William Grey Walter (February 19, 1910 – May 6, 1977) was an American-born British neurophysiologist and robotician.
Simple robots based on animal-like neural systems and behaviors may seem like a novelty today, but they have their genesis in the work of one of the early pioneers of robotics and artificial life, W. Grey Walter. W. Grey Walter developed a number of robots in the 1940’s and 1950’s which demonstrated great sophistication for their day. The technique he used are reflected in today’s reactive and biologically-inspired robots such as those based on the B.E.A.M philosophy.
Born in Kansas City, Missouri, William Grey Walter later moved to England where he got his education and started a career as a neurophysiologist. As part of this endeavor, he studied the operation of the brain in-depth through the instrument which he had developed into a practical tool, the Electroencephalogram (EEG). In using this instruments, H. Grey Walter was responsible for identifying the brain waves known as Alpha, Delta and Theta waves.
In order to better understand the operation of animal brains, Mr. Walter proposed building simple models of their basic operations. In 1948 and 1949, Mr. Walter built two robots to demonstrate his theories of nervous systems. Named Elmer and Elsie (short for ELectro MEchanical Robots, Light Sensitive), Walter’s robots were simple front wheel drive tricycle-like robots covered by a clear plastic shell. These first robots were rather crude prototypes but his technician later built better quality robots on his design which were widely shown in public. These robots represented some of the first examples of autonomous robots.
W. Grey Walter’s work has inspired generations of roboticists. Rodney Brooks, recent innovator of reactive robots, drew on Walter's work. As a child, Brooks had read Walter's book, The Living Brain, and built his own versions of the machines described in it. Even this author has to credit seeing pictures of Walter’s robots as being a major motivator for his interest into robotics.
W. Grey Walter was a robotics pioneer who demonstrated early autonomous robots based on neural-like circuit designs. His robots demonstrated sophisticated emergent behaviors despite their very simple construction. His designs were responsible for motivating generations of robotics enthusiasts.
