In the 1950s, an Austrian Engineer Has Created a Robot Which Can Do the Housework

The answer to a liberated woman’s dreams is a robot—especially one that pours tea. The two robots shown here were invented by Viennese engineer Claus Scholz. They can answer telephones. open doors, vacuum floors, shake hands, introduce themselves and pour liquids from one container to an-other without spilling a drop.

Claus Scholz made the MM7 Selektor machine between 1957-58 and finished with the MM9 in 1973. “But this is only the start,” said Scholz. “What I eventually want to build is a machine that can virtually do any normal chore. I want to reproduce mechanically and electronically the thinking processes of the human brain to arrive at a machine that can think for itself.”

The drawback with these robots is that they are operated electrically and therefore must be plugged into the wall by a human being. One day Scholz hopes to invent robots that run so batteries. The cluestion remains: Will they be able to turn themselves off—and on?