Telekino (Torres Quevedo's radio control)
Telekino (radiocontrol de Torres Quevedo)
- Date
- 1902-1906 · confidence high
- Place
- Madrid, Community of Madrid, Spain
- Credited to
- Leonardo Torres Quevedo
- Field
- Communication
⚠️ Disputed: the sources disagree.
What it is
A system patented in 1902-1903 that commands several different manoeuvres of a mechanism from a distance by means of coded wireless telegraph signals. It was tested with an electric tricycle, with a boat in Madrid (1905) and with another in the Abra of Bilbao (1905-1906).
Nikola Tesla demonstrated a radio-controlled boat in 1898 (patent of 1898); the Telekino's merit is its multi-command coded system with its own receiver. He presented the apparatus to the Académie des sciences in 1903.
What it led to
- the principles of multi-command radio control and of Torres Quevedo's automatics
- remotely controlled airships and torpedoes as intended applications
- a model of remote control using codes and relays