Grey Walter’s most famous work was his construction of some of the first electronic autonomous robots. He wanted to prove that rich connections between a small number of brain cells could give rise to very complex behaviors – essentially that the secret of how the brain worked lay in how it was wired.
His first robots, which he used to call Machina speculatrix and named Elmer and Elsie (ELectro MEchanical Robots, Light Sensitive), were constructed between 1948 and 1949 and were often described as tortoises due to their shape and slow rate of movement – and because they ‘taught’ about the secrets of organisation and life. The three-wheeled tortoise robots were capable of responding to light, by which they could find their way to a recharging station when they ran low on battery power. [Wikipedia]
