a history of cybernetic animals and early robots
The 1931 version of Harry L. Bowdoin's Submarine Armor. When inside his suit Mr. Bowdoin through the manipulation of gears and levers, can move his arms, legs and body freely to almost any angle and with clawed hands, so constructed as to record sensitivity, he can pick up even very small objects. 1928 – Submarine …
Read More “1914-28 – Submarine Armor – Harry L. Bowdoin (American)”
1910 – Submarine Armor by Chester E. Macduffee. In Popular Mechanics Magazine, November 1914 it was reported that the new armored diving suit went down to a depth of 212 ft. in Long Island Sound, establishing a new American record for deep-sea diving. Above images: Scientific American, 22 August, 1914. The left hand is an …
Read More “1910 – Submarine Armor – Chester E. Macduffee (American)”
In 1906 the Swedish weekly Hvar 8 Dag published this photograph of an interesting diving apparatus, designed by the Italian inventor Giuseppe Restucci. This is how the weekly described the apparatus: "The arms are artificial, and are operated from the inside by the diver. There is an electric lantern on the helmet.Very heavy objects can be …
Read More “1904-6 – Cuirassed Diving Suit – Guiseppe Restucci (Italian)”
GARCO represents one of the first attempts at an all-purpose functional humanoid robot. Although he had most of his success as an entertainment robot, the inventor, Harvey Chapman Jr., believed he had other uses, such as "taking on a variety of tasks that would prove too dangerous for humans. Mixing the ingredients for TNT is one. …
I found a single reference to a French Electric Dog that "will jump out of its kennel when a whistle sounds". The rest of the brief article talks about Miessner's "Electric Dog". Ingenious Mechanism – Le Grand Reporter, 30 Dec 1921 p2 The electric dog which will follow a lantern in the dark—a mechanical curio constructed by …
Read More “1915 – Electric Dog – Christian Berger – (Hungarian / American)”