The Ladybird of Szeged or Ladybug of Szeged (Hungarian: Szegedi Katicabogár or just Szegedi Katica) is an early robot which was developed in Hungary at the Cybernetics Laboratory of the University of Szeged (SZTE) between 1956 and 1957. The roughly hemispherical machine has a red shell with black dots, resembling a ladybird (or ladybug), hence its name. The Ladybird is one of the first Hungarian robots, and the first robotic animal ever constructed. It was designed and built by Dr. Dániel Muszka, with the main intention of emulating Pavlovian conditional reflexes in a machine. The original Ladybird is still in working condition (although its original papier-mâché shell has been replaced due to deterioration), and can be found in the Informatics History Exhibition (ITK) in Szeged. The exhibition have chosen the machine to be its symbolic mascot. Muszka built two working replicas of the robot in the 2000s, one is in the ITK as well, the other is in the Technical Study Stores of the Hungarian Technical and Transportation Museum (MMKM) in Budapest. The Ladybird is considered an early milestone in Hungarian cybernetics and information technology. Conception and name Muszka was inspired to build a demonstration robot by the idea of psychologist József Király. The machine is variously referred to as Szegedi Katicabogár (ladybird/ladybug of Szeged), Szegedi Katica (using a shorter word for ladybird) or just Katica (ladybird) in Hungarian sources, with various capitalizations. English-language sources tend to use either Ladybird (UK) or Ladybug (US), depending on the variety of English used. Nonetheless all of these names refer to the original robot, not to any of the replicas. Structure The Ladybird is a roughly hemispherical robot which is wide, tall and long. It has a metal baseplate on which the electronics lie, which are enclosed by a red shell with black spots. This shell was originally varnished papier-mâché, but due to deterioration, the Ladybird now has a plastic shell mimicking the original one. The black spots themselves are buttons, and the top of the shell also has a small sliding vane. The robot has two red "eyes" (which can light up but can't see), three photosensors (which can detect light) and a mechanical sensor in the front to detect collisions with obstacles. It also contains an electromechanical buzzer to give audible feedback. Due to the technical difficulties of the time, Muszka couldn't include a battery, and so the Ladybird gets the