Elektro

Drawing of a Photograph of a Robot, circa 1939

Elektro, the Westinghouse ‘Moto-Man,’ was constructed by the Westinghouse Electric Company, in Mansfield, Ohio, for the 1939 New York World’s Fair, where he and his robot dog Sparko entertained thousands. Elektro is made up of more than 900 handmade parts, including a 60 lb ‘brain,’ consisting of 48 electrical relays, that occupies approximately 4 cubic feet of space outside his body. He can walk, talk (he has a vocabulary of some 77 words) and count to ten on his fingers. Elektro can perform 26 separate movements, and can turn 45 degrees in either direction. In addition to being able to distinguish between the colors red and green, Elektro also smokes cigarettes and cigars, exhaling from both nostrils.

Portrait and mini-bio by Thomas Zummer