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Star Wars Special Production and Mechanical Effects

By John Stears
Special Production and Mechanical Effects Supervisor “Star Wars”

Although the robots that appeared in “Star Wars” were not true robots, they did stir a great deal of interest. Consequently, we asked the genius behind them, John Stears, to give us an idea of what went into their design.

We would like to thank the Star Wars Corporation, and Twentieth Century-Fox Corporation, for giving us permission to use this story. —Editor

DEVELOPMENT AND DESIGN OF ALL ARTOO-DETOO ROBOTS

(In conjunction with the production designer, who was responsible for their general appearance.) The problems were many, inasmuch that the director wanted to use a human as much as he could so as not to loose the character to a pure mechanical machine. Read the rest of this entry »

ANDROID AMUSEMENT CORPORATION

For Further Information on the Quasar Industries Robot Featured in this Publication and how you can obtain it for your Trade Show and Promotional Needs

Contact:
ANDROID AMUSEMENT CORPORATION
(Exclusive Western Representatives lor Quasar Industries)
(213) 445-5330 or (213) 266-1994

2324 Lenta Lane, Arcadia. California 91006

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The Quasar Industries’ Robot
A Dream That Came True

By Gene Beley

Android Amusement Corporation Robots are going to be part of our everyday lives, and Quasar Industries seems to have a head start on getting us there.

Gene presents the story of Quasar in a light-hearted fashion, and whets the imagination for future developments. —Editor Nine years before Star Wars jetted through the movie theaters of the world, introducing two lovable robots, Quasar Industries, Inc. of New Jersey gave birth to a full-size working ‘droid, Klatu. Even though Klatu was the result of more than 40 designs submitted by an eight-man team of engineers and scientists, of whom nearly all succumbed to death or serious illnesses before his successful completion, there was no worldwide media fanfare. Read the rest of this entry »

Where Robot Mice And Robot Men Run Round In Robot Towns

By Ray Bradbury

They asked me where I’d choose to run, which favored? Ups? or Downs?

Where robot mice and men, I said, run round in robot towns.

But is that wise? for tin’s a fool and iron has no thought!

Computer mice can find me facts and teach me what I’m not.

But robot all inhuman is, all’s sin with cog and mesh.
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Robot Turns Actor and plays

the role of a ”Martian” in a French production. Built by M. Koralek, noted French engineer, the 500-pound robot is seen at the left “rehearsing” with actress Mag Villars. At right. M. Koralek adjusts the robot’s mechanical brain via its spinal column.

If I had a nickel for every English robot pilot I came across, I’d have… er… a nickel.

Another English Robot Pilot

PROFESSOR J. POPJIE, an English pilot and designer, has recently invented and tested an electrical robot pilot which has successfully piloted a plane on short flights. Although details of this invention have not been revealed, it is known to be operated by a current from an air-screw driven generator.

And if you chip some teeth off a few of the gears you end up with Momento.

Robot With Mechanical Brain Thinks Up Story Plots

FORMERLY robots were merely mechanical devices that could perform a variety of stunts under the guidance of a human being, but now a robot has made its appearance that thinks, has a soul of a kind, creative imagination, and other qualities necessary for writing a modern stereotyped short story. Read the rest of this entry »

Interesting Novelties at London Radio Exhibition

ROBOT PLAYS PHONOGRAPH
Sir Robot, looking like one of Coeur de Lion’s knights, is merely placing a record on the portable before him.
(Keystone Views)
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Excellent article and pretty accurate too. I loved that they made the early robots pay dues to the machinists union!

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OUR HEARTLESS FRIENDS THE ROBOTS

By D. S. HALACY, JR.

WHEN a clock manufacturer needed production line workers recently for a ticklish assembly job, he ordered them from a firm called U.S.I. Robodyne. The workers weighed a bit over 50 pounds, and the clockmaker didn’t hire them—he bought them outright for about $2500.00. Slavery Involving midgets? No, these workers, each doing a man’s or woman’s job, are robots produced by the Robodyne Division of U. S. industries, Inc., at Silver Springs, Md. These “TransfeRobot 200″ mechanical midgets, while not the first automated devices to displace human workers, are unique in some respects. First, they are not custom made, but are standard “off-the-shelf” items available immediately. Read the rest of this entry »

Toy “Pugs” Fight Rousing Battle

A PUGILISTIC encounter by puppets two feet high and manipulated from the sidelines is the latest in amusements. Dressed in prize fight garb, they stand up in the ring and swing gloves at each other. Their actions are guided by wheels in the grips of the men playing the game.

A referee in the ring judges the points scored in the five rounds of one minute each. The point of the chin is the susceptible place for a “haymaker,” and when that is struck the manikin goes down for the count.

Do you think the RUR on his chest stands for Rossum’s Universal Robots? Or do you think it is the union of Richards and Reffell, the “inventors’” names?

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Aluminum Man Startles London

He talks, walks, stands, sits down, rolls his eyes and waves his hands, but he isn’t a man at all — nothing but a mechanism of steel and aluminum, cables and gears and electric motors! His life-like actions astonished London at a recent scientific exhibition.
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THE ROBOTICS REVOLUTION WILL YOU SURVIVE?

By Steven K. Roberts

Robots—capable of two to three times the efficiency of flesh-and-blood workers—threaten to displace large numbers of people from jobs. Humans may prevail, but, strangely, the result might be mass unemployment, anyway.

IF YOU EVER want to get a spirited conversation going, just wander into an employee lunchroom somewhere in Detroit and start singing the praises of industrial robots. After you pick yourself up off the floor, you’ll probably become embroiled in a bitter dispute over worker displacement, Japanese auto imports, productivity and union contract terms.
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