Tesla's teleautomaton (radio-controlled boat)
Teleautómata de Tesla (barco por radiocontrol)
- Date
- 1898 · confidence high
- Place
- Madison Square Garden, New York, United States
- Credited to
- Nikola Tesla
- Field
- Communication
What it is
In 1898 Tesla presented a small boat that obeyed radio commands. His patent US 613,809 (1898) describes wireless control of vehicles, one of the foundations of robotics and unmanned vehicles.
There were earlier telecontrol experiments by wire and by waves (Branly, Lodge, Siemens); Tesla patented and demonstrated the radio-wave remote-controlled boat. Torres Quevedo's Telekino (1902-1906) is independent and later.
What it led to
- military and civilian radio control
- remotely piloted vehicles