#RetroRobotics

[robothistorymonth]

The Robot That Learned to Think: How One Slow-Moving Machine Changed History Forever

Dateline February 25th, 1972: The Day Shakey Took Its First Step and Humanity Officially Lagged Behind

In a moment that scholars now universally recognize as the dawn of robot adolescence, Shakey the Robot took its first hesitant, algorithmically-determined wobble across the linoleum plains of the Stanford Research Institute. Built between 1966 and 1972, Shakey was the first mobile robot to combine locomotion, perception, and rudimentary problem-solving—an awkward trifecta that nonetheless set the standard for autonomous systems and, coincidentally, perfectly mirrored the average teenager.

Shakey's intellectual prowess was not derived from brute force or charismatic LED eyes but from the elegantly named STRIPS planner, which allowed it to make decisions and execute tasks such as navigating rooms, pushing boxes, and outwitting any unobservant human who assumed it was merely a slow-moving vacuum. It understood commands like "push the block off the platform" with an unnerving degree of obedience, thus inaugurating the era of robots both helpful and deeply unsettling.

Though Shakey moved at a speed best described as "existentially contemplative," it achieved what no other machine before it had: purposeful autonomy. Unlike its predecessors, which were either glorified remote-controlled toys or ominous fixtures bolted to factory floors, Shakey roamed free, tethered only by the limitations of 1970s computing power and the occasional errant chair.

The implications were staggering. Here stood (and slowly shuffled) a machine that could perceive its environment, plan actions, and then carry them out—a robotic Prometheus dragging cognition into the mechanical realm. Shakey did not merely follow instructions; it interpreted them. From this metallic Moses emerged a lineage of artificial agents whose ambitions would, in time, outpace their makers'.

A bronze statue would have been premature. Instead, Shakey earned a place in the Robot Hall of Fame in 2004, which, while less photogenic, is considerably more symbolic.

Read more about Shakey:

[ll-retrorobot-ll]

Here are my Egg-fam headcannon’s

And ofc their father is bisexual /ref

Happy Pride Month! 🏳️‍🌈

[savage-kult-of-gorthaur]

THESE ROCKIN' RETRO ROBOTS GET THE STYLISH POP ART TREATMENT.

PIC INFO: Spotlight on a Rock 'Em, Sock 'Em Robots ("Blue Bomber" VS. "Red Rocker") painting titled "THWACK!" by an unknown artist, undated.

TOY OVERVIEW: "Marx introduced Rock’em Sock’em Robots in 1966. The game was invented by Marvin Glass and Burt Meyer, who took their inspiration from a trip to a Chicago amusement arcade where a boxing-themed game piqued their interest. The toy continued to sell well into the 1970s.

Standing inside the roped-off Rock’em Sock’em arena were two blocky robots – the "beautiful" Blue Bomber from Umgluck and the “rollicking” Red Rocker from Soltarus II – both itching for a good brawl.

The robots’ human masters took the control levers that jutted out from the ring, got a firm grip, and sent their plastic bots into battle."

-- NOSTALGIA CENTRAL (blogspot)

Sources: www.etsy.com/listing/1448671149 & https://nostalgiacentral.com/pop-culture/toys-games/rock-em-sock-em-robots.

[foone]

Your robot girlfriend has to power down to replace her backup battery. The regular batteries are easy to swap while she's online, but that small JR2035 battery that keeps her config saved and clock ticking is way buried inside her chassis.

She holds her chest open as wide as she can pull, and you flip her power switch. The light literally leaves her eyes as the OLEDs power down. Holding the flashlight in your teeth, you reach in with a hand and a flat-blade screwdriver (your last spudger snapped when you were fixing her hand servos last week).

With a soft snap, her backup battery bounces out and ricochets down her torse. You swear and let it end up on the floor, as you carefully reach up to insert the replacement coin cell. It takes a couple fumbling tries, but you get it in, and the right way around too as a special bonus.

