They had a single light or touch sensor hooked up to two different paths that ran two different motors acting as two separate neuron brains.

[3] The robots were designed to show the interaction between both light-sensitive and touch-sensitive control mechanisms which were basically two nerve cells with visual and tactile inputs.

"[3] Elmer and Elsie inspired later generations of robotics researchers such as Rodney Brooks, Hans Moravec and Mark Tilden.

[citation needed] Rodney Brooks' "Intelligence without Representation" is in many ways a modern take on Elmer and Elsie.

[4] An original tortoise is on display in London UK in the Science Museum's Making the Modern World gallery.