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Elektro, the Oldest U.S. Robot
Roland Piquepaille writes "If you happen to be around Ohio this coming fall, don't miss an exhibit at the Mansfield Memorial Museum featuring the 7-foot-tall Elektro, the oldest robot in the U.S.. "Elektro is the only survivor of a group of eight robots created by Westinghouse in Mansfield between 1931 to 1940 for several hundred thousand dollars each," according to the article from the Plain Dealer, Cleveland. Back in 1939, Elektro was able to walk, talk, raise and lower his arms, turn his head and move his mouth as he spoke. It used a 78-rpm record player to simulate conversation and had a vocabulary of more than 700 words. It even appeared in a long-time forgotten movie, "Sex Kittens Go to College," also known as "The Beauty and the Robot." Primidi.com has an overview containing other details, references and pictures."
I don't know what your definition of summary is, but as far as most readers are concerned, Roland doesn't summarize. Anyone with decent writing skills will tell you that developing an abstract or summary is far more than pasting in the first or last paragraph of an article. Roland adds very little value to the articles he is citing.
I think the main gripe is that Roland's links do not go to primary source material. How many Slashdot articles have you read that takes you first to a journal like Roland's? They generally take you directly to the source.
It's time for Slashdot's editors to raise the bar on story quality. I know too many engineers who've stopped reading Slashdot because the quality of the articles and reviewers has been declining.
It's maybe a problem but not mine, so fuck off you idiot