Watch This 1950s Mechanical Mouse Memorize a Maze in Minutes

Sometimes it’s easy to forget that any technology existed prior to the clunky home computer you had as a kid, but of course there have been remarkably intelligent machines for generations.

Take this video, plucked from ​the AT&T Archives and History Center, from the early 1950s (AT&T wasn’t sure of the date). Claude Shannon, a mathematical engineer who is ​often cited as the “founding father” of electronic communications, demonstrates how a mechanical mouse named Theseus “memorizes” the twists and turns of a tabletop maze.

When he pulls open the mirror above the table or lifts up the maze, though, you see the real mechanics of the machine: a system of relay circuits that interpret the information transmitted from Theseus’s copper whiskers in order to create a mental map of the maze. Once the machine learns the pattern, the mouse can easily find its way through without making even a single mistake.

This early kind of machine learning paved the way for the advancement machine learning developments that allow us to ​instantly translate foreign speech, have a ​robot interpret your bizarre commands, or (best of all) ​beat all your favorite NES games.