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The 1931 version of Harry L. Bowdoin's Submarine Armor.

When inside his suit Mr. Bowdoin through the manipulation of gears and levers, can move his arms, legs and body freely to almost any angle and with clawed hands, so constructed as to record sensitivity, he can pick up even very small objects.

1928 – Submarine Armor by Harry L. Bowdoin. Source: Popular Science August 1928.

Image source: Popular Mechanics, January 1931.

Harry L. Bowdoin filed his Submarine Armor patent in 1914 and it was granted in 1915. In April, 1918, Mr. Bowdoin completed his invention and in the Spring and Summer of that year subjected tests before groups of marine engineers and naval experts. In deep sea tests. Mr. Bowdoin's metal diving suit was lowered, without any occupant, to depths of 400 feet off the Jersey coast and withstood the pressure perfectly.
Mr. Bowdoin himself was then lowered 200 feet and walked about on a sea ledge at that depth for forty-five minutes.

Availing himself of the latest lighting devices for deep sea work, he has a special lamp, produced by the Westinghouse Company of Pittsburgh, installed in his diving helmet over his head.
This enables him to see clearly for twenty-five feet about him.

Source: Modern Mechanics and Inventions, September 1931.

Bowdoin passed away in 1935. This image from his obituary in The Brooklyn Daily Eagle, Aug 23, 1935.

The last version of Bowdoin's Suit – note the elbow mods and grippers.  The lamp is now singular and overhead.

Source: The Capital Times, Aug 20, 1928.

Bowdoin's Submarine Armor (above) appearing more like that in the 1914/15 patent (below). Image source: DAILY STAR, LONG ISLAND CITY, QUEENS BOROUGH, N. Y., MONDAY EVENING, MARCH 30. 1931.

Patent Information:

Publication number    US1146781 A
Publication type    Grant
Publication date    Jul 20, 1915
Filing date    Mar 19, 1914
Priority date    Mar 19, 1914
Inventors    Harry L Bowdoin
Original Assignee    Harry L Bowdoin

DAILY STAR, LONG ISLAND CITY, QUEENS BOROUGH, N. Y., MONDAY EVENING, MARCH 30. 1931.

Inventor in Diving 'Armor' to Defy Neptune; Whitestone Man Prepares for Expedition To Wrest Golden Hoard From Davy Jones

Warren(sic.) L. Bowdoin Will Seek Sunken Treasure on Sea Floor.

