a history of cybernetic animals and early robots
The "Little Dragon Carpet Sweeper" from the 1968 movie "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang". The movie is set in 1910. The original contrivance is on show at Ripley's Believe It or Not! museum. Rowland Emett's 1968 sketch of the Little Dragon Carpet Sweeper. The "Little Dragon Carpet Cleaner" from 1968 This is a Machine no home …
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Computopia, a contraction of the words computer and Utopia, is a Japanese concept from the late 60s. This snippet of a robotic floor cleaner is from a set of great illustrations from the Japanese magazine Shonen Sunday who illustrated an article on the topic. Source and full set of illustrations here. See other early remote-controlled …
Read More “1969 – Robot Vacuum Cleaner Concept from Computopia – (Japanese)”
US Patent Information: Publication number US4306329 A Publication date Dec 22, 1981 Filing date Oct 5, 1979 Inventors Gunpei Yokoi Original Assignee Nintendo Co., Ltd. Self-propelled cleaning device with wireless remote-control Abstract A self-propelled cleaning device with wireless remote control includes a body, a driving device on the body for moving the same rotatably about …
Read More “1978 – “Chiritori” Remote Control Vacuum Cleaner by Nintendo – Gunpei Yokoi (Japanese)”
Comro I with Vacuum Cleaner accessory. Above: ComRo I with the robot pet, Wires. (Text: Circa 1981) A bit more utilitarian than robots serving drinks or selling products is Jerome Hamlin's ComRo I. This robot made its debut in the latest Neiman-Marcus Christmas catalog. It operates two ways, by hand-held remote control, or by a …
Dustbot ® 5409; SO-G ® was the first purpose-built robot to feature a built-in vacuum cleaner. Dustbot's large eyes flash red and his arms move creating a sweeping action for the broom, while his vacuum functions. He really vacuumes, he picks up small pieces of paper, dust, crumbs, etc. He senses any edge and turns …