Thanks to companies such as Boston Dynamics, we’re developing robots and AI that are capable of remarkable things. We have robots that can walk, run, fight, cook meals, and grow human organs. In addition, today’s aritificial intelligence can teach itself to learn, and kick anyone’s ass in Jeopardy, but in 1939, when the first “Moto Man” robot was unveiled at the Worlds Fair in New York City, the vision for the future was a little bit different.
Wikimedia Commons 40 million visitors attended the World’s Fair that year whose theme was “The World of Tomorrow.” One of the biggest attractions was Electro the Moto-man created by Westinghouse. Here’s more from Atlas Obcura: The company was no stranger to dabbling in robotics. Over the preceding decade, it had built two early prototypes for machines that could take simple commands like answering phones and turning on record players. But, in the two years before the fair, they built their most advanced creation yet.
Wikimedia Commons Elektro was massive—seven feet tall, 250 pounds—and he was designed to put on a show. Visitors were treated to a 20-minute-long performance during which Elektro would smoke, carry on a conversation—including hurling mild insults—from his 700-word vocabulary, blow up balloons and more. When the Fair closed its doors in 1940, Elektro continued to enjoy national fame. After spending WWII in the company’s basement (along with anything else not contributing to the war effort), Elektro was dusted off and sent on tour to fairs, movie sets and other spots around the country, where he continued to delight and inspire generations of children. Today, Elektro, the Moto-Man lives at the Mansfield Museum in Ohio.
Wikimedia Commons A smoking robot? Well, it just goes to show how there are certain things about the future you just can’t predict. This is most obviously on display in the time capsule the citizens of 1939 left for the citizens of 6939! Again from Atlas Obscura: What will the denizens of 6939 find when they open the 800-pound, bullet shaped container, you might wonder? Those in charge of the time capsule wanted their ancestors to find a record of the time that included selections ranging from the then-cutting edge to the mundane. There is a Kodak camera and microfilm loaded with examples of art, literature and more culture popular in the day. Helpfully, the capsule also contains a microfilm player as well as instructions on how to make one if the one provided is no longer in use. There is a pack of trendy Camel cigarettes, a toy car and tooth powder (yum). And then, of course, there are those inclusions that, only with hindsight, we can label as unfortunate—like a shingle made with asbestos, which we now know is highly carcinogenic.
Queen Elizabeth & King George at 1939 World’s Fair - Wikimedia Commons Here’s a video of Electro in action:
