Gygan a vintage nine foot tall retro robot from the 1950’s, who has been languishing for decades in a private collection, is to be auctioned at Christie’s of London later this year.
Gygan also known as Cygan and Mr. Moto was designed by Italian engineer Piero Fiorito and stunned the world when he first appeared at a Milan trade fair during the late fifties, crowds gasped in amazement as the thousand pound behemoth crushed tin cans and even danced on stage with a very trusting young lady.
News reports at the time suggested that Gygan could respond to the spoken word, however quite how this amazing feat was accomplished has been lost in the mist of time and would have preceded Apple bringing SIRI to the iPhone by decades, in fact Gygan’s first appearance was in 1957 the same year that the Russians launched Sputnik into Earth’s orbit and a staggering thirty three years before the advent of the Internet.
From a technical point of view Pathe News reported that this vintage robotic humanoid was powered by a twenty eight volt battery, had one hundred and seventy valves, thirteen electric motors and altogether three hundred thousand parts. Click the image below to watch the full Pathe News report.
Auction at Christie’s – September 5th 2013
If you think your home is not complete without a Gygan, take around £6,000 to £8,000 along to Christie’s on September the 5th and you just might grab yourself a little piece of robot history, happy bidding.
