Alien : Chris Foss' "waldo-like" repair machines


Leading from
 
 
a) At one point, the script described extensive damage to the interior of the ship. 
 
Foss designed a robot device to make the repairs on board the ship in the engine room.
 
 
 


 
 
 
b) Another repair vehicle for the Nostromo in the script that was not mentioned in the script but that Foss created for possible emergency conditions. 
 
This mechanical manipulator, The Picador, was controlled by human guidance.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
c) Leviathan Engine from within showing 'Picador' at work. Chris Foss 77. from Charles Lippincott's Facebook page  
 

 
 




d) Cobb commented "These Foss repair machines are "waldo-like"vehicle concepts developed by Robert Heinlein." (Book of Alien)
 
See: Alien: "Waldo-like" repair machine (1977) by Chris Foss for an exploration of this illustration with the yellow background



 
 
 
 
e) In the story "Waldo", Waldo Farthingwaite-Jones was born a weakling, unable even to lift his head up to drink or to hold a spoon. 
 
Far from destroying him, this channeled his intellect, and his family's money, into the development of the device patented as "Waldo F. Jones' Synchronous Reduplicating Pantograph". 
 
Wearing a glove and harness, Waldo could control a much more powerful mechanical hand simply by moving his hand and fingers. 
 
This and other technologies he develops make him a rich man, rich enough to build a home in space. In the story, these devices became popularly known as "waldoes". 
 
In reference to this story, the real-life remote manipulators that were later developed also came to be called waldoes. (http://en.wikipedia.org/)


 Astounding, 1942 original publication magazine cover
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1 comment:

  1. wmmvrrvrrmm13 November 2020 at 08:16

    "Alien : Chris Foss' "waldo-like" repair machines" was re-edited on November 13th 2020

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