Elektro was Westinghouse’s humanoid robot demonstrated at the 1939 New York World’s Fair.
Standing about seven feet tall, Elektro was presented as a vision of the automated future. Its designers used motors, relays, and mechanical systems to produce movements and responses. It could walk, count on its fingers, inflate balloons, smoke cigarettes, and speak approximately 700 words.
The robot’s speech was not conversational in the modern sense. It used recorded responses triggered by operators or programmed controls. Its companion, a mechanical dog called Sparko, was also displayed and could move and perform tricks.
Elektro is often described as the first robot to appear at a world’s fair, but that wording can be too broad because earlier mechanical figures existed. Its importance lies in its public presentation as a general-purpose humanoid machine, decades before modern research robots.