force-controlled sensors for forces, sounds, temperatures (in front), operator with exo-skeleton transducer system, force feedback system, and stereo image transmission system (in the back). The “Syntelmann” was developed by Kleinwaechter in Freiburg, Germany, parallel to the development of the Stanford Arm …

1958-9 – GE Handyman – Ralph Mosher (American)

At the debut press conference, Handyman twirled a hoola hoop and wielded a hammer. Handyman slave station being held up by a G.E. "O" Man. Handyman was built between 1958-59 at Schnetectady, New York for the joint AEC-USAF Aircraft Nuclear Propulsion Program by Ralph Mosher. The idea of CAMs originated nine years ago when the …