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MF3
Blocher-Motor GmbH & Co. KG, Metzingen, West Germany CMS Technologies, Inc., Ft. Lee, N.J., U.S. Distributor
This device is a remotely controlled, tethered 4-tracked vehicle which is used in the nuclear industry and other hazardous environments. It was initially conceived and developed at the KFA Julich Research Laboratory in West Germany. Its single, light-duty, electric-powered manipulator arm can lift up to 20 kg (44 lb); the heavy-duty arm can lift up to 80 kg (176 lb). Both arms have 6 axes of movement and possess infinitely rotating long openings. Optional 7-axes electric lightweight master-slave arms (single or dual) which can perform extremely delicate operations by means of power feedback can carry 12 kg (26 lb) In a sustained operation or up to 24 kg (53 lb) in a temporary capacity. The MF3 is remote controlled from a portable control desk located up to 100 m (328 ft) from the 408-kg (900 lb) device. The MF3 dimensions are: 2264 x 720 x 400mm (1 x w x h) (89.1 x 28.3 x 15.7 in.); with track adjustment, the length and height are, respectively, 940 and 1080 mm (37.0 and 42.5 in.). It can climb stairs with a gradient of up to 45 degrees, turn on a 1200 mm (47.2 in.) radius, and can surmount 600 mm (23.6 in.) high obstacles, and traverse 1 m (3 ft) wide chasms (gaps). Its maximum speed is 30 m/min (99 ft/min), optional accessories are video cameras, TV monitor at the control desk, headlights, noise transmission system, X-ray unit with mounting arm, and alternate grippers. Power (220V, 50 Hz) and communications are made through an umbilical cord (cable). On-board electrical tools are powered through on-board sockets. An alternate model can operate with four on-board 12V batteries.

A mobile base with optional manipulator arms. The EMSM 2 arms by the same developers are shown above.

Above and below – Current MF3 offerings by KHG.

See other early Teleoperators and Industrial Robots here.

Looking like a military gravedigger or an agricultural battle tank, the KHG Remote-Controlled Manipulator Vehicle was an early West German response to the problems of maintenance and repair in nuclear installations.

The Robot That'll Do Anything

A new remote controlled robot has been developed in Germany able to do most any job or cope with any situation. It is called the KGH remote controlled Manipulator Vehicle and has a very impressive array of tools and instruments at its disposal. As well as being equipped with TV cameras and various cutting, drilling, welding, and sawing devices the robot can also collect specimens and measure things. It appraises damage, carries out salvage operations and also mounts and secures things. It can operate in radioactive contaminated areas or areas of high infection, then transmit its findings by means of TV transmitter. In short this all purpose robot, operated remotely or by hand in the control cockpit, is capable of most things and could be of great use in disasters or tasks where danger is high for human beings.

In this image, the vehicle is called the MF2 made by KFK in Germany [?].

See other early Teleoperators and Industrial Robots here.

Space Tug – 1949

The above image from a 2010 calendar with Bürgle's illustrations. I don't know if the Space Station illustration was previously published and if so, where? The caption suggests it was unpublished at the time.

The Space Tugs are being used to hold and manoeuvre large panels during construction.

Klaus Bürgle – Image by Tommy Laeng.

The graphic artist Klaus Bürgle created in the fifties and sixties of the last century a rich imagery of the future. The exploration of space was certainly his favorite subject, but many of his images also show futuristic cities and transportation.

Bürgle was born in 1926 in Stuttgart, where he attended from 1948 to 1951, the State Academy of Fine Arts. He was educated by professors Rössing and Schneider. After a year working in a graphic studio he became independent in 1953.

His technical interests soon meant that Bürgle is specialized in technical and scientific subjects and created for a variety of popular science books and magazines cover images and interior illustrations. He also worked for scientific television series.

Bürgle's 2010 Calendar cover.

Notes: The concept of a man inside a space capsule using manipulator arms largely came into being as a result of the logistics of getting man to the moon and beyond. The Space Station idea was conceived by Konstantin Tsiolkovsky in the early 20th century and then by Hermann Oberth about two decades later. In 1929 Herman Potočnik's The Problem of Space Travel was published, the first to envision a "rotating wheel" space station to create artificial gravity. But how to build a space station? Wernher von Braun was possibly, and probably the first to fully articulate the approach. When Walt Disney wanted to make his Space films (1954), von Braun was his consultant, and von Braun's ideas on construction were visualised in the form of a "bottle suit" with arms.  Von Braun was thinking about space stations in 1952, possibly earlier. I have not read or heard of Tsiolkovsky, Oberth or Potočnik mentioning space tugs or the like.  The earliest idea I've found to date is the illustrator Klaus Bugle, who, in 1949, produced some illustrations on space station construction and showed space tugs with manipulator arms. Was he illustrating von Braun's ideas, or are these his own?

More Bürgle illustrations of interest.

A depiction of unmanned moon crawlers originally for the Surveyor program. The crawler on the right-hand side is actually the Sperry luna crawler.

Above image from Hobby magazine no.3 1962.

See other early Space Teleoperators here.

See other early Lunar and Space Robots here.

Fritz Kahn (1888–1968) was a German-Jewish gynaecologist and science author who developed a sophisticated graphic analogy between anatomy and machinery. His work was widely distributed in Germany until it was banned under the Nazi regime. He continued to publish, relocating to Palestine and Paris before escaping to the USA with the help of Albert Einstein. In a later work from 1943, he describes the relationship between man and machine: “[they] exhibit far-reaching similarities. Both derive their energy from the combustion of carbon, which they obtain from plants. Man, the weaker machine, utilizes fresh plants for fuel, while the locomotive, a stronger machine, uses fossilized plants in the form of coal.”

Der Mensch als Industriepalast (Man as Industrial Palace). Stuttgart, 1926. Chromolithograph. National Library of Medicine.

Kahn’s modernist visualization of the digestive and respiratory system as "industrial palace," really a chemical plant, was conceived in a period when the German chemical industry was the world’s most advanced.

Early info-graphics of the mind drawing influences from the scientific and artistic movements of the time. 

Cover of David Fishlock's book, Man Modified.

ROBOT DRIVER: In Frankfurt, Germany—A motorcycle with a robot driver was one of features of a spring fair. Exhibited by the N.S.U. Motor Company of Neckarsulm, Germany, the robot showed the crowds how to drive the manufacturer's motorcycle. By a system of switches and electromagnets, the robot starts the engine, changes the three gears, drives at top speed for a while and, finally, brings the motorcycle to a stop.

Another NSU robot.