80-year-old Gakutensoku robot revived (w/video)

[Ian (Hank Kimble) Scuffling]

Nice one, Dave.  Not my usual mental picture of a robot:

For those without the bandwidth for YouTube videos, here's a picture
of the monster:
http://tinyurl.com/5yfggr

Henry Mu
http://www.urdomain.us/scuffling.htm

On 4/25/08, David Morris wrote:
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lb7Ai8j_rx8
>
> New life has been breathed into Asia's oldest "modern" robot, an
> 80-year-old golden-skinned humanoid from Osaka. Gakutensoku, a 3.2
> meter (10 ft 6 in) tall automaton powered by compressed air, can tilt
> its head, move its eyes, smile, and puff up its cheeks and chest as
> instructed — just as it did 80 years ago — thanks to a 20-million-yen
> ($200,000) computer-controlled pneumatic servo system that replaces
> its original system of inflatable rubber tubes.
>
> Built in 1928 by biologist Makoto Nishimura, Gakutensoku was first
> exhibited in Kyoto as part of the formal celebration of the Showa
> Emperor's ascension to the throne. The robot traveled to a number of
> expos and wowed onlookers with its mad calligraphy skills before going
> missing in Germany. After a long disappearance, Gakutensoku was
> located and later repatriated to Osaka.