1963 – Conditioned Cybernetic Machine – Cautela and Mikaelian (American)

A Machine Capable of Being Conditioned Joseph R. Cautela; Harutune Mikaelian The American Journal of Psychology, Vol. 76, No. 1. (Mar., 1963), pp. 128-134. RH2009-Its interesting to note that in the introduction is says "type of conditioned reflex machine developed by Slukin, who tells of a machine that was conditioned to respond to a whistle …

1950 – Maze-Solving Mouse – Claude Shannon (American)

The diagrammatic view of the 1950-1 Maze-solving Mouse built by Claude A. Shannon. Claude Shannon knew Edmund C. Berkeley quite well. Berkeley had two young associates working part-time with him on his early robots, by the names of Ivan and Bert Sutherland.  Ivan was soon to have Claude Shannon as his Thesis supervisor.  Berkeley was keen …

1951 – SNARC Maze Solver – Minsky / Edmonds (American)

In 1951 Marvin Minsky teamed with Dean Edmonds build the first artificial neural network that simulated a rat finding its way through a maze. They designed the first (40 neuron) neurocomputer, SNARC (Stochastic Neural Analog Reinforcement Computer), with synapses that adjusted their weights (measures of synaptic permeabilities) according to the success of performing a specified …

1950 – Maze Solver – J. J. Coupling (John Pierce) – (American)

In the pulp magazine "Astounding Science Fiction" of August, 1950, J. J. Coupling (Pseudonym) wrote an article titled "How To Build A Thinking Machine". It used a trial and error approach, using a maze as an example. There is no evidence to date that suggests it was ever realized.   The article is quite interesting in that Coupling …

1950-1 – Maze Runner – Ian P. Howard (England)

  Ian P. Howard with his Maze Runner (Photo supplied by Ian P. Howard – April 2008)  Note the novel use of hexagonal tiles to give the branched track. Prof. Dr. Ian P. Howard Distinguished Research Professor of Psychology and Biology Founder of the Centre for Vision Research York University Canada Biography (by Prof. Dr. …