Editing Robot (section)

=== Remote-controlled systems ===
[[File:Brennan torpedo launching.jpg|thumb|left|The [[Brennan torpedo]], one of the earliest 'guided missiles']]
Remotely operated vehicles were demonstrated in the late 19th century in the form of several types of remotely controlled [[torpedo]]es. The early 1870s saw remotely controlled [[torpedo]]es by [[John Ericsson]] ([[Pneumatics|pneumatic]]), [[John Louis Lay]] (electric wire guided), and [[Victor von Scheliha]] (electric wire guided).<ref name="EdwynGray">Edwyn Gray, Nineteenth-century torpedoes and their inventors, page 18</ref>

The [[Brennan torpedo]], invented by [[Louis Brennan]] in 1877, was powered by two contra-rotating propellers that were spun by rapidly pulling out wires from drums wound inside the [[torpedo]]. Differential speed on the wires connected to the shore station allowed the torpedo to be guided to its target, making it "the world's first ''practical'' [[guided missile]]".<ref name=gray>{{cite book | last = Gray | first = Edwyn | title = Nineteenth-Century Torpedoes and Their Inventors | publisher = Naval Institute Press | year = 2004 | isbn = 978-1-59114-341-3}}</ref> In 1897 the British inventor Ernest Wilson was granted a patent for a torpedo remotely controlled by "Hertzian" (radio) waves<ref>{{cite book |first=Marc |last=Seifer |title=Life and Times of Nikola Tesla |date=24 October 2011 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DzMR8x_rbPgC&q=torpedo |page=1893 |publisher=Citadel |isbn=978-0-8065-3556-2 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161205023226/https://books.google.com/books?id=DzMR8x_rbPgC&printsec=frontcover&dq=tesla+torpedo+controlled+wireless+conduction&hl=en&sa=X&ei=-669Uv3NO46-sQSysYGgDQ&ved=0CEIQ6AEwAjgK#v=onepage&q=torpedo&f=false |archive-date=5 December 2016 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author-link=Benjamin Miessner|first=Benjamin Franklin|last=Miessner|title=Radiodynamics: The Wireless Control of Torpedoes and Other Mechanisms|publisher=D. Van Nostrand Company|date=1916|page=83}}</ref> and in 1898 [[Nikola Tesla]] publicly demonstrated a wireless-controlled [[torpedo]] that he hoped to sell to the [[US Navy]].<ref>{{cite patent|country=US|number=613809|pubdate=1898-11-08|title=Method of and apparatus for controlling mechanism of moving vessels or vehicles|inventor1-last=Tesla|inventor1-first=Nikola}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |publisher=PBS |url=https://www.pbs.org/tesla |title=Tesla – Master of Lightning |access-date=24 September 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080928061709/http://www.pbs.org/tesla |archive-date=28 September 2008 |url-status=live }}</ref>

In 1903, the Spanish engineer [[Leonardo Torres Quevedo]] demonstrated a radio control system called ''[[Leonardo Torres Quevedo#Radio control: the Telekino|Telekino]]'' at the [[French Academy of Sciences|Paris Academy of Sciences]],<ref>Sarkar 2006, page 97</ref> which he wanted to use to control an [[Astra-Torres airship|airship]] of his own design. He obtained several patents for the system in other countries.<ref>Torres, Leonardo, "[https://worldwide.espacenet.com/patent/search/family/001377220/publication/FR327218A?q=pn%3DFR327218A FR327218A Système dit telekine pour commander à distance un mouvement mécanique.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230822182546/https://worldwide.espacenet.com/patent/search/family/001377220/publication/FR327218A?q=pn%3DFR327218A |date=22 August 2023 }}", ''Espacenet'', 10 December 1902.</ref><ref>Torres, Leonardo, "[https://worldwide.espacenet.com//publicationDetails/originalDocument?CC=GB&NR=190327073a&FT=D GB190327073 (A) ― Means or Method for Directing Mechanical Movements at or from a Distance.]{{Dead link|date=December 2024 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}", ''Espacenet'', 10 December 1903.</ref> Unlike previous 'on/off' techniques, Torres established a method for controlling any mechanical or electrical device with different states of operation.<ref name="Yuste2008">{{cite journal |author=A. P. Yuste |title=Early Developments of Wireless Remote Control: The Telekino of Torres-Quevedo |volume=96 |issue=1 |date=January 2008 |journal=[[Proceedings of the IEEE]]|pages=186–190 |doi=10.1109/JPROC.2007.909931 |s2cid=111010868 |url=http://oa.upm.es/1968/ }}</ref> The ''Telekino'' remotely controlled a [[tricycle]] in 1904, considered the first case of an [[unmanned ground vehicle]], and an electric [[boat]] with a crew in 1906, which was controlled at a distance over 2&nbsp;km.<ref>{{cite book |author=H. R. Everett |title=Unmanned Systems of World Wars I and II |publisher=[[MIT Press]] |date=2015 |pages=91–95 |isbn=978-0-262-02922-3}}</ref>

[[Archibald Low]], known as the "father of radio guidance systems" for his pioneering work on guided rockets and planes during the [[First World War]]. In 1917, he demonstrated a remote controlled aircraft to the [[Royal Flying Corps]] and in the same year built the first wire-guided rocket.