What is "waldo"

n. A remote manipulation system in which a slave device mimics the motions of a master device manipulated directly by the operator.

"Waldo" (1942) is a short story by Robert A. Heinlein originally published in Astounding Magazine in August 1942 under the pseudonym Anson MacDonald. It is available in the book Waldo & Magic, Inc. (as well as other collections). Except that both stories in that book involve magic, the stories are otherwise unrelated.

The essence of the story is the journey of a mechanical genius from his self-imposed exile from the rest of humanity to a more normal life, conquering the disease myasthenia gravis as well as his own contempt for humans in general. The key to this is that magic is loose in the world, but in a logical and scientific way.

Waldo Farthingwaite-Jones was born a weakling, unable even to lift his head up to drink or to hold a spoon. Far from destroying him, this channeled his intellect, and his family's money, into the development of the device patented as "Waldo F. Jones' Synchronous Reduplicating Pantograph". Wearing a glove and harness, Waldo could control a much more powerful mechanical hand simply by moving his hand and fingers. This and other technologies he develops make him a rich man, rich enough to build a home in space.

In the story, these devices became popularly known as "waldoes". In reference to this story, the real-life remote manipulators that were later developed also came to be called waldoes, some even by NASA. Later, an American company, The Character Shop, which creates animatronic devices and objects (often for motion pictures), obtained the trademark to Waldo for "data-capture input devices".

Waldo's personality can best be described as arrogance combined with misanthropy. He does not think of himself as crippled. In his mind he is superior to all other humans because of his weakness. He reasons that if a chimpanzee is ten times as strong as a man, and a man is ten times as strong as Waldo, then Waldo is as far above men as men are above chimpanzees. He calls the rest of humanity "smooth apes". His home's location, which he calls Freehold, is located in orbit high above Earth and is symbolic of his relation to the rest of humanity.

Waldo may refer to:

Waldo is the debut novel of American novelist and travel writer Paul Theroux. It was originally published in 1967 by Houghton Mifflin.

Waldo is a genus of small marine clams in the family Galeommatidae. It includes five species which are all obligate commensals of sea urchins. They are found in the southern Atlantic and Antarctic Oceans, with the exception of Waldo arthuri which is found in the northeastern Pacific Ocean.

Waldo (born Marko Reijonen, 1967) is a Finnish Eurodance musician. His solo hits, sang in Jamaican accent, are "It's About Time" and "Feel So Good" in 1995. The number of sales of the album "It's About Time" was certified as gold record in Finland in 1996. Waldo has also written songs for different artists such as Christian Forss.

After 1998 Waldo has been a lead singer and songwriter of his band Waldo's People. They represented Finland in the Eurovision Song Contest in 2009 in Moscow, Russia with Lose Control. The group won qualification to the final as the jury's selected qualifier from the first semi-final. It the final however, they finished 25th and last place, scoring 22 points.

Marko Reijonen owns two clothing shops in Sello and Myyrmanni called Waldo's Clothing.

Waldo is a masculine given name which may refer to:

People:

• Abbot Waldo of Reichenau (740–814), advisor of Charlemagne
• Waldo Colburn (1824–1885), American politician
• Waldo A. Evans (1869–1936), American naval captain and military governor
• Waldo Frank (1889–1967), American novelist, historian, and critic
• Waldo E. Harder (1918–1976), president of Grace University
• M. Waldo Hatler (1894–1967), American soldier and Medal of Honor recipient
• Waldo Hutchins (1822–1891), U.S. Congressman
• Waldo P. Johnson (1817–1885), U.S. senator and Confederate congressman
• Waldo Kantor (born 1960), Argentine volleyball player
• Waldo K. Lyon (1914–1998), U.S. Navy physicist
• Waldo Machado (born 1934), Brazilian former footballer
• Waldo McBurney (1902–2009), credited as "America's Oldest Worker"
• Waldo Ponce, Chilean football player
• Waldo (musician) (born Marko Reijonen in 1967), Finnish eurodance musician
• Waldo de los Ríos (1934–1977), Argentine composer and conductor
• Waldo Salt (1914–1987), American screenwriter
• Waldo E. Sexton (1885–1967), American businessman
• Waldo Vieira (born 1932), Brazilian physician and spiritual medium
• Waldo Williams (1904–1971), Welsh language poet

Fictional characters:

• Waldo (in the U.S. and Canada; Wally elsewhere), central character in the Where's Wally? children's book series and television show
• "Waldo", nickname of the tourist guy in a 9/11 attack hoax photograph
• Waldo Faldo, a character from the television series Family Matters
• Waldo Farthingwaite-Jones, title character of "Waldo" (short story) by Robert A. Heinlein
• Waldo Pepper, title character of the film The Great Waldo Pepper
• Waldo Schaeffer, aka Franz Hopper, a character from the French animated television series Code Lyoko
• "Uncle Waldo", the drunken goose from Disney's " The Aristocats"

Waldo is the nephew and given name of UPA studios stable character, Mr Magoo. Waldo is Magoo's nephew and appears in many of the Mr.Magoo short cartoons.

Waldo is the surname of:

• Daniel Waldo (1762–1864), veteran of the American Revolutionary War, missionary and U.S. House clergyman
• Daniel Waldo (Oregon pioneer) (1800–1880), American legislator in the Provisional Government of Oregon
• Dr. Dwight B. Waldo (1864–1939), first president of Western Michigan University
• Dwight Waldo (1913– 2000), American political scientist
• Edward Hamilton Waldo, birth name of American science fiction author Theodore Sturgeon (1918-1985)
• George E. Waldo (1852-1842), American politician
• Janet Waldo (1920–2016), American actress and voice artist
• John B. Waldo (1844–1907), jurist and conservationist in Oregon, United States
• Peter Waldo, (1140–1218), founder of a Christian sect called the Waldensians
• Rhinelander Waldo (1877–1927), former U.S. Army captain, Fire and later Police Commissioner of New York City
• Samuel Waldo (merchant) (1695–1759), Massachusetts land speculator, soldier and political figure
• Samuel Lovett Waldo (1783–1861), American painter
• William Waldo (California politician) (1812–1881)
• William Waldo (Oregon politician) (1832–1911)