These robots were built as learning platform by the late William Grey Walter in the 1940s.
They were phototropic - that is light following, and they were otherwise known as tortoises. A name derived from their plastic tortoise shaped shells, and a reference to Alice in Wonderland (paid link) - “We called him tortoise because he taught-us”.
The first two of these were named “Elmer” and “Elsie”. They consisted of a light sensor, touch sensor, propulsion motor, steering motor, and a two vacuum tube analogue computer. The simplicity of its design now would be similar to the BEAM Robots.
A second generation was built - and some of these now reside in a collection in the Smithsonian Institute.
There is currently a reconstructed Tortoise at the London Science Museum which actually performed in the Mind Zone of the Millennium Dome in Greenwich.
Taken by Pete Goodeve of The University of Berkeley, California.
| At The Science Museum | At The Millenium Dome |
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The innards
Related links
- Machina Speculatrix - Micheal Gasperi - Gasperi’s page on the Machina Speculatrix has some excellent information, including his own version of them built using Lego and the RCX
- Cybernetic Zoo - a great resource with lots of information on these amazing robots.