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Simply - Because We Can build robots
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    1893 - George Moore's Steam Man
    Steam man invented by George Moore in 1893,
    - see the main Moore Steam Man page.

    1932 - Mechanical Radio Man
    An engineer in Berlin creates a Mechanical Radio Man.
    [Modern Mechanix Illustrated, November 1932.]

    1948 - Erector Giant Robot
    This robot uses spurs to stop the feet sliding backwards the same as the 1929 Meccano Man.

    1950 - George Radio controlled robot by Pilot Officer Sale, RAF (Royal Air Force) Saffron Waldren, Essex.
    frames from Pathe Film 1283.11 | ROBOT (1:15:00:00 - 1:17:13:00) 18/12/1950 http://www.britishpathe.com/product_display.php?searchword=robot [Jul07]
    In 2010 George was found to be in his inventors garage and is now on display in Bletchley Park.[cyberneticzoo]
    in 2010
    1953 - Horace by Ivan Robinson a garage owner in Stratford St Mary, Suffolk, England.
    Horace the Robot stands on the forecourt and is connected to an electric cable which makes him salute passing vehicles. He hears them coming through a special receiver.
    frames from Pathe Film 1337.25 | GARAGE ROBOT (1:41:02:00 - 1:42:03:00) 14/09/1953 http://www.britishpathe.com/product_display.php?searchword=robot [Jul07]

    1955 - Mr Robotham a radio controlled robot by Peter Holland.
    frames from Pathe Film
    203.13 | SCHOOLBOYS EXHIBITION (beware - other Colour Pics share this title) (1:33:14:00 - 1:34:17:00) 13/02/1956 http://www.britishpathe.com/record.php?id=1368 [Mar11]
    The Schoolboys' Exhibition at The Imperial War Museum, London. See also Mr Robotham

    1961 - MM7 and MM9 by Claus Scholz, Popular Mechanics, July 1961
    {Popular Mechanics incorrectly calls both of these MM47, see http://cyberneticzoo.com/?p=2159 [13 Feb 2010]}
    MM7 has the black mask and MM9 has the head light.
    There are many more photos on Reuben's cyberneticzoo site including ones we took in 2009. MM7 is a real mess and from inspection it is obvious that it was built as a real mess and I would be suprised if it ever worked properly at all. The mechanics are a hodge podge of bits glued here, welded there and even the knee actuating wires are left dangling even though the knee joints have been fastened up because they couldn't ever have worked. The knee joints, pulleys, and cables would never have been strong enough for the forces involved. It is no wonder its inventor later concentrated on artificial thought processes since electro-mechanical systems were obviously beyond him. However, he did attempt to build his dream.

    Contributed by Reuben Hoggett.

    1962 - robot arm by Raymond Auger

    Contributed by Reuben Hoggett.

    1965 - Kunibert - by L Hinderbrand - Radio Control Models & Electronics, May 1965


    1971 - MERV - by Peter Vogel - Electronics Today, April 1971
    Contributed by Reuben Hoggett.

    Links
  • ROBOT ANTENATI a list of robot construction articles from 1961 to 1974 in Italian magazines with links to PDFs of the magazines.
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