waldo n.
a remotely operated body, arm, etc., used variously to extend the user’s natural abilities, perform work in an inhospitable environment or at a distance, etc.
[coined by Robert A. Heinlein (writing as ‘Anson MacDonald’) in his 1942 story about the inventor of such a device]
SF Encyclopedia
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1942
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Robert A. Heinlein
bibliography
Even the…humanoid gadgets known universally as ‘waldoes’…passed through several generations of development…in Waldo’s machine shop before he redesigned them for mass production. The first of them…had been designed to enable Waldo to operate a metal lathe.
Waldo in Astounding Science-Fiction Aug. 16/2 -
1957
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Robert Silverberg
We make a good team on the waldoes.
One-Way Journey in Infinity Science Fiction Nov. 60/2 -
1978
The bathyscaphs are both equipped with remote manipulators—the experts call them ‘Waldos’ —for working under the extreme pressure.
Memory of Eva Ryker iii. 30 -
1985
One of them hit the guy too hard with the waldo-enhanced arm of his riot suit.
Freezone in B. Sterling Mirrorshades (1986) 166
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1986
William Gibson
I was working late in the loft one night, shaving down a chip, my arm off and the little waldo jacked straight into the stump.
Burning Chrome 201
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1988
C. J. Cherryh
She…used the waldo to send the offending sample back through cryogenics.
Cyteen 130
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1991 Locus May 66/3
I thought, my waldo has come. I got my Hugo, and now I've go my waldo. It’s like a great honor.
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1992
Allen Steele
bibliography
The semi-robotic machine stood ten feet high and moved on two backward-jointed waldo legs.
Labyrinth of Night 194
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1992 Locus June 23/3
Scavenger Ruby Kubick and her faithful waldo, Golem, don’t quite manage to save the life of a stranded zillionaire philanthropist VIP.
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1993
Kim Stanley Robinson
bibliography
‘We're like dwarves in a waldo’, Frank said to him angrily. ‘One of those really big waldo excavators. We're inside it and supposed to be moving a mountain, and instead of using the waldo capabilities we're leaning out of a window and digging with teaspoons.
Red Mars (1993) 373
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2019
Daniel Abraham
Ty Franck
bibliography
The forensics lab, however, was new. It was a wide room with a high ceiling and movable partitions that could seal off a section and keep its atmosphere separate. Fume hoods with waldoes and blast-resistant glass lined one wall. The tables that filled the center of the room had aisles between them wide enough for specialized tool carts—chemical, biological, electronic, computational—to be wheeled to wherever they were needed.
Tiamat’s Wrath xl. 415
Research requirements
antedating 1942
Earliest cite
Robert A. Heinlein, 'Waldo'
Research History
Ben Ostrowsky submitted a 2019 cite from "James S. A. Corey".
Last modified 2021-02-04 19:35:36
In the compilation of some
entries, HDSF has drawn extensively on corresponding entries
in OED.