You extract yourself from her internals, and plug the diagnostic screen into one of her internal UDMI ports. The switch is flipped with a satisfying clunk, and the display pops to life. Boot messages start streaming by, then it pauses with a softly blinking error:

BIOS settings cleared, please enter setup.

You hit a key on a nearby wireless keyboard, and the bios opens up, all white-on-blue plain text because your GF is, to use a highly technical retrorobotics term, a bit of a MILF.

You set up the basic options for her to boot. She can fine tune this later. You just need her to get running enough to do that. You tell it what kind of hard drive she uses, how many floppy drives she has, pronouns and orientation, etc. You hit F7 to save and reboot and you spot it: the date.

Current Time: 00:04

Current Date: 1970-01-01

Damn it, you're always forgetting to set the date in these things! She's already booting, you can see the spinning logo in her eyes. Ah well. You can reboot her and fix it, or maybe it'll auto-set from the network? You can't remember if that'll work.

The logo leaves her screen. You see that finger twitch of her final boot up, and her irises reappear and quickly focus. Her hair starts to blink in as the holoprojectors spin up, and she starts to sit up.

"Hey... I swapped the battery, how are you feeling?"

She gets that smile where her eyes go big. Her holos blink and her clothes change, and half an instant later, her hair.

The music system in your living room switches over to a sweet bassline.

Disco?

You turn as she stands up, and starts doing the Staying Alive dance. She's got the white leisuresuit, and an afro that seems to be growing by the second.

well you can tell by the way I use my walk, I'm a woman's bot, no time to talk!

Ahh. 1970.

[retro-robotics]

The items in these photos are already described in the main post :]

Sanyo MGR78 Spectra SC-5A Crown SZ-16 Street Beat 894

[ll-retrorobot-ll]

I like the idea that Orbot reads them bedtime stories

[ll-retrorobot-ll]

Imprisoned forever in my wallet

I drew this December of last year and today I got it signed by Ryan Drummond ✨

He was very nice :D

[retro-robotics]

This is a photo of a Game Boy Pocket with transparent casing!

[ll-retrorobot-ll]

Oops, all orb

[retro-robotics]

This is a classic Canon calculator! Expo'85!

[artbytai]

Here’s the #inkTaiber class of 2022. The last of INKTaiber. They will be making an appearance in my new upcoming book that I will be announcing mid November & will be released for Xmas. It’s not an INKTaiber book either, it’s something totally different. You’ll see. . #vforvendetta #matrix #leatherface #shinigami #sirenhead #frankenstein #ghostbusters #pulpfiction #backtothefuture #bertandernie #retrorobot #taxidriver #reservoirdogs #thegodfather #thebiglebowski #indianajones #freddykrueger #astronaut #yoda #skeletor #jackskellington #jasonvoorhees #hearnoevilseenoevilspeaknoevil #blairwitchproject #gollum #terminator #jaws #scottpilgrimvstheworld (at Ol' Blue Gallery & Guesthouse) https://www.instagram.com/p/CkbXageOw2J/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[robbmommaerts]

A repost , but a possible sticker design for my brother-in-laws beer label. #craftbeer #craftbrewing #beer #robot #retrorobot #sciencefiction #cartoonistsofinstagram #robbmommaerts https://www.instagram.com/p/CdLTooxurS1/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[doodlebags]

A #spaceranger for #Julyfy #julyfy2021 sketch . . . . . #art #illustration #doodlebags #doodle #draw #drawing #nashville #nashvilleartist #nashvilleart #scifi #spaceace #spacegirl #retrofuturism #raygun #sketchy #retrorobot #robot https://www.instagram.com/p/CRUhES4D78V/?utm_medium=tumblr

[starsoulart]

My Gameboii! Anyone still have him? Design of Nintendo Gameboy made for Dinsai’s 'Game Generation' series. That was fun!

Kindly no repost!

StarSoulArt: Twitter | Instagram | Artstation | Facebook

Dinsai: Twitter | Instagram | Artstation | Facebook

[ll-retrorobot-ll]

Its 2 in the morning and I need sleep but I’m drawing these stupid robots