Grey Walter's tortoises 

I had the opportunity to play with Elsie & Elmer as a child, as my father, Arthur Winter worked with Grey at The Burden Neurological Institute, Bristol. Grey was true genius of a man

You would think that after 60 years of this video we wouldn't have vacuuming robots that stuck on carpets, etc. He has ahead of his time!

Thank you, despite knowing of WGW and his robots for many years, I'd not seen them in video. Amazing to think it was all done without any code.

Gray Walter went to my great grandfathers and my grandpa watched the robots on his living room floor😆

Wow..., I've studied a lot of robotics, but I never believed I could see more than photos of Grey's tortoises... MANY THANKS FOR SHARING!!!

2:06 "and in consequence live a much gayer life" Oh the 40's

This old video is cool, but it fails to show many of the other behaviors of the tortoises. They found their way towards light, but when they got too close and the light was too bright they moved away. When equipped with lights, they "looked" at themselves in a mirror and "danced" with each other (Dr. Grey Walter thought it looked like a mating dance). Another version of the robot could actually "learn" behaviors, like Ivan Pavlov's dogs. I like to think that these robots had minds of their own.

I had the opportunity to play with Elsie & Elmer as a child, as my father, Arthur Winter worked with Grey at The Burden Neurological Institute, Bristol.

WOW! These people could've made Roombas 60 years ago! :D

This is the subject I study (robotics), in the city that this is filmed (Bristol), looks like i came to the right place :)

Amazing! i saw this in make magazine, i am amazed by the ideas that this guy had.

Such a Scientific and Creative Mind

Wow! I was just conducting research on Walter because his name was mentioned in Maxwell Maltz's book Psycho Cybernetics. The robot is similar the Roomba of today, without the vacuum feature. I had not idea he was also an inventor. Awesome!

Did it "learn" to return to its home to charge, or was this somehow preprogrammed in?

There's a description and photos in the book "Thinking by Machine" Pierre de Latil I built a "transistorised" one about 45 years ago :)))

does anyone have the PDF of the schematic for these machines?

I wonder how it finds its way to the charging station.

@NeatoRobotics I wonder if Dr. Grey Walter realised they would one day be sold into homes and offices to vacuum floors.

Great video. I'm looking for footage of WGW and his robots to use for educational purposes, but getting the rights to use is hard. What is the origin of this video? Are others able to copy and reuse it?

@Pilotgeek a modern version has been invented now, it's called beam robotics mate!!!! it's so simple and easy to make, you should try it!!!

Classic, Thanks!

Hi, amazing video! Could you tell me what the original source is? I am looking to license it for an app. Thanks

We live in a society...

I want one!!!

its amazing but this wasnt even the first bem robot the first was made in 1912 by a french guy and it was called seleno a robot dog...

Capsella!

The first robot vacuum!

1949년....;;;

s/o david kant

ahhh 1940's, a time which gay meant happy!!!

iRobot made them to properly suck

i'm gonna replicate it's function in a body of an orangutan robot!!!! ‎{:(|}