It's pretty mind-bending to think about the technological development of the United States this robot came into. On the one hand, seemingly limitless progress

It's pretty mind-bending to think about the technological development of the United States this robot came into. On the one hand, seemingly limitless progress -- electric light, airplanes, radio, talking motion pictures, nuclear fission and rocketry just over the horizon -- and on the other, rural areas that would be lit by kerosene for another quarter century.