Fantastic Robots in History.



I love robots…especially the old ones. The whole idea that humans as a species have been creating machines that emulate us is fascinating to me. Machines as helpers, as companions, as soldiers…the creation of an indestructible, programmable being of sorts. As I began to explore deeper into the history of robots I learned that this idea has been around longer than I had imagined.

Who invented the term robots? In 1956, George Devil and Joseph Engelberger formed the world’s first robot company, but writers have been dreaming about robots long before that.

The word robot was introduced to the public by Czech writer Karel Čapek in his play R.U.R. (Rossum’s Universal Robots), which premiered in 1921. The word was also spelled “robotnik”.The play begins in a factory that makes artificial people called robots, but they are closer to the modern ideas of androids and clones, creatures who can be mistaken for humans.

Creation of a robot soldier is nothing new

In 1495, Leonardo DaVinci designs a mechanical device that looks like an armored knight. The mechanisms inside “Leonardo’s robot” are designed to make the knight move as if there was a real person inside. 

Soviet robots on the march 

From English Russia: “Can it be so that Soviet Russian goverment concealed their plans of replacing Russian people with human like robots or androids? It could be a great step forward towards Soviet ideals - an average robot is much more convenient for a Soviet goverment than an average Soviet citizen. According to the photo first species of those robots were treated with all honours, I wonder why they closed the project? Was it a lack of budget?”

The benign bot

Though the common theme throughout robot fantasy is: man builds robot, robot kills man…there have been robots throughout history that have been friendly automatons. 

Many ancient mythologies include artificial people, such as the mechanical servants built by the Greek god Hephaestus. One Greek myth says about the “copper giant” named Thalos, which was also made by Hephaestus. Zeus ordained that the giant should defend the island of Crete. Thalos had an all-metal body topped with a horned head. There was a single artery running from top to toe of his body. The artery was plugged with a “copper nail.” The copper giant patrolled the island, and kept the enemy ships at bay by throwing rocks at them. He was also a mouthpiece of Minos, a king of Crete.

Interestingly, we find a similar description of a robot in the story of Chi Yu, the fabulous creature of ancient China. It had four eyes, six arms (manipulators?), some tridents in place of ears. To a certain extent, those three-pronged tools resemble Thalos’s radar antennas. Chi Yu was capable of moving along the broken terrain. It could also take off the ground for a brief period of time. The creature “fed” on rocks, sand, and even iron.

Early automata

The most famous automata was a mechanical duck by Jacques de Vaucanson in 1745 that flapped its wings, raised up on its legs, stretched its neck, and moved its intestines that were visible from the outside. Each wing contained over four hundred moving parts and even today it remains something of a mystery. The original Duck has disappeared. Vaucanson (1709 - 1782) was a French engineer credited with creating fine automata that some regard as world’s first robots. 

Three Depictions of a Robot Magician “Now watch carefully, ladies and gentlemen,” the robot seems to say (Left) as he holds up his fan for attention. Center, the robot raises the fan covering his face. Right, the Robot Magician flicks back his fan and discloses his head encased in the box. This robot Magician was made in 1890 and has a watchworks movement installed which enables him to perform his disappearing head act. It is part of an extensive robot collection owned by Monsieur Charliat, of Paris. 

Yasutaro Mitsui poses with his own steel humanoid, Tokyo, Japan, in 1932. One of my favorites, I love the hardcore riveted steel, vacuum tubes with a smile and a wave! I believe his robot looks friendlier than the inventor.

Fictional mechanical marvel of the twentieth century

I can’t discuss the history of robots without mentioning a fantastic (and fictional) site that presents Robots of the Victorian Era featuring Boilerplate…originally featured on site created by Paul Guinan in 2000 as an online pitch for a graphic novel. The Boilerplate site details the history of a remarkable robot built in the late 19th century by Professor Archibald Campion, and features photoshopped “archival images” in which Boilerplate is seen interacting with historical figures, such as Teddy Roosevelt and Pancho Villa. Becoming aware that some visitors to the site were taken in by its contents, making it an unintentional hoax, Guinan resolved to see how authentic he could make the character seem, working to ensure the descriptions of non-fictional events were accurate. He explained his motivation in a 2002 interview:

“Certainly I felt happy about having achieved my goal,” he said. “I put this thing across as trying to be real, and people bought into it. So, that’s a success! But, as an amateur historian, I feel a responsibility to get the story right. So I felt bad about some of these people being hoaxed. It was a mixed bag.”

“But,” he revealed, “I thought, if I was getting this reaction and I wasn’t really trying, then what would happen if I really tried?” Guinan estimated that roughly a third of the site’s visitors treated its faux history as real. People fooled by the site include comedian Chris Elliott, who thought the spoof dated back the 19th century and included the character in one of his books. Guinan later expanded his website into The History of Robots of the Victorian Era, which features other “turn-of-the-century robots, both real and imagined’.

Feature image can be found and purchased at MonsterCommute.com

 

One Response to “Fantastic Robots in History.”

1. Janeen Silliman says:

   June 6, 2009 at 10:56 am

   Excellent article. Well written and very interesting. I didn’t know about DaVinci’s drawings of a robot.