a history of cybernetic animals and early robots
1849 – Flute-Playing Automaton by Innocenzo Manzetti. A comparison photo above showing the Flautist's size with a real person. In 1849 Innocenzo Manzetti constructed a flute-playing automaton, in the shape of a man, life-size, seated on a chair. Hidden inside the chair were levers, connecting rods and compressed air tubes, which made the automaton's lips …
Read More “1849 – Flute-Playing Automaton – Innocenzo Manzetti (Italian)”
Six-legged Walking Machine by Petternella et al. (Instituto di Automatica, Roma, Italia) Mocci, U., M. Petternella and S. Salinari (1973), "Experiments with six-legged walking machines with fixed gait" Vukobratovich M. Shagayuschie roboty i antropomorfnye mehanizmy / M. Vukobratovich. – Moscow : Mir, 1976. – 544p. M.Peternella (Rome, Institute of Automatics) with team of colleagues created the …
Read More “1969-72 – Six-Legged Walking Machine – Mocci, Petternella, Salinari (Italian)”
An entirely different approach by Spartaco Maratori(8) produced his 'Golden Horse' which, in the final analysis, is somewhat similar to Shigley's approach. Maratori based his concept on an analysis of the locomotion of the horse. He studied the way horses walk, trot, and gallop and after carefully cataloging the various leg motions, attempted to duplicate …
Read More “1960c – “Golden Horse” Walking Machine – Maratori – (Italian)”
The above image from Popular Science April, 1933. The Harford Courant Mar 6, 1933 p16 Italian Designs Mechanical Horse From Steel Tubing —- Device Looks Like Grasshopper Stepping Along Road Spezia, Italy—(AP.)—A mechanical horse, designed to substitute for the farm animal or even light tractor, has been invented by an engineer here, Signor D. G. …
Read More “1932-3 – Mechanical Horse – D. G. Alzetta (Italian)”
See video clips here and here. I don't know much about Romoletto (also called "Romollo II" by someone else on the net). He was shown at the IV RASSEGNA INTERNAZIONALE ELETTRONICA NUCLEARE E TELERADIO-CINEMATOGRAPHICA exhibition in Rome, 1957. Maybe someone could offer a transcription of the Italian voiceover in the video clips.