The Coolidge examiner., 1931-04-24
Machines That Are
Almost Human
Mechanical Men
By E. c. TAYLOR r

EOR ages man mas aSplred TO
L build with his hands mechani-
cal men, birds, beasts and fish that
would perform at his bidding.
Today there are mechanical men
that see, hear, feel and talk. Planes
have been flown without a human
hand touching the controls. Boats
have been sent on voyages withou!
human being aboard.
More wonderful than these, even,
are thinking machines" that sur
pass the human brain in ability to
solve difficult problems.
Man has constructed marvellous
machines that can perform all his
tasks better than he can perform
them himself, and hundreds of
these machines are in constant use
throughout the country. But they
lack one thing that has placed man
above other animals. They cannot
really think for themselves. They
must be directed by their human
creators.
A short time ago iIe duke of
York was scheduled to open the an
nual exhibition of model engineers
in Royal Albert hall, London. He
found he could not get back from
Scotland in time, so Capt. w. II.
Richards, a British scientist, built
q mechanical man to take the duke
of York's place.
Eric RObot-sO Captain Richards
named his creature of wheels and
batteries-stood before the gather
ing of engineers and scientists,
spoke for four minutes, and then
sat down. He could have spoken
for four hours or four days, his in
ventor said.
Eric Robot later toured the
United States. He didn't smoke,
chew or swear, and made maGy
friends. In appearance he looked
like a knight in armor. He weighed
140 pounds and was built entirely
of aluminium. He could do every
thing but walk, apparently. He
talked, and rose and sat down when
told to. He had a set of aluminium
teeth to aid his voice, and his
speech was much better than that
of most lecturers.
He was operated by electricity,
of course, and his highly sensitive
mechanism responded 10 sound.
When spoken words reached his
microphone, the vibrations started
machinery inside him and carried
out the spoken directions. He
even gave limitations of George Ber-
nard Shaw and II. G. Wells during
his appearance on the lecture plat
form.
The 'televOx," which gave the
power of speech to mechanical
men, was invented by r. ]. Wens-
ley of the Westinghouse Electric
and Manufacturing company in
1923. Previously mechanical men
could only hear and obey. Mr..
Wensley found way to make them
talk back.
He demonstrated the robots abil-
ity to answer by attaching a tele-
vox to telephone; "Televox speak
ing"
Mr.. Wensley's televox can even
initiate a conversation. If some
thing goes wrong. for instance, at
a power substatiOn where it is on
duty, 1t can lift telephone re-
ceiver and say:
This is televox calling for Main
5000"
When the telephone connection
has been completed. M TelevOX
will continue the conversation in
buzzer code.
In place of vocal cords, the me-
chanical man has a talking film
introduced among its vital organs.
The words to be spoken are record,
ed on a film, and are projected
when the mechanical man is called
upon to speak.
"Rastus" is another mechanical
man produced by the Westinghouse
laboratories. He was built by Or.
Philips Thomas. and has per-
formed before scientists several
times.
RaStus not only can answer back,
start conversations. sit or stand as
he is hidden, but can answer ques-
tiOns and greets his callers almost
like a human being. He is built
to resemble a man, with legs and
arms and a head, with face like
a dark skinned minstrel. Hence his
name.
Eric Robot and Rastus, of course.
are for exhibition only. They were
built to show how near to Great
ing a mechanical man science has
progressed. The devices that oper
ate them, however, are in daily use
In industries, safeguarding lives
and guarding property.
,tS 1881 Western Newspaper Un'oaD