Early Robots Looked Way Cooler Than Modern Robots
Writing by Evan Ackerman on Tuesday, 9 of March , 2010 at 1:20 am
On yesterday’s retro robot article, David Buckley provided a link to Cybernetic Zoo, a website with a whole bunch of incredible pictures and information on early robots from all over the world. You can easily spend a few hours (or days?) paging through all of the bots, but here are some of my favorites:
Arok, an American robot designed by Ben Skora in 1975. Arok can lift 125 pounds and move at 3 mph. It’s radio controlled, and that freakish head is a Frankenstein mask.
More, after the jump.
Expo-70, from Russia (1969). It can speak from a recording, move its arms, walk, do arithmetic (on a screen), and probably not play hockey.
Elektron, another Russian robot from 1967. Seven feet tall and four feet across the shoulders. Able to understand 112 commands, waltz and play chess.
Cosmos the Martian, a French robot from 1958.
Tinker is from the UK, invented by Dennis Weston in 1970. Tinker can be teleoperated from up to two miles away. There’s a video here, Tinker shows up at about 50 seconds in.
[ Cybernetic Zoo ]
Comments (8)
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Comment by whiskers
Made Tuesday, 9 of March , 2010 at 6:49 am
I have a problem with ‘teleoperated’ robots. Technically, a ‘robot’ must exhibit some sort of autonomy/intelligence, otherwise it’s just a remote-controlled machine. From wikipedia: “There is conflict about whether the term can be applied to remotely operated devices, as the most common usage implies, or solely to devices which are controlled by their software without human intervention.”
But getting back on topic – most of these are freakish, large, and sci-fi like.
Comment by Zool
Made Tuesday, 9 of March , 2010 at 8:40 am
Oh wow, I’ve wondered about the Tinker robot ever since I was a kid!. I’ve got this book! i.e. (from your link)
http://cyberneticzoo.com/wp-content/uploads/TinkerJ5P1-x640.jpg
The Tinker robot isn’t discussed in the book. Its taken about 30 years to get this answer! Until now I didn’t even know it was called Tinker.
(It was my first robot book and I’ve still got it :) … that has brought back so many memories :)
Comment by Derbystor
Made Saturday, 13 of March , 2010 at 8:11 am
Terminator the housewife! =)
Comment by paul weston
Made Tuesday, 25 of May , 2010 at 10:48 am
hi there, dennis weston was my grandad, he has now sadly passed away, he invented many things but the robot was far more advanced than anything of its time. its a shame it was dismantled a long time ago. it shouldve been kept for historical purposes & kept in a museum..
Comment by Evan Ackerman
Made Tuesday, 25 of May , 2010 at 11:26 am
Oh, that is a shame. You’re right, though, it was a pretty amazing piece of technology for 1970… I don’t suppose that was you in the stroller? :)
Comment by Awilda Fulenwider
Made Friday, 18 of November , 2011 at 11:51 pm
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Made Sunday, 20 of November , 2011 at 3:35 pm
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Made Wednesday, 23 of November , 2011 at 5:37 am
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