1944 – Betelgeuse Walking Cities – Frank R. Paul (American)

Amazing Stories, September 1944 Title: Stories of the Stars: Betelgeuse, in Orion Author: Morris J. Steele Year: 1944 Variant Title of: Stories of the Stars: Betelgeuse in Orion (by uncredited ) The back covers of 'Amazing Stories' featured fanciful illustrations of life on far-off worlds. "This weird scene on a planet of the giant sun, …

1980 – Hexapod – J.J. Kessis (French)

Teleoperations and robotics: evolution and development Jean Vertut, Philippe Coiffet – 1986 J.J. Kessis at the University of Paris VII developed an interesting vehicle with six articulated legs, with a pantograph, allowing coordination to be carried out mechanically in the plane of the leg. The high compliance of the chassis is required for turning and …

1951 – Mechanical Horse – Bogart (American)

Source: Mechanix Illustrated Oct, 1951. Source: Popular Mechanics Jan, 1954 Galveston Daily News 11 Mar 1953 Hold Your Autos; Horse A-Comin' CLEVELAND, Ohio (UP)—No reaction has come from the automotive world as yet, but George Bogart's invention would seem to be a cinch to cause a stir. He invented a horse. The 62-year-old inventor began …

1961 – RCA “Dumbo” Moon Walker – (American)

In the early ‘60s, as part of the preparations for the Apollo manned moon landing mission, the Jet Propulsion Lab planned a follow-on program to its very successful ‘hard’ landing ‘Ranger’ program, which gave the first close-up views of the moon’s surface. The proposed ‘soft’ lander program was called ‘Surveyor’. An initial concept was for …

1961 – RCA “Porky the Pig” Moon Walker – (American)

In the early ‘60s, as part of the preparations for the Apollo manned moon landing mission, the Jet Propulsion Lab planned a follow-on program to its very successful ‘hard’ landing ‘Ranger’ program, which gave the first close-up views of the moon’s surface. The proposed ‘soft’ lander program was called ‘Surveyor’. An initial concept was for …