a history of cybernetic animals and early robots
Illustration by Léon Benett. From Wiki The Steam House (French: La maison à vapeur) is a Jules Verne novel recounting the travels of a group of British colonists in the Raj in a wheeled house pulled by a steam-powered mechanical elephant. Jules Verne uses the mechanical house as a plot device to have the reader …
Read More “1880 – “The Steam House” Steel Giant – Jules Verne (French)”
One of the first known rideable mechanical elephants, called "Mechanical El" in the video clip, This machine is actually a walking machine, but the Howdah frame is on skids close to the ground. Quite a lot of large walking machines use this stabilising and load-carrying technique. Invented by M. Marcel Survivet of Paris, France, and …
Read More “1932 – “Mechanical El” the Mechanical Elephant – M. Marcel Survivet (French)”
My research into the world of early robots and automatons occassionally unearths some interesting articles. Here's one of them. Whilst not related to my main theme, I thought I would publish it anyway. This article is amazingly prescient – imagining a world with personal listening devices, talking books etc – iPods and eBooks of the future! …
Read More “1885 – Early iPod and eBook specification – Mr. Belmer (French)”
Robot appearing at a French fairground side-show in 1935. Other than these images, I have very little information on this side-show "Robot Man". Robot appearing in an Italian film c 1950.
VIDEO CLIP There are a few wonderful period French newsreel clips showing Lalanne's Tortoise and other sculptures found here Gaumont Pathe Archives . You have to be registered (free) and logged in to see the preview. Search for "lalanne" without the quotes and look at all three clips from 1966-1970. François-Xavier Lalanne's Radio controlled tortoise (Tortue Bar Angelique). …
Read More “1966 – R/C Tortoise – François-Xavier Lalanne (French)”