Adelbrecht was a speaking, interactive robot

Robot

A robot is a mechanical or virtual intelligent agent that can perform tasks automatically or with guidance, typically by remote control. In practice a robot is usually an electro-mechanical machine that is guided by computer and electronic programming. Robots can be autonomous, semi-autonomous or...

 in the form of a ball

Ball

A ball is a round, usually spherical but sometimes ovoid, object with various uses. It is used in ball games, where the play of the game follows the state of the ball as it is hit, kicked or thrown by players. Balls can also be used for simpler activities, such as catch, marbles and juggling...

, designed by Martin Spanjaard (born 1952 in Haarlem

Haarlem

Haarlem is a municipality and a city in the Netherlands. It is the capital of the province of North Holland, the northern half of Holland, which at one time was the most powerful of the seven provinces of the Dutch Republic...

, Netherlands

Netherlands

The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...

).
A first, simple version of Adelbrecht was presented in 1985.

Starting 1988 a second, more powerful version was developed. In 1992 it got an honourable mentioning at the Prix Ars Electronica

Prix Ars Electronica

The Prix Ars Electronica is one of the most important yearly prizes in the field of electronic and interactive art, computer animation, digital culture and music...

. Its last performance, during newyears eve of 2000, never happened because of a serious hardware

Hardware

Hardware is a general term for equipment such as keys, locks, hinges, latches, handles, wire, chains, plumbing supplies, tools, utensils, cutlery and machine parts. Household hardware is typically sold in hardware stores....

 failure. Since then Martin Spanjaard proclaimed Adelbrecht a 'dead robot'.

Etymology

The name "Adelbrecht" is a name consisting of two Middle Dutch

Middle Dutch

Middle Dutch is a collective name for a number of closely related West Germanic dialects which were spoken and written between 1150 and 1500...

 words, Adel (noble) and Brecht (bright). A modern version of this name is Albert or Elbert.

External links

• Article by Francisco van Jole in the Dutch magazine Blvd (1994)
• Article by Dirk van Weelden in Mediamatic
• Article about Atos Origin on the Dutch Wikipedia
• Ars Electronica Linz, Honorable mentioning (1992)