picked up a book a couple of days ago called robots robots robots put out in 1978. that’s the same year the now infamous star wars holiday special came out so it’s safe to say it was smack dab in a resurgence of popular culture’s interest in robotics. c3po and r2 did wonders in that regard i suspect. this 70’s date of publication for robots robots robots also just happens to make the title a bit silly. truth be told 85 percent of the book is taken up with automata rather than robots proper. there just weren’t as many robots on the loose 30 years ago. the word “robot” didn’t even exist until 1920. it’s not a bad book, all things considered, and i thought i’d share some of the “robots” contained within… see below
i don’t intend on saying much about automata in general since i’ve already done that (see my earlier post historical androids.) but i’ll include the descriptions for each image as they appear in the book. click all thumbs for full image.
“tippoo sahib’s six-foot tiger, crouched upon a british soldier. when the tiger’s concealed organ was played, the soldier lifted his hand in helplessness.” (some things never change eh?)
“this elegantly clad musical dummy (c. 1885) played the mandolin but was quite speechless when it came to niceties of polite conversation.” (creepy huh?)
“the ‘roboter’ was the sensation of london’s radio exhibition in 1932.” (another shot of “roboter” can be seen here.)
“‘electro’ the robot of the new york world’s fair (1939-1940), accompanied by his faithful robot hound, ‘sparko.’ elektro’s twenty six motions included the ability to smoke cigarettes, count up to yen on his fingers, and recite a speech. he was seven feet tall and made of an aluminum over steel frame. ‘sparko’ begged, barked, and wagged his tail. no man (or robot) ever had a more faithful friend.” (haha! he smoked cigarettes. that rules. for a bit more on elektro see here and here.)
“rickshaw robot. in the year 1868, citizens of newark, n.j., were given an interesting glimpse of a combination of chinese servility and american ingenuity when this mechanical rickshaw man built by zadoc p. dederick took to the streets.” (two comments, 1: chinese servility and american ingenuity? hmmm… 2: zadoc was the inventor’s name?! what the hell was the robot’s name? joe?)
“this steam robot was built in canada in 1893. propelled by a half-horsepower motor which drove jointed rods to move the robot’s legs, it could walk in circles at the end of a horizontal rod. protruding from its mouth was an exhaust pipe from its gasoline fired boiler.”
“robot pilot, c.1925. professor j. popjie settles into the cockpit of his airplane while a mechanical man of his own invention prepares to operate the controls in a flight over brighton, england.” (is it just me or is that king tut?)
“from the illustrated london news, september 1928. an aluminum ‘man’ that rises, bows, and makes a speech.” evidently this was the first british robot whose first duty was to open the model engineering exhibition at royal horticultural hall.
“silent sam: a traffic control automaton. since the 1960’s in the u.s., live flagmen have been increasingly replaced by such robots as silent sam - a battery operated, six-foot-high automaton who can tirelessly control traffic twenty-four hours a day in all weather conditions.” (live flagmen have been increasingly replaced by such robots? news to me. wonder what went so wrong that all them silent sams hit the scrap heap? a crazed murder spree? suffering in silence is bad for you sam!)
“robot built by swiss engineer paul waltensperger. it is said to be capable of doing ‘everything except make love.’” (i can hear this robots screams… “couldn’t you have just spent the extra month to finish the job paul?! christ! everything but make love… just kill me will you please?!” i assume this bot was made in the 70’s since no date is given.)
“‘arok,’ a robot invented by sam skora of palos hill, ill., looks less like a garbage can than dr. satan’s gort. one of his useful functions is, in fact, emptying garbage cans. he is also programmed to act as a butler, waiter, dog walker, and carpet vacuumer. ‘arok’ weighs 275 pounds and is 6 feet 8 inches tall. his master built him from auto parts and home appliances.”
“‘klatu’ is a 180 pound, 5-foot-2 inch robot created by anthony reichelt of hackensack, n.j. its inventor claims that it can do ‘everything from cleaning house and dog walking to making drinks and small talk.’ its name we’re told was bestowed on it as a result of an error in its voice-recognition system. until the error was rectified, the robot repeated “klatu” - the phonetic reversal of “you talk” which were the first words addressed to it.”
now these last two were not actually in the book robots robots robots but i came across them today and figured i’d include them as well.
not sure exactly what the full history of the “sico” robot is. i know they were/are made by international robotics, inc. and i know that they not only hang with sick folks but that they hung out with all the washed-up celebrities from rocky 4 as well. (any robot that has done photo ops with james brown is worthy of my list.)
odex 1, from odetics, Inc. walks on six legs, and weighs in at 370 lbs. capable of reconfiguring its shape to be tall and slender or short and squat, and able to walk in either configuration or anywhere between the two. Each able to lift 400 lbs, the “legs” are versatile enough to be used as manipulators as well. odex is capable of lifting over 2,100 lbs vertically, or carrying over 900 lbs. at normal walking speed. (i include odex simply because he looks cool as hell. for some more images and a link to an article about odex see here.)
lastly, some related linkage:
r.u.r. rossums universal robots by karel capek,1920. (the first usage of the word robot.)
the world’s greatest android projects.
a history of robots, cyborgs, and androids.
humanoid robotics from the idaho national laboratory.
history of robots from the university of birmingham.
the humanoid robotics institute (check out the short vid.)
robotic orphans. (many consumer bots of yesteryear. see also androbot)
lee’s robo gallery (some more consumer bots.)
so that’s it. hope you enjoyed.