Sunken treasure—Spanish gold and chests of Jewels hidden away in some scuttled galleon down in the cool, green depths of the sea—the age old quest for sunken treasure is luring Harry L. Bowdoin of Whitestone.
Mr. Bowdoin, whose invention of metal diving suits and tanks for the exploration of the deep sea caves and the hulks of sunken ships led to his organisation of an expedition to salvage some of the more notable treasure troves in Davy Jones' locker, hopes to sail off some bright May morning soon on the most ambitious treasure hunt ever undertaken.
Mr. Bowdoln will go down into Davy Jones' grisly locker in a huge, grotesque, gleaming metal diving suit that will probably frighten old Davy into yielding up his golden hoard.
His diving suit and apparatus is designed to enable him to descend to depths never before reached by divers and, further, to enable him remain below on the sea floor and prowl about at ease for longer periods than has ever, heretofore, been regarded as safe, or even possible.
Dream of 14 Years.
For fourteen years Mr. Bowdoin has labored to create and perfect just such an all-metal diving suit, or tank, which will permit man to explore at ease the vast depths of the oceans more than 200 feet beneath the waves.
In April, 1918, Mr. Bowdoin completed his invention and in the Spring and Summer of that year subjected it to the severest and most spectacular of tests before groups of marine engineers and naval experts.
In deep sea tests. Mr. Bowdoin's metal diving suit was lowered, without any occupant, to depths of 400 feet off the Jersey coast and withstood the pressure perfectly.
Mr. Bowdoin himself was then lowered 200 feet and walked about on a sea ledge at that depth for forty-five minutes, examining the flora and fauna of the deep and keeping in constant telephonic communication with men aboard the Merritt Chapman and Scott Wrecking Company's tug from which he was lowered.
Light Under Sea.
Darkness, until now the diver's chief handicap has been overcome by Mr. Bowdoin. Availing himself of the latest lighting devices for deep sea work, he has a special lamp, produced by the Westinghouse Company of Pittsburgh, installed in his diving helmet over his head.
This enables him to see clearly for twenty-five feet about him. For the treasure hunt Mr. Bowdoin will use floodlights.
When inside his suit Mr. Bowdoin through the manipulation of gears and levers, can move his arms, legs and body freely to almost any angle and with clawed hands, so constructed as to record sensitivity, he can pick up even very small objects.
Mr. Bowdoin labored over his invention in a little workshop opening off a dance hall down on the Whitestone shorefront.
Recently the Sub-ocean Salvage Corporation, which he has formed to carry out his plans, acquired the cable ship "Telegraph," and he removed his laboratory and shop on board the vessel, renamed it the "Salvor" and anchored off Whitestone Landing.
In addition to his diving suit. Mr. Bowdoin has built a four-ton, eight-foot-high pressure-proof observation tank. Completed and tested in June, 1929, this will be used for preliminary sub-ocean inspection and for heavy work at the scene of wrecks.
Two men in the tank, amply provided with fresh air, light and power can operate an exterior boom crane and grappling bucket to extricate large and heavy objects from wrecks, and remove boulders.
Mr. Bowdoin has further perfected his invention and reports that he has remained below on extensive exploration for two and a half hours.
Astor Interested.
The inventor's plan to retrieve from their ocean caches the millions in buried treasure lost in marine disasters, as well as to study sea life at depths never before penetrated by man, has won the support of several men of wealth and position. Among them are W. Vincent Astor, Captain I. J. Merritt, T. Morrison Carnegie and Sydney B. Wertheimer. These and many others have  subscribed to the stock issued  
by Mr. Bowdoin's corporation to finance his preparations and the expedition.
More money is neded, Mr. Bowdoin said, and with an additional $50,000 to $100,000 to be realized between now and May, he hopes to collect the "Salvor's" crew and cry, "Anchors a-weight" this Spring.
Confident of the success of his venture, Mr. Bowdoin insisted on undertaking his own expedition and with luck and fair weather ahead, the prospector of '31 Will seek his Eldorado first off the Virginia Capes, where the Ward liner "Merida," sunk in May, 1911, lies many fathoms deep with a cargo of $5,000,000 in gold and jewels in her holds.
Repeated efforts have been made to salvage Merida's treasure, but owing to the inadequate apparatus employed, these ventures have all proven futile.
To Seek Sunken Gold.
Following this salvage assignment, Mr. Bowdoin hopes to delve for the millions of dollars in gold bars sunk with the S. S. Egypt in the Biscay during the World War.
After he has tried his fortunes on these two ventures Mr. Bowdoin says he will attempt to locate some of the more than $20,000,000 in bullion loot with ships in the English Channel, according to insurance reports.
Other hoards of famous wealth await the doughty salvager. The storied Spanish main holds, it is said, millions of dollars in treasure locked in the holds of the old Spanish galleons.
Legend has it also that more than $80,000,000 in treasure lost in antiquity lies buried in the fabled  
Aegean Sea off the Greek coasts.
Deep sea treasure hunting as a relief from the prosaic problems of everyday existence has caught the imagination of Harry Bowdoin, and Father Neptune may look to his treasures.

See also Bowdoin's Underwater Tank from 1929 here (not yet published).

See other early Underwater Robots here.

“The Psychophonic Nurse”, by David H. Keller. Published in Amazing Stories, 1928

Illustration by Frank R. Paul.

The Psychophonic Nurse
A child-care robot – a nanny bot.

“I had her made by the Eastinghouse Electric Company. You see, she’s just a machine nurse, but as she doesn’t eat anything, is on duty twenty-four hours a day, and draws no salary, she’s cheap at the price I paid.”

“…let me show you how she works. She’s made of a combination of springs, levers, acoustic intruments, and by means of tubes such as are used in the radio, she’s very sensitive to sounds. She’s connected to the house current by a long, flexible cord, which supplies her with the necessary energy. To simplify matters, I had the orders put into numbers instead of sentences. One means that the baby is to be fed; seven that she’s to be changed…”

“…When I ordered this machine … I bought a phonograph with clock attachment. It will run for twenty-four hours without attention. Then I had a baby doctor work out a twenty-four hour programme of infant activity for different ages. Our baby is about two months old. You put this phonograph with the two-month record on it in the nursery… At definite periods of the twenty-four hours the phonograph will call out a number and the nurse will do what is necessary…

Article sourced from here.

[RH – one wonders how long baby would be in soiled daipers before the appropriate ‘number’ came up?]

The above fictional robot was inspired by the then new and wonderful Westinghouse Televox of 1927, which operated in s similar fashion.

See other early Domestic Service Robots here.

