Museum to Resuscitate One of World’s Oldest Robots

LONDON— -- Eric, the U.K.’s first robot, might come to life again.

Eric was created in 1928. He could talk and move and weighed about 100 pounds. His chest, legs and arms were made of aluminum and he had light bulbs for eyes. Blue sparks flew from his teeth.

Now, the Science Museum in London wants to rebuild him.

“Hello Kickstarter, I’m curator Ben Russell and my dream is to rebuild the UK’s first robot, Eric,” the museum’s curator wrote on a Kickstarter campaign site where the museum is trying to raise about $50,500 to fund the project.

Eric was one of the world’s first robots and was built less than a decade after the word “robot” was first used, according to a statement on the fundraising site.

Eventually, Eric disappeared, but what happened to him is unknown. “Was he lost, destroyed or recycled for spare parts?” Ben Russell, the museum’s curator, asks on the campaign website.

The campaign will end June 16. The plan is to add Eric to the museum’s permanent collection. Eric would go on temporary public display in the museum in October 2016 for a month, and then be featured next year in an exhibition called “Robots” in the U.K. and on an international tour.

“I’ve always been fascinated by robots, and it’s only now that we are able to share their fascinating story at the Science Museum,” Russell said in a statement.

“As the UK’s first robot, Eric holds a unique place in our history. He is everything we now imagine a robot to be – a talking, moving mechanical person.”