Robots Of The Victorian Era

prostoalex writes "Somehow the robotic inventions of the 19th century are terribly under-appreciated. But when you read about a new Aibo or running humanoid robot, don't forget the mechanical marvels of the 19th century. The Steam Man, unveiled in literature in 1865, would provide the willing consumer with a truly horseless carriage. The Electric Man(1885) was a working prototype before 19th century was over, too. The Boilerplate was a prototype soldier built in 1893 to resolve potential conflicts between the nations, and, according to promotional photographs, was usually surrounded by young females. And, finally, the Automatic Man, unveiled in 1900, a 7'5'' robot capable of many things, but mainly pulling carriages." (Don't forget the less-fictional, more-fraudulent Ajeeb and The Turk.)

Comments

Robotic Ducks

[G4from128k]

This robotic duck dates back to the 1700s.

home robots...

[ptorrone]

i'd say in the last year more and more robots are living in my home. here they are...enjoy, bitch about, tease...

qrio, sony's new human robot. the latest ones can jog. this one i don't have of course, but i've been around them for work projects.

aibo photos, of the aibo and what it takes pictures of and send via wifi to my email account. this is the new aibo ers-7

aibo training, new bone. his name is wuffie, after a cool concept in cory doctorow's latest book, quicktime.

my home made robot, made with a tablet pc and..

robot dance video, with the robots in my home. roombas, aibos, home made robots, etc..quicktime

my home made robot, made with a tablet pc and..

aibo (old gen) on it's scooter..

video of my roomba running around, winmedia and i have a segwway ht, which might be a robotic platform for some experiments.

cheers,
pt

Uhm.... Can you say Hoax?

[VonGuard]

Doesn't anyone realize that the Boilerplate stuff is complete fabrication?

HAH! A truism that's also a pun! Ok, ok, I suppose they really couldn't fabricate the parts for him back then...

But it's still a load of horse pucky.

Re:Uhm.... Can you say Hoax?

[Thanatopsis]

Not only is Boilerplate a hoax, every single robot story in this post is a well known hoax. Steam Man, Electric Man and Automatic are hoaxes designed to look like a period piece.
for more information
Boilerplate Hoax

Do it right....

[djupedal]

...read 'The Difference Engine'...

"A collaborative novel from the premier cyberpunk authors, William Gibson and Bruce Sterling. Part detective story, part historical thriller, The Difference Engine takes us not forward but back, to an imagined 1885: the Industrial Revolution is in full and inexorable swing, powered by steam-driven, cybernetic engines. Charles Babbage perfects his Analytical Engine, and the computer age arrives a century ahead of its time."

Anyone pass the third grade?

[C10H14N2]

A primary-school level of research would yield the intuitively obvious result that these are excerpts of the fictional writing of Edward Ellis and Luis Sernaren.

This list may prove useful:

http://www.sciencedaily.com/encyclopedia/List_of _f ictional_robots
duplicated here:
http://en2.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robots_in_lit erature

And in case you think that Maureen Stapleton is really an android "Electric Grandmother," you can look here to reassure yourself that in fact she is a human actor, not a robot:

http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0083876/

Karakuri Ningyo

[News for nerds]

Japan also has such human-shaped mechanical automata called "Karakuri Ningyo" since 12th century.

karakuri.info
Karakuri Frontier