What Turtles, 1940s Science, and Your Toaster Have in Common

Back in the day, people just got things done. No excuses, no overthinking, just a simple “Hold my beer and watch this.”

Don’t you sometimes feel like life used to be simpler? Sure, there were no toilets, food didn’t magically appear in the fridge, and showers were more of a concept than reality. But in all that chaos, people sang, danced, had fun and created. They came up with stuff that still blows our minds. Like Dr. Grey Walter in the 1940s. Instead of buying a turtle, he decided… to build one. Or rather, two. Elsie and Elmer.

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These two mechanical critters were basically the great-great-grandparents of today’s Roomba. Dr. Walter gave them what you might call a baby brain, a single neuron that allowed them to avoid obstacles. Elsie, the overachiever of the duo, had a photocell that reacted to light. She’d move toward a lamp while skillfully dodging obstacles in her path. When her batteries were low, she’d find her own charging station. Autonomy… in 1940! Elmer worked on a similar principle but was a bit less advanced. Let’s just say he was the “couch potato” of the two.

What was the point of all this? To prove that even simple electronic systems could mimic behaviors we associate with living creatures. Dr. Walter wasn’t just tinkering for fun.He was showing us that robotics could take inspiration from biology. Not bad for an era when TVs were the size of wardrobes, right?

We could go on about the lessons these turtles taught us, but let’s cut to the chase. This was pure genius. From nothing, Walter created a spark of intelligence, paving the way for future breakthroughs. It took nearly 20 years after Elsie and Elmer for someone to build the first industrial robot, but Walter showed it could be done. The man had a brilliant mind and Elsie and Elmer are proof that even the simplest ideas can be utterly groundbreaking.