In 1898 at an exhibition at Madison Square Garden Nikola Tesla demonstrated a small boat which could apparently obey commands from the audience but was in fact controlled by Tesla interpreting the verbal requests and sending appropriate frequencies to tuned circuits in the boat.
In 1898 at an exhibition at Madison Square Garden Nikola Tesla demonstrated a small unmanned boat that was radio controlled. In a bit of showmanship Tesla entertained the audience to make it seem that the boat could apparently obey commands from the audience but was in fact controlled by Tesla interpreting the verbal requests and sending appropriate frequencies to tuned circuits in the boat.