“Right, along with the television ‘eyes’ and radio ‘ears.’ After the giant’s head is on, he’ll be remotely controlled. Right now,” Tom went on, pointing to a cable protruding from the back of the robot’s neck and running to a control panel on the wall, “I have to use a direct control and monitoring method.”
“What can your giant do so far?” Mr. Swift asked.
“Walk, and do almost anything with his hands. Want to see him thread a needle?”
Mr. Swift smiled. “I’d rather watch him walk.”
“Okay. Here goes.” Tom set the panel for “walking” and slipped in a punched tape to control arm-and-hand motions. He explained that the perforated tapes, which would be used for the robot’s various actions and motions, operated on the same principle as a player-piano roll.
The young inventor turned a key to open the relay circuits in the robot and the giant’s machinery
18 TOM SWIFT AND HIS GIANT ROBOT
began to hum. At the same time, its body broke out into a blaze of dazzling colored lights.
Mr. Swift roared with laughter. “A real show with lights. What are they for?”
“I installed bulbs of various colors at the joints to tell me how the circuits are working,” Tom explained as he snapped off the laboratory lights.
Mr. Swift chuckled. “Looks like a Christmas tree.”
“But who ever saw a walking Christmas tree?” Tom grinned. “Watch this!”
He advanced the “walking” dial on the control board a few notches. Slowly the robot lifted his right foot. The foot moved forward, paused, and came down with a crunch. Memory tapes in the control panel sent a signal to the other foot, moving it just far enough to avoid toppling the body. Step by step, the automaton moved forward.