The life-size mother, father and child robots, not to mention a robot dog and cat, were on display at The Pittsburgh Children's Museum. The robots, made from used appliances, are as much a part of the artist's life as his own family.
'When I was a kid and we had book reports, I read Jules Verne and that did it,' said Smith, dressed in a bright red sports jacket adorned with mementos from his days as a world famous hitchhiker.
Smith, 75, was featured in the Guinness Book of World Records from 1973 to 1985 for hitchhiking 291,000 miles across the United States, Europe and South America.
Billed as 'The World's First Life-Size Robot Family,' Smith's robot creations were on display from Thursday through Sunday at the museum on the North Side.
It wasn't until about 20 years ago, Smith said, that he allowed his 'creative juices' to flow. Using junk salvaged from his scrap-hauling business in Wampum, he began experimenting with robot art.
'I made him (Jupiter) originally ... to kind of celebrate Pennsylvania's 300th birthday.' Smith said he's still not sure what drove him to make a robot for the celebration rather than something more historic.
In time, he built a second robot, Venus, and decided that she and Jupiter should be married. 'Nobody at that time, and they still haven't today, had any wedding of robots,' the artist said.
The marriage of Jupiter and Venus on Oct. 3, 1983, on the steps of the Ellwood City municipal building made headlines around the world.
Since then, the robot family has continued to grow. Jupiter and Venus now have a son, named Sun; a daughter, named Sis-tar; as well as a daughter-in-law, Saturn, and brother-in-law, Mars. There's also Pluto, the robot dog, and the Space Tiger.
Twenty-month-old Ruth Zielke stared in amazement Saturday as she gazed at whirring, moving robots on the second floor of the museum.
'I've never seen anything like this,' said her mother, Susan. Her husband, Tom, is a Pirates fan and convinced the family to visit the museum in addition to attending a game last week.
'She doesn't want to get too close,' Susan Zielke said of the couple's curious daughter. 'She's a little scared of them.'
In no time, however, other children and parents gathered to watch the robots.
Smith was apologetic for the sluggishness of some of his robot family. 'I think I need a little oil on that,' he said, pointing to the tail of Pluto, which was making odd noises as it rotated.
He had a similar problem earlier last week. 'Mars was running fine, and son-of-a-gun, if it didn't quit yesterday,' he said.
Most of the robots are made of plastic pieces from washing machines, clothes machines, water softeners and just about anything else that capture Smith's fancy, including small electric motors that operate the robots' hands and heads.
'If I hadn't put it into these robots, it would have ended up in a landfill somewhere near New Castle or Mars,' he said. Smith said he likes to think that he's recycling nonrecyclables.
'That's a Hoover mini spin-drive washing machine,' he said, pointing to one of the robot family. 'Those washing machines were very popular about 20 years ago. Your mother might have had one.'
The eyes of his robots are another matter. 'Those are '54 Chevy backup lights,' he said pointing to Jupiter. Another family member sports lights from a 1958 Chevrolet, while motorcycle lenses are used on still another.
Smith also prefers to use old plastic sewer pipe for the legs of his family. 'It looks robotish,' he said.
The artist uses screws, lots of them, rather than glue to hold his robots together. He said he's not sure glue could help the myriad of pieces that go into every robot creation.
He continues to operate his salvage business. But because of his low blood-pressure, he said he doesn't travel as much looking for parts. Today, people will bring parts to him, he said with a smile.
Lawrence Sanata can be reached at lsanata@tribweb.com or (724) 779-7109.
