Robots have been making significant inroads into our culture over the last few years. They're roaming on and around distant planets, building cars, vacuuming the rug and even serving as surrogate pets. But it may surprise you to learn that sophisticated androids have been walking the earth since at least the late 1800s - achieving feats that still haven't been equalled in the 21st century. (One prototype actually took part in World War One.) The History of Robots in the Victorian Era follows the careers of these early automatons, and at the same time, tests the limits of human credibility.

Launched in July 2000 to tell the amazing story of "Boilerplate" (history's first mechanical soldier created in 1893), the website has since expanded to include three other milestones of robotic engineering - The Electric Man (1885), The Steam Man (1865), and the Automatic Man (exact date unknown). And while these Victorian marvels might have benefited from some more imaginative names, their exploits (from Antarctic exploration and circumnavigation to foiling train robberies) would put Honda's new robot ASIMO to shame. One can only imagine why so few of us know about these extraordinary machines today.

Unless, of course, it's because they never existed.

Truth be told, The History of Robots in the Victorian Era is an unintentional hoax - originally created as an online pitch for a graphic novel about the tin soldier, Boilerplate. (Samples from the book are posted onsite.) Things got interesting, though, when webmaster and commercial artist, Paul Guinan, realized that some visitors to the site were taking the fiction as fact, and, as would any self-respecting artist when faced with such an opportunity, Guinan decided to see just how real he could make his character seem. Still, this isn't a 'hoax' in the sense of a serious intent to deceive - there are clues throughout the site (not to mention articles about the true nature of Boilerplate's status), and at least one outright disclaimer - the latter included to appease the good folks at the San Diego Maritime Museum.

Unfortunately, there was no way that I could properly review the site without first spilling the beans - since it's the execution of the fiction that makes The History remarkable. But even for those who are in on the joke, the story of Boilerplate is so thoroughly and convincingly done as to almost demand the willing suspension of disbelief.

Guinan closes the credibility gap by interweaving fact with fiction - a strategy which is itself enhanced by numerous examples of Photoshop sleight-of-hand used in creating the site's 'archival' images. (The full chronicle of Boilerplate includes more than 100 images, ranging from his first appearance at the 1893 Chicago World's Fair, to posing with Pancho Villa and Teddy Roosevelt's Rough Riders.) Guinan fills in Boilerplate's background with a biography of the tin man's inventor, and such ephemera as movie, vaudeville, and even Soviet propaganda posters featuring the robot. The story is further reinforced with such touches as 'then and now' photographs of the factory where the robot was constructed, and a tour of the renamed ship on which Boilerplate sailed to the Antarctic (currently on display at the aforementioned San Diego Maritime Museum). In combination, Guinan's various strategies could even leave even a skeptic still skeptical, but no longer rock solid in their lack of belief.

Page: 1 | 2