a history of cybernetic animals and early robots
Thring, at Queen Mary College built a fire-fighting robot in 1962. This robot navigated its way round a "track" using signals from a gyro compass and measuring distance by wheel-rotation. It left the track when it "saw" a fire and extinguished the fire when its "finger" sensed the flame. The idea was to develop a …
Read More “1962 – Robot Fire Cart – Meredith Thring (British)”
Emily – The Robot with a One Track Mind by Bernard Dickman Popular Electronics March 1962 The strange-looking object following the white line is named "Emily." She may look like a dishpan with eyes, but this "Electro-Mechanical Inebriated Ladybug" is actually an electronic robot of the simplest type. Though equipped with only one "sense organ" …
Read More “1962 – “Emily” the White-line Follower – Bernard Dickman (American)”
The devices perform alternating and quite different mechanical works which are controlled by a person. The object of the present construction is to amplify the force of a man and perform different kinds of mechanical works which otherwise have to be performed by hand. The principal kind of works to be performed are digging, pile-driving, …
Read More “1930 – Giant Mechanical Worker – Franz Hübl (Czechoslovakia)”
An early patent describing current exoskeletons was filed in 1964 (and issued in 1967) in the United States. Without using the specific term of exoskeleton, Emery Kultsar, the inventor, describes a "system of support and traction for 'body', designed to protect workers from extreme conditions (fire, explosions, fallen wreckage …). A design feature was that …
Constantin Paul Lent 3034131 MOBILE SPACE SUIT – see pdf here. Patent number: 3034131 Filing date: Aug 7, 1956 Issue date: May 15, 1962 Although the suits key features were related to the aviator's 'needs' for long-duration flights, the invention predicted that as the air became more rarified the higher one could travel, the internal …
Read More “1956 – Powered Space Suit – Constantin Lent (American)”