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. 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. (See him in action here.)
