a history of cybernetic animals and early robots
In 1960, the indefatigable Gernsback came out with another lunar rover design. He called it the “Homobile.” It had a pressurized cabin mounted on tracks and powered by electricity from fuel cells, with a leg-powered generator as an alternate source of energy. The cabin also had a pair of manipulator arms. Source:Originally from “1961 Forecast”, …
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↵ 1948 GE Master-Slave Manipulator – John Payne Patent number: 2476249 (see here) Filing date: Nov 24, 1948 Issue date: Jul 1949 MECHANIX ILLUSTRATED, JUNE 1948 Mechanical Hands with Remote Control The village blacksmith of Longfellow may have had "muscles like iron bands," but scientist John Payne of General Electric has done him one better; …
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Five-ton robot on wheels sticks out it arm to turn a "hot" valve in Hanford plutonium plant. One-Armed Robot Tackles Hot Jobs A ONE-ARMED robot is turning the valves in the giant plant at Hanford, Wash., that makes A-bomb plutonium out of uranium. The new robot looks like a railroad handcar with a small Navy …
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CRANE by SEWARD S. BABBITT. See full patent details here. Patent number: 484870 Filing date: Jun 13, 1892 Issue date: Oct 25, 1892 Seward Babbitt's crane first mentioned around 1980 in terms of robotics history and timelines in textbooks, but in terms of enabling technology only, rather than being identified as a robot in itself. That distinction …
Another early patent that looks surprisingly modern was granted for a robot called 'Improvements in or relating to Positioning or Manipulating Apparatus' invented by Cyril W. Kenward. The British patent was filed March 29, 1954 and was published August 21, 1957, and preceded George Devol's first robot patent by several months. It is an interesting …