Nikola Tesla demonstrated radio control with a boat at Madison Square Garden in 1898. He called the device a “teleautomaton,” presenting it as a glimpse of machines that could obey commands without a human operator aboard.
The small boat used wireless signals to control functions such as propulsion and steering. Its operation astonished audiences because radio technology was still new, and some observers suspected that Tesla was using hidden wires or a concealed operator. Tesla even opened parts of the craft to show that the mechanism was contained within it.
The demonstration was closely tied to Tesla’s patent for controlling moving vessels or vehicles, granted as U.S. Patent No. 613,809 in 1898. He imagined that the principle could be adapted for military purposes, including remotely guided torpedoes, but the military showed little immediate interest.
The achievement is often described as an early landmark in robotics and remote control. Alexander Graham Bell, Thomas Edison, and Guglielmo Marconi were major inventors, but Tesla was the inventor associated with this famous radio-controlled boat demonstration.