Description

This film shows the AMF arm being manipulated by a joystick. Then it moves on to show the "Minsky-Bennett arm" that used to hang in the 9th floor machine room at Tech Square being manipulated by first by Bennett, then by Minsky to reproduce his movement of a joystick. This was a high-speed, high-powered hydraulically driven arm with many joints and degrees of freedom. Minsky shows his faith in the device by having it wrap around his daughter, Margaret Minsky. Later, another person drives the arm, which is at this point shrouded in a tube looking like an elephant's trunk.

Additional Information

Richard Greenblatt's commentary on this film clip: https://projects.csail.mit.edu/films/aifilms/Podcasts/07-arm.mp3