Elektro is the nickname of a robot

Robot

A robot is a mechanical or virtual intelligent agent that can perform tasks automatically or with guidance, typically by remote control. In practice a robot is usually an electro-mechanical machine that is guided by computer and electronic programming. Robots can be autonomous, semi-autonomous or...

 built by the Pittsburgh-based

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Pittsburgh is the second-largest city in the US Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Allegheny County. Regionally, it anchors the largest urban area of Appalachia and the Ohio River Valley, and nationally, it is the 22nd-largest urban area in the United States...

 Westinghouse Electric Corporation in its Mansfield, Ohio

Mansfield, Ohio

Mansfield is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Richland County. The municipality is located in north-central Ohio in the western foothills of the Allegheny Plateau, approximately southwest of Cleveland and northeast of Columbus....

 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

Phonograph

The phonograph record player, or gramophone is a device introduced in 1877 that has had continued common use for reproducing sound recordings, although when first developed, the phonograph was used to both record and reproduce sounds...

), 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

Photodetector

Photosensors or photodetectors are sensors of light or other electromagnetic energy. There are several varieties:*Active pixel sensors are image sensors consisting of an integrated circuit that contains an array of pixel sensors, each pixel containing a both a light sensor and an active amplifier...

 "eyes" could distinguish red and green light. He was on exhibit at the 1939 New York World's Fair

1939 New York World's Fair

The 1939–40 New York World's Fair, which covered the of Flushing Meadows-Corona Park , was the second largest American world's fair of all time, exceeded only by St. Louis's Louisiana Purchase Exposition of 1904. Many countries around the world participated in it, and over 44 million people...

 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

Pacific Ocean Park

Pacific Ocean Park was a twenty-eight acre , nautical-themed amusement park built on a pier at Pier Avenue in the Ocean Park section of Santa Monica, California, which was intended to compete with Disneyland...

 in Venice, California in the late 1950s

1950s

The 1950s or The Fifties was the decade that began on January 1, 1950 and ended on December 31, 1959. The decade was the sixth decade of the 20th century...

 and early 1960s

1960s

The 1960s was the decade that started on January 1, 1960, and ended on December 31, 1969. It was the seventh decade of the 20th century.The 1960s term also refers to an era more often called The Sixties, denoting the complex of inter-related cultural and political trends across the globe...

. He also appeared as "Thinko", in Sex Kittens Go to College

Sex Kittens Go to College

Sex Kittens Go to College also known as Beauty and the Robot, is a 1960 comedy film starring Mamie Van Doren, Tuesday Weld, and Mijanou Bardot.-Cast:* Mamie Van Doren as Dr. Mathilda West* Tuesday Weld as Jody* Mijanou Bardot as Suzanne...

(1960), which starred Mamie Van Doren

Mamie Van Doren

Mamie Van Doren is an American actress and singer; who rose to popularity as Universal Pictures's version of 20th Century Fox's Marilyn Monroe....

 and Tuesday Weld

Tuesday Weld

Tuesday Weld is an American actress.Weld began her acting career as a child, and progressed to more mature roles during the late 1950s. She won a Golden Globe Award for Most Promising Female Newcomer in 1960...

. In the 1960s, his head was given to a retiring Westinghouse engineer and his body was sold for scrap.

In 1992, the dance band Meat Beat Manifesto

Meat Beat Manifesto

Meat Beat Manifesto, often shortened to Meat Beat or MBM, is an electronic music group originally consisting of Jack Dangers and Jonny Stephens formed in 1987 in Swindon, UK...

 produced the song "Original Control (Version 2)" which prominently featured snippets of Elektro's monologues, quoting lines such as "I am Elektro" and "My brain is bigger than yours".

Elektro survived the scrap pile and is being restored by Jack Weeks. It is currently the property of the Mansfield Memorial Museum.

External links

• Elektro commentary
• You-Tube Video footage of Elektro at the 1939 World's Fair
• The Middleton Family at the New York World's Fair (1939) Shows entire Elektro demo starting at 34 minutes into movie.
• Elektro rediscovery