a history of cybernetic animals and early robots
"Working model of a table-clearing robot [Mk 2] designed to test the present-day feasibility of principles required for the house-working robot and other machines. The model has one 'sight' and two 'touch' sensors which enable the mechanical arm to pick up objects and place them on the rotating, clearing tray on top of the machine." …
Read More “1962 – Table-Clearing Robot – Meredith Thring (Australian/British)”
Stair-climbing wheels Wheels that shoot out spring-loaded "legs" enable an experimental British vehicle to climb stairs and other obstacles. The vehicle, powered by batteries, is the "miniclimber," developed by Prof. Meredith Thring and Brian Shayer at Queen Mary College, London University. The small machine travels at about three mph. On level ground, the weight of …
Read More “1964c – Walking Wheel Stair Climbers – Meredith Thring (British)”
Source: How to Invent: M.W. Thring and E.R. Laithwaite, 1977. In the first stage of an attempt to make a powered artificial leg I analysed the essential mechanism of human walking and produced the device shown above which walks on two legs by bending the knee as the thigh begins to swing forward and straightening …
Read More “1963c – Two-Legged Walker – Meredith Thring (Australian/British)”
USEFUL ROBOTS US Patent number: 3522859 – see here for full patent details. Filing date: Jan 22, 1968 Issue date: Aug 4, 1970 First filed in Great Britain 26 Jan 1967 Model of Centipede. The 'centipede' In the first model (Fig. 6.15(a) above) of the centipede the sprung legs were operated with two chains, one …
Read More “1967 – Centipede Walking Machine – Meredith Thring (Australian-English)”
Thring, at Queen Mary College built a fire-fighting robot in 1962. This robot navigated its way round a "track" using signals from a gyro compass and measuring distance by wheel-rotation. It left the track when it "saw" a fire and extinguished the fire when its "finger" sensed the flame. The idea was to develop a …
Read More “1962 – Robot Fire Cart – Meredith Thring (British)”