1925 Nilsson Walking Tractor

It is not always possible to use vehicles with wheels, especially when the ground is heavy and the surface uneven. The problem of overcoming the difficulty has long occupied the attention of inventors, and a new type of transmission was evolved when caterpillar action was used for the tanks during the War. One of the latest inventions in this connection is that of Mr. Nilsson, of Stockholm, whose novel "walking tractor" has recently been tested by the Swedish Government.
  This tractor moves forward, and hauls or carries a load, without the use of driving wheels or caterpillar action.
It uses levers or legs to retain a fixed grip on the ground, and is driven by a motor, mounted midway between the legs and a pair of wheels, which run free.
Power is transmitted through gearing to produce a movement of the legs, and this movement is almost identical with that of the legs of a horse, when the animal is hauling a load. The addition of a heavier load to the tractor causes the legs to take an increased grip on the ground. It is only necessary, therefore, to provide the tractor with suitable shoes, which vary according to the nature of the ground on which the vehicle is working.
  The legs are directly-geared members without cams, springs, or chains, and their movement is so timed that both legs are always planted on the ground before a leg is raised.
When a leg is lifted, the movement is speeded up and then is greatly decreased, until the leg reaches the ground again, at which point the speed is the same as at the beginning of the step. Thus the action does not force the shoe into the ground, as it might do if it came down with full force in places where the ground is soft.
  The method by which the tractor is steered is interesting. The gearing from the motor is connected to the legs in such a way that, when it is so desired, one leg moves forward more swiftly than the other. This movement is under control of the driver, so that the tractor will move forward in any desired curve. Apart from this, the tractor may be steered by the front wheels.
 It is anticipated that the tractor will be particularly useful for agricultural work, for it may be used for hauling ploughs and harrows over rough land, and used also for other farm duties.

Source: Meccano Magazine January 1925

1928 Meccano model of Nilsson's Walking Tractor.

Above model built by Brian Elvidge of the South East London Meccano Club.

Trivia: The above 1928 Meccano Magazine article was co-authored by [the now late] A. F. Spilhaus, who is famous for his Mechanical Toy collection of over 3000 pieces and book.

Gakutensoku (學天則, Japanese for "learning from the laws of nature"), the first robot to be built in Japan, was created in Osaka in 1928. The robot was designed and manufactured by biologist and botanist Makoto Nishimura (1883-1956). Nishimura had served as a professor at Hokkaido Imperial University, studied Marimo and was an editorial adviser to the Osaka Mainichi newspaper (now the Mainichi Shimbun).

Gakutensoku could change its facial expression via springs and gears in its head, puff its cheeks as if breathing, and move its head and hands and torso via an air pressure mechanism. It had a pen-shaped Signal arrow in its right hand and a lamp named Reikantō (霊感灯, Japanese for "inspiration light") in its left hand. Perched on top of Gakutensoku was a bird-shaped robot named Kokukyōchō (告暁鳥, Japanese for "bird informing dawn"). When Kokukyōchō cried, Gakutensoku's eyes closed and its expression became pensive. When the lamp shone, Gakutensoku started to write words with the pen. Interesting that the words were written in Chinese characters, not Japanese.

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 whilst touring in Germany  in the 1930s.

Makoto Nishimura (1883-1956)

It is interesting to note that at least two performances of Capek's R.U.R. had been played in Japan by the time Gakutensoku was created, but unlike Capek's artificial labourers, as novelist Hiroshi Aramata notes, Nishimura designed Gakutensoku as "an attempt to set aesthetic robots free from slaves to industry." 

80-year-old Gakutensoku robot revived (w/video) – as reported on 25 Apr 2008.

Asia's oldest "modern" robot, an 80-year-old golden-skinned humanoid from Osaka, has been brought back to life thanks to a project organized by the Osaka Science Museum. 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 the original did 80 years ago — thanks to a 20-million-yen ($200,000) computer-controlled pneumatic servo system that replicates the movement of the original system of inflatable rubber tubes. (Watch the video.)

The reanimated Gakutensoku will star as the main attraction at the newly renovated Osaka Science Museum beginning July 18 2008.

For further detail on Gakutensoku, see Timothy N. Hornyak's book "Loving the Machine" 2006.

Rupert I – 1928

Rupert was built as a mechanical representation of major organs of a human.  The Popular Science [Apr 1929] article suggests it was built by British schoolboys. 

Rupert II – 1929 (re-modelled innards)

from Popular Science Apr 1929 p58

Boys Build "Human Engine"
in Study of Anatomy

USING two furnaces for the stomach. twin bellows for the lungs, a little pumping engine for the heart, and other mechanical devices for various organs of the body. British schoolboys, studying anatomy, constructed a mechanical man to illustrate the functions of these organs by machinery. Their "human engine simplifies the processes of the human body by giving a working demonstration of each organ.
When the furnaces generate steam, the pumping engine drives up and down the pistons which operate the bellows of the lungs. Then the mechanical man wheezes and throbs as though panting. A head, arms, and legs are fitted to the case inclosing[sic] the mechanical organs to add realism.

TAKE THE 'IM' OUT OF IMPOSSIBLE

There is a video clip of Rupert I found here (see above).

This is the blurb for it:

772.30 | TAKE THE 'IM' OUT OF IMPOSSIBLE (1:47:44:00 – 1:50:21:00) 03/01/1929
BADEN POWELL OPENS SCHOOLBOYS' OWN EXHIBITION (London)

M/S of a metal robot, it lifts its hand and a man shakes it. He lifts the front of the head up to show the lights of the eyes underneath. He then opens its front which shows a pump going up and down. M/S of children looking at an aeroplane engine. M/S of a man sawing wood held in a vice. M/S of boys looking at pistons. Various shots of the exhibition.

(from Illustrated London News)