1954 – ElectroMechanical Manipulator – Ray Goertz (American)

1954 – ElectroMechanical Manipulator by Ray Goertz (pictured) An early experimental model – this one also showing the head-mount camera controller Brussels Exhibition – US Pavillion demo. Model E4a Slave unit. Diagram by Goertz showing the various control modes of Master-Slave arms. Patent information: Publication number    US2846084 A Publication date    Aug 5, 1958 Filing date   …

1928 – “The Psychophonic Nurse” (Fiction) – David H. Keller (American)

“The Psychophonic Nurse”, by David H. Keller. Published in Amazing Stories, 1928 Illustration by Frank R. Paul. The Psychophonic Nurse A child-care robot – a nanny bot. “I had her made by the Eastinghouse Electric Company. You see, she’s just a machine nurse, but as she doesn’t eat anything, is on duty twenty-four hours a …

1965 – G.E. Lifting Boom – Edwin E Ziegler / Ralph Mosher (American)

Source: Popular Mechanics, Aug 1965. Ralph Mosher bending over the Pedipulator. Possibly Ed Ziegler in the background. G.E. Lifting Boom Publication number US3333716 A Publication date Aug 1, 1967 Filing date Dec 28, 1965 Inventor: Edwin E Ziegler Original Assignee Gen Electric ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A material handling device having an extensible lifting boom …

1989 – MOSAP (MObile Surface APplication traverse vehicle) – NASA (American)

American manned lunar rover. Study 1989. MOSAP (MObile Surface APplication traverse vehicle) was the pressurized lunar rover that was the key to NASA’s 90-Day-Study moon base concept of 1989. It would greatly extend the range of manned lunar expeditions. MOSAP had a maximum range of 3000 km with a nominal speed of 10 kph. MOSAP …

1940 onwards – Miscellaneous Lunar and Off World Rovers with Manipulators Concepts

Most of the unmanned Lunar and Martian rover concepts were designed to use manipulator arms for sampling rocks and surface material. John Schoenherr’s (1935-2010) fabulous Moon Crawler painting pictured above, which he painted in 1961 for the cover of Analog magazine that year. Source: Project SWORD     Project S.W.O.R.D. (SPACE WORLD ORGANISATION FOR RESEARCH …