a history of cybernetic animals and early robots
Above and below: "Robert" as he is today. These images are from the Scienceworks Science Museum's webpage (Photographed by Benjamin Healley). Reproduced courtesy of Museum Victoria. This pdf gives some information as well. Robbie the Robot can currently be viewed as part of the Scienceworks collection store tour – just ask your tour guide to point him …
Read More “1956 – “Robert the Robot” – Bernard Smith (Australian)”
The first version of "George' the robot built when Tony Sale was seventeen years old in 1949. Compare with image below shows that this negative/print masked out the brand of vacuum cleaner. The later version of "George" displayed bigger feet, broader shoulders, and with ears! I contacted Tony Sale in 2009 and hopefully soon I will …
Read More “1949-50 – George the Robot – Tony Sale (British)”
A Penny Popular item from 1916 , this fictional story about the adventures of tthree comrades Jack, Sam, and Pete. Pete has a Steam Man. He appears with his own axe in both cover illustrations. Maybe he chops his own firewood?
Galveston Daily News 13 Dec 1896 (pdf here) In the Deep of Time by George Parsons Lathrop in collaboration with Thomas A. Edison For The News-Copyrighted. This story is the result of conversations with Thomas A. Edison. the substance of which he afterwards put into the form of notes written for my use. His suggestions …
Read More “1896 – Lathrop & Edison Walking Machine – (American)”
La Porte City Review 16 Nov 1882 p2 (see pdf here) Fiction originally from Harper's Magazine How Aluminium Won The Grand Prix by William B. Greene "'This is my creation," continued Joe, stroking the animal's mane. "It is I who have breathed life into his nostrils." "Is he mad?" I thought to myself. "What!" I …
Read More “1882 – “Aluminium” the Compressed-Air Horse – Greene (American)”