Each press article of the day offered a different snippet about Captain William H. Richards’ Eric Robot. I will summerise them here. Eric Robot was constructed at Gomshall, near Dorking [see note below], by Captain William H. Richards, a veteran of the First World War, and a noted journalist and A. H. Reffell, a motor engineer.  What caused its invention was the …
Read More “1928 – Eric Robot – Capt. Richards & A.H. Reffell (English)”
Although built as an art piece, Nicolas Schöffer's CYSP-1 (a name composed of the first letters of CYbernetics and SPatiodynamic) is significant both in terms of the introduction of a new art form, as well as being a serious attempt as an autonomous "being". Schöffer was the first artist to be inspired by the new science …
Read More “1956 – CYSP-1 – Nicolas Schöffer – (Hungarian/French)”
This copy of a letter from 1957 describes the first "Mechanical Animal" built by the Sutherland brothers, Bert and Ivan. Here’s a transcript of the letter sent from Ivan E. Sutherland to Grey Walter in 1957: Nov 10. [IES to WGW] “Dear Sir: Early last month I had sent to you two copies of …
Read More “1956 – Mechanical Animal – William Robert “Bert” Sutherland / Ivan E. Sutherland – (American)”
Snail Robot by Versal Cross High-School Robots Learn the “Three Rs” By Jim Collison – Popular Mechanics July 1955 There is also a little robot. Versal Cross, 17, the senior student who built it calls it a Doodlebug or Snail. The Snail follows a beam of light and, having lost it, searches until it finds …
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1953 – Timothy Turtle by Jack H. Kubanoff, Radio and Television News, April 1953 The text to the article is below. For the moment, the pages themselves can be found here. The article itself has a good description of its functionality. Some of its functionality reminds me of Berkeley's Squee i.e. flashing lamps controlling the …
Read More “1953 – Timothy Turtle – Jack Kubanoff (American)”