Is this the first MOTOMAN robot?

Meet "ELEKTRO the MOTO-MAN" as seen here at the 1939 World's Fair in New York!

At seven feet tall, he could walk by voice command, speak about 700 words (using a 78-rpm internal record player!), smoke cigarettes(?!), blow up balloons, and move his head and arms. Built by Westinghouse, Elektro's body consisted of a steel gear, cam and motor skeleton covered by an aluminium skin. His photoelectric "eyes" could distinguish red and green light.

So popular an exhibit, Elektro reappeared at the World's Fair in 1940, with "Sparko", a robot dog that could bark, sit, and beg. Elektro also appeared in several films, including as "Thinko the robot", in Sex Kittens Go to College (1960), which starred Mamie Van Doren and Tuesday Weld.

In 1992, the dance band Meat Beat Manifesto produced the song "Original Control (Version 2)" which prominently featured snippets of Elektro's monologues, quoting lines such as "I am Elektro" and "My brain is bigger than yours".


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