🤖 Robots
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07-Sep-2021
New Bot Day! Elektro is my first bot from the 1930s. “Elektro the Moto-Man” was 7 feet tall and could walk and talk, differentiate colors, and “smoke” cigarettes. He appeared at the 1939 World’s Fair in New York. This is a giveaway pin from the fair, to my knowledge no actual toys were made of this bot. Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing Company was by then a 50 year old industrial concern. They were there showing off several technologies, among them the new tech of television. Surprisingly, Elektro was not their first promotional robot: that was 1928’s “Herbert Televox.” “Robot as sales and public relations tool” is yet another use of the idea of “robot.” It seems to me we put a face and body on technologies to make them more palatable, more understandable, less threatening. -
01-Sep-2021
New Bot Day! Vegan Bot is a beautiful product of @chompton_ stoodios and I’m pleased as punch to have this artful robotic vinyl creation join my collection! -
20-Aug-2021
New Bot Day! Perserverence is a semiautonomous robotic rover! Launched by NASA July 2020; landed February 2021. “Percy” is a scientific explorer, testing the environment of Mars, seeking evidence of former microbial life, collecting rock and soil samples, and testing oxygen production to prep for potential future crewed missions. Go Percy Go! -
16-Aug-2021
New Bot Day! Hello Bertie is a customized “World War Robot” bot designed by illustrator/creator Ashley Wood. It’s beautifully customized by Jason Chalker @manlyart ! This was a lovely surprise gift from @hellokellykuhl! -
10-Aug-2021
New Bot Day! ASIMO (Advanced Step in Innovative Mobility) is a real robot built by Honda in 2000. Honda continued building ASIMO bots (the name inspired by Isaac Asimov) until 2018. My robot collection is fanciful, but robotics is real. Factual and fictional robots inspire me to ponder our past and our possible futures. -
02-Aug-2021
New Bot Day! Are droids free? D-O’s story in 2019’s Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker forces us to ponder. D-O escapes service with a murderous Sith and joins the Rebel Alliance and is happy! It’s a better lot in life, but is the little robot free? What is freedom? Interrogating the ethics of a story is worthwhile. -
26-Jul-2021
New Bot Day! Chromedome was built by Shredder to defeat the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. From 1987 tv, he’s a powerful robot ninja and a boss to human ninjas. He was pulverized by the Turtles but his remains were not recovered. Will he return? I don’t know, but I’m gonna enjoy this cafe au lait in the meantime. -
23-Jul-2021
New Bot Day! Happy Mini Tin Robot by Schylling was presented to me last week by my nephews and he fits in great with my bot collection. Here he’s hanging out with toy animal molds I scavenged from the sand at the beach! -
29-Jun-2021
New Bot Day! SpotBot™ comes from around 1988 and was made by Tomy, Japanese maker of many cool toys. He has a battery, and when turned on spins around and “barks” cutely. A robot to brighten your desk! -
14-Jun-2021
New Bot Day! Marvin (the paranoid android) first appeared on radio in 1978 in the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy and in books, tv, and film. This iteration is from 2005. It’s a solid design, but my favorite is the 1981 television version. Marvin is super-intelligent, with “a brain the size of the planet” but is nevertheless depressed. #h2g2 #marvintheparanoidandroid