Highly Developed Robots in History: From Ancient Greece to the Mid-20th Century

2024 Author: Seth Attwood | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 15:55

From ancient tales of stone golems to modern science fiction, robots have fascinated the human mind for centuries. Although the term "robot" was first used by Karl Czapek only in 1921, mankind has been trying to create autonomous machines since the 4th century BC.

Antique robots: dove Archita and Klepsydra Ctesibia

The roots of robotics go back to ancient Greece. Aristotle was one of the first great thinkers to think about automating mechanisms and how these devices would affect society as a whole. Around 400 BC. Greek mathematician, mechanic and philosopher Archytas Tarentsky created the first steam apparatus in history.

Dove of Archita.

Its wooden structure was based on the anatomy of a pigeon and had an airtight, steam-generating set installed. The vapor pressure eventually exceeded the resistance of the structure, allowing the robotic bird to fly short distances.

In 250 BC. the mechanic Ctesibius created Clepsydra - a water clock, the work of which was based on complex automated processes. Later, Roman inventors updated the basic watch design with elements such as bells, gongs and moving figures.

Clepsydra Ctesibia.

But it wasn't just the ancient Greeks and Romans who experimented with robotics. There are stories of automated devices from ancient China. For example, in an excerpt from Li Tzu, Confucius, dating from the 3rd century BC. describes a singing and dancing robot that performed for King Mu of Zhou. According to the text, the robot was built from wood and leather by an inventor named Yen Shi.

XII - XV century: humanoid machines and the knight Leonardo da Vinci

One of the most famous inventors of that time is the Turk Ismail al-Jazari. He is credited with creating segment mechanisms and is called the father of robotics. Its automated mechanisms were driven by water. So, a Turkish mechanic invented automated doors and even a humanoid servant who could pour drinks on her own.

Ismail al-Jazari's inventions.

Al-Jazari's influence is especially noticeable in the later works of Leonardo da Vinci. In 1495, a famous Italian artist and engineer developed an autonomous knight, which, using a set of gears, could move his arms and jaws, and even sit.

Knight da Vinci.

The humanoid robot was largely based on da Vinci's own anatomy research and was apparently used as entertainment at dinner parties.

16th - 18th century: flying robots and jukeboxes

Making robots for fun became a popular craft between the 16th and 18th centuries. Although these devices were designed for entertainment, many of the technologies used in them became the basis for more sophisticated robots in the future. One of these developments can be attributed to the iron eagle, built by the German mathematician Johann Müller.

Little is known about Müller's eagle other than that it was made of wood and iron in the 1530s. In 1708, John Wilkins wrote a report on the robot eagle, claiming that it flew to greet the Prussian emperor. The mathematician is also credited with creating a robotic fly that could fly too.

"The Flute Player".

Another key figure in the history of robotics at the time was Jacques de Vaucanson, who in 1737 created a device called The Flute Player. It was a humanoid jukebox that could play up to twelve different songs on a flute.

The device had a "bellows" to "breathe", a movable mouth and tongue, which changed the flow of air and played the instrument. However, Waucanson's most memorable achievement was the mechanized duck, which could eat grains and simulate their digestion and excrement.

19th century: chess machines and early experiments with speech

The 19th century was the century of the creation of the first computers, which in turn gave a strong impetus to the development of robotics. A popular robot at the time was a chess-playing machine. For more than a hundred years, several such machines have been created. Most of them were humanoid, imitating a chess player.

Automatic machine "Turk".

As it turned out later, such machines were in fact a hoax, and a real chess player was hiding in the box, who was playing the game. Nevertheless, such pseudo-automatic devices pushed for the creation of real chess devices at the beginning of the 20th century.

However, another famous 19th century device, Euphonia, was certainly not a hoax. Euphonia is a talking, singing robot that incorporates early text-to-speech technology. The robot was created by the Austrian mathematician and inventor Joseph Faber. The machine had a humanoid female face connected to a keyboard with which it was possible to control the movement of the lips, jaws, and tongue.

Euphonia.

The bellows and ivory thread mimicked the human voice, and the tone was adjusted using a special screw.

Early 20th century: Robots Eric and Gakutenoku

During World War I, the Germans used unmanned miniature tank bombs that were radio-controlled.

Unmanned tanks of the First World War.

1928 saw the creation of the first British robot named Eric. The humanoid robot was created by engineer Alan Reffell and war veteran William Richards. The robot, controlled by two people, could move its head and arms and talk on the radio in real time. Its movements were controlled by a series of gears, ropes and pulleys.

Robot Eric.

The following year, the first Japanese robot, Gakutenoku, made its debut. Built in 1929 by biologist Makoto Nishimura, Gakutenoku was over two meters tall and could change his facial expression through the movement of gears and springs in his head, according to Novate.ru.

Gakutenoku is a robot.

However, Gakutenoku's greatest achievement was his ability to write Japanese characters. Unfortunately, the robot disappeared while on tour in Germany.

Mid XX century: The first neural networks and the Turing machine

Although the term "robot" was first used in the 1920s, it was not until 1942 that the term "robotics" appeared in Isaac Asimov's short story Runaround. In this story, Asimov outlined his three famous laws of robotics: robots must not harm people, robots must obey the orders of people, and robots must protect themselves from threats, provided that they do not violate either of the first two laws. Although these laws are written in fiction, they have served as the basis for many ethical issues related to robots and autonomous technology.

The first artificial neural networks appeared in the 1940s. In 1943, Warren McCulloch and Walter Pitts created a basic neural network using electrical circuits to better understand how neurons work in the brain. Their experiments paved the way for the first autonomous robots to display complex behavior through the use of artificial neural networks.

Robot Elmer.

In 1948 and 1949, William Gray Walter created two such robots: Elmer and Elsie, nicknamed the "turtles." The robots could react and move to light and returned to charging stations when their batteries were low.

Another landmark moment in the history of robotics came in 1950, when Alan Turing published the results of a test of artificial intelligence. The Turing test has become the benchmark in this area. It was Turing who determined to what extent machine intelligence is equal or indistinguishable from human intelligence.

Turing machine.