1953 – G.E. “O-Man” Manipulator – (American)

1953 – G.E. "O-Man" Manipulator Source: Popular Science, March 1964. G.E,'s Handyman is seen here mounted under an O-Man. Source: Meccano Magazine, February 1963. Perhaps the world's most powerful mechanical arm was developed several years ago in America. Named "O-Man" (for Overhead-MANipulator), this 15-ton remote-controlled giant makes possible the assembly or dismantling of large machinery …

1954 – Teledoctor – Hugo Gernsback (American)

  Gernsback, Hugo "The Teledoctor", Television, Feb. 1955 pp. 22-24. Hugo Gernsback's 1954 solution to the doctor shortage was the ultimate in bringing the patient to the overworked physician: an updated version of the 1924 Radio Doctor called the "Teledoctor." Delivered to your front door on a rental plan, this melding of television and diagnostics …

1954 – ElectroMechanical Manipulator – Ray Goertz (American)

1954 – ElectroMechanical Manipulator by Ray Goertz (pictured) An early experimental model – this one also showing the head-mount camera controller Brussels Exhibition – US Pavillion demo. Model E4a Slave unit. Diagram by Goertz showing the various control modes of Master-Slave arms. Patent information: Publication number    US2846084 A Publication date    Aug 5, 1958 Filing date   …

1989 – MOSAP (MObile Surface APplication traverse vehicle) – NASA (American)

American manned lunar rover. Study 1989. MOSAP (MObile Surface APplication traverse vehicle) was the pressurized lunar rover that was the key to NASA’s 90-Day-Study moon base concept of 1989. It would greatly extend the range of manned lunar expeditions. MOSAP had a maximum range of 3000 km with a nominal speed of 10 kph. MOSAP …

1940 onwards – Miscellaneous Lunar and Off World Rovers with Manipulators Concepts

Most of the unmanned Lunar and Martian rover concepts were designed to use manipulator arms for sampling rocks and surface material. John Schoenherr’s (1935-2010) fabulous Moon Crawler painting pictured above, which he painted in 1961 for the cover of Analog magazine that year. Source: Project SWORD     Project S.W.O.R.D. (SPACE WORLD ORGANISATION FOR RESEARCH …