a history of cybernetic animals and early robots
1973 – "Robbie" the Pulpit Robot by the Rev. Ron Mackenzie ROBOT IN THE PULPIT Sunday school with a difference: Helping the Reverend Ron Mackenzie is Robbie, the robot he designed and built himself 8 years ago. Robbie was built to help attract children to church and he has proved to be an enormous success. …
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1940 – "Roll-Oh" the Domestic Robot "Roll-Oh" can grasp objects, has a retractable knife in its hand, as well as a plant watering system, a can opener, and a gas-flame lighter. Its foot is also a vacuum-cleaner. Leave It to Roll-Oh (1940) Tongue-in-cheek film showing a domestic robot freeing housewives of their chores (and intimating …
Read More “1940 – “Roll-Oh” the Domestic Robot – (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 …
Read More “1928 – “The Psychophonic Nurse” (Fiction) – David H. Keller (American)”
"Working model of a table-clearing robot [Mk 2] designed to test the present-day feasibility of principles required for the house-working robot and other machines. The model has one 'sight' and two 'touch' sensors which enable the mechanical arm to pick up objects and place them on the rotating, clearing tray on top of the machine." …
Read More “1962 – Table-Clearing Robot – Meredith Thring (Australian/British)”
In the film 'The Glass Bottom Boat', the inventor Bruce Templeton (Rod Taylor) tries to impress Jennifer (Doris Day) with his "Automatic floor-cleaning" robot after dropping banana peel on the kitchen floor. It only manages to pop out of its door to arc towards the dropped banana peel and through reversed footage, arc right back …
Read More “1966 – “The Bug” Floor Cleaning Robot from ‘The Glass Bottom Boat’ – (American)”