- published: 13 Mar 2009
- views: 2061154
Elektro is the nickname of a robot built by the Westinghouse Electric Corporation in its Mansfield, Ohio facility between 1937 and 1938. Seven feet tall, weighing 265 pounds, humanoid in appearance, he could walk by voice command, speak about 700 words (using a 78-rpm record player), smoke cigarettes, blow up balloons, and move his head and arms. Elektro's body consisted of a steel gear, cam and motor skeleton covered by an aluminum skin. His photoelectric "eyes" could distinguish red and green light. He was on exhibit at the 1939 New York World's Fair and reappeared at that fair in 1940, with "Sparko", a robot dog that could bark, sit, and beg.
Elektro toured North America in 1950 in promotional appearances for Westinghouse, and was displayed at Pacific Ocean Park in Venice, California in the late 1950s and early 1960s. He also appeared as "Thinko", in Sex Kittens Go to College (1960), which starred Mamie Van Doren and Tuesday Weld. In the 1960s, his head was given to a retiring Westinghouse engineer.
Pa da da pom pom pom...
Heartbeat on time
Dancing
Dancing
To the rhythm
Elektro is fine
It can
It can
Get you moving
Moving on time
Elektro
Elektro
Is a new style
Jackie and Jane
See them moving
To the bass-line
Pa da da pom pom pom...
Funk it on time
Elektro
Elektro
Make you feel fine
Open your mind
Feel it
Feel it
From the inside
Heartbeat on time
Elektro
Elektro
Is the rhythm
Michael and James
They can't
They can't
Get no better
Out on the floor
See them
Grooving
To the bass-line
Funk it on time
Elektro
Elektro
Is the new style
Funk it on time
Elektro
Elektro
Make you feel fine
Open your mind
Feel it
Feel it
From the inside
Pa da da pom pom pom...
Pa da da pom pom pom...
Heartbeat on time
Dancing
Dancing
To the rhythm
Elektro is fine
It can
It can
Get you moving
Moving on time
Elektro
Elektro
Is a new style
Jackie and Jane
See them moving
To the bass-line
Funk it on time
Elektro
Elektro
Is the new style
Funk it on time
Elektro
Elektro
Make you feel fine
Open your mind
Feel it
Feel it
From the inside
Pa da da pom pom pom...