PHOTO: BLACK STAR/ALAMY STOCK PHOTO

Exhibitions have long led the way in acclimating the world at large to robots, from the 7-foot-tall Elektro, which smoked like the Marlboro Man, to the 23-inch-high Nao that could play jazz and perform tai chi. A part of that cybernetic tradition was the 1934 British Industries Fair, where sculptor/inventor Courtenay Pollock exhibited "She," a rubber-covered skull whose electrically powered levers and gears allowed it a variety of facial expressions. The detached head became a sensation, with reporters predicting She would herald a new generation of automatons indistinguishable from the real thing.