Each press article of the day offered a different snippet about Captain William H. Richards’ Eric Robot. I will summerise them here. Eric Robot was constructed at Gomshall, near Dorking [see note below], by Captain William H. Richards, a veteran of the First World War, and a noted journalist and A. H. Reffell, a motor engineer.  What caused its invention was the …
The above model from one of my favourite automata artists, Kandamu. For those of you expecting a simple, easy post for Prof. George Moore's "Steam Man", well, it isn't going to be one. The press "announcement" date for the Steam Man is 1893, but Prof. G. Moore had spent two years setting it up [see article …
Hugo Gernsback contributed significantly to the advancement of new technologies, such as Automaton and Robots. He was responsible for some of the greatest technical magazines published, and published many articles himself. In this case, he predicts and describes a radio controlled police automaton in his magazine "Science & Invention" May 1924. This automation is referred to …
Captain Alban J. Roberts – mobile, light operated automaton 1920’s (responsible for robots attributed to Jasper Maskelyne (music halls). I have also seen this automaton incorrectly attributed to Capt W. H. Richards -Eric (in error due to similar names) . We also see the name Alan Roberts pop up as well. See video clip here. Note that clip …
I have not been able to locate an image of Rowe's Steam Man, or should I say Steam Men as he made at least two of them. There is a possibility that Rowe's second Steam Man was re-incarnated as Prof. Moore's Steam Man in 1891. More on that in a later post. At one time I had articles included …