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Happy, a Reading University robot

Contributed by Reading Museum

Happy the Robot © Reading Museum Service (Reading Borough Council)

'Happy' has a microprocessor brain of 50 cells - about the same as a typical slug!Since the early 1980s Reading has been part of UK's own Silicon Valley along the M4 corridor. This is due to the area's excellent transport links to the rest of the UK and proximity to London's airports. Today Reading is home to many of the world's leading IT companies.

The University of Reading has also developed an international reputation for research in computer science, cybernetics and electronic engineering. Professor Kevin Warwick's MADLAB team of the Cybernetics Department developed this small intelligent robot between 1995 and 1999.

'Happy' is one of seven dwarf robots. Happy can learn to move around a corral without bumping into things. In 1997 in Reading a robot like Happy programmed another robot in New York via the Internet to behave in the way it had just learnt. This experiment is in the Guinness Book of Records.

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Location
Culture
Period

1999

Theme
Size
H:
10cm
W:
17cm
D:
15cm
Colour
Material

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