"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…
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…
HILARE Robotics Age Spring 1980
WILHELMINA Mechanical Elephant
POSITIVE POLES - Lancashire Life Feb 1979
(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…
The Electric Dog - Practical Electrics Sep 1923
Maurice Radburn Letters - Larry Gavette 1979-81
Frank Stuart Patent Applications 1949-50
Hobby Electronics magazine (November 1979-January 1980) describes an autonomous robot. HEBOT is a free roaming robot which can negotiate obstacles, steer towards a light (infra red) and follow a wire (A.C. current) around your home. HEBOT emits a squeak when it detects light or following a collision. Control is transferred…
(Source: Mechanix Illustrated June 1952) Mechanical Ebenezer Children in Des Moines, Iowa are enchanted by a six-foot mechanical man who walks, talks, and smokes cigarettes. Jack Brownson, who spent four years making him, guides Ebenezer by a cable, projects his voice through loadspeaker. Construction is almost entirely auto parts.
Automata A modern piece of elephant automata. Ducamps automata made for Barnum. The above automaton, by Decamps, shows further articulation in the legs, offering a 'knee' action. Martinet elephant clock c1790. See youtube video clip here and here . Walkindg model elephant made from Meccano.
Eric Smith - Mechanical Elephant - Morecambe 2011
Ice show with elephant. Popular Mechanics March 1947 "Then there's Dumbo, the two-man elephant that shambles across the ice on the skates of Ole Ericsen and Jim Hutchinson. Ericsen wears football shoulder pads to support the head and trunk and guides himself by peering through small windows in the cloth…
Ex-Tom Norgate's Mechanical Elephant supplied by Frank Stuart. The ex-Norgate elephant ("Ellie") is the only known baby elephant to have a plate on it saying "Supplied by Frank Stuart". Above 3 images courtesy Derek Tucker. The full history of Frank Stuart and his baby mechanical elephants (stiff legged, not the later walking elephants)…