The Return of Elektro The Moto-Man

Posted 22 Aug 2004 at 04:34 UTC by steve

Westinhouse created Elektro, a 300 pound mechanical robot, to impress visitors at the 1939 World's Fair. Electro, aka the Moto-Man, could walk, talk, smoked heavily, and had a robot dog named sparko. The robot made many public appearances in the following years and became the standard by which future robots would be judged. A Dailycamera.com story gives the rest of the robots history. Eventually Elektro was retired. It's head was removed and given away as a prize at a retirement party. The headless body vanished - until recently when it was discovered in the back of an old Westinhouse truck purchased at an auction. The head and body have now been reunited by Jack Weeks, who is restoring the robot. Elektro will be publicly exhibited at the Mansfield Memorial Museum in Mansfield, Ohio during September.