Ben Skora

Ben Skora was an American inventor residing in Palos Hills, Illinois who specialized in robotics and electro-gadget automation in homes. He often worked with spare parts obtained from junk yards or discarded by others. He was best known for building Arok, a humanoid robot that was highly advanced at the time in the late 1970s. Arok was able to move in any direction at speeds up to 3 mph, lift 125 pounds and can bend 45 degrees at the waist. It was able to perform routine household tasks such as serving drinks and taking out the trash and walking the dog.[1]

His home included many of his creations including a drivable motorized easy chair, a soap dispenser that is a retractable hand that comes out of the wall on demand, dressers that slide away to reveal a hallway to another room and a ski slope from the roof.

He had appeared in People, Cosmopolitan and Ripley's Believe it or Not and the Chris Smith film Home Movie (2001).

His famous home in Palos Hills was torn down on November 28, 2014.

On October 9, 2015, his cousin Tom Skora donated Arok (the name comes from Skora's last named spelled backward minus the S) to Moraine Valley Community College in Palos Hills.[2][3][4]

Health

In 2013 Skora, who had Alzheimer’s disease, was moved into an assisted-care center in Hickory Hills, Illinois by his family. His cousin Tom Skora had Ben's power of attorney.[3] Skora died in October 2018.[5]

References
  1. http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,946950,00.html Time magazine article
  2. "AROK the robot rolls into Moraine Valley". Moraine Valley Community College.
  3. Vickroy, Donna. "AROK the robot goes to college". chicagotribune.com.
  4. "AROK the Robot lands at Moraine Valley" – via www.youtube.com.
  5. "Benjamin Skora Obituary - Burbank, IL | Chicago Sun-Times". Legacy.com. Chicago Sun-Times. Retrieved 19 March 2019.
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