a history of cybernetic animals and early robots
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 …
Read More “M. speculatrix – Scanning: It makes all the difference”
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 …
Read More “1980-1 – “SUPERKIM Meets ET-2” – D. F. McAllister (American)”
"HILARE" An acronym of "Heuristiques Intégrées aux Logiciels et aux Automatisms dans un Robot Évolutif". Designed in 1977 at the Laboratoire d'Automatique et d'Analyse des Systèmes du C.N.R.S Toulouse, (LAAS), it is the first French autonomous mobile robot equipped with ultrasound sensors and laser telemetry. My friend David Buckley with HILARE, to give a comparison …
Read More “1977 – “HILARE” Autonomous Mobile Robot – French”
From Daniel C. Dennett's Home Page http://ase.tufts.edu/cogstud/incbios/dennettd/dennettd.htm [Mar08] REWARD for information! I found it in an antique shop in Paris. It was made in France in the 1950s, so I have named it Tati, in honor of Jacques Tati (whose classic film Mon Oncle captures the same era with the same ingenious and humorous use …
Read More “195x – “Tati” the Cybernetic Dog – owned by Daniel Dennett (built in France)”
(Source: Practical Electrics Sep. 1923 ed Hugo Gernsback) This electric dog follows a magnetic walking cane in any direction like an obedient servant. Simply hold the cane in front of the dog's nose, whereupon the dog starts running and will follow the cane straight ahead or to the right or left as desired. See pdf …
Read More “1923 – The Electric Dog – Hugo Gernsback * (American)”