People are used to thinking that robotics is an achievement
of 20th century science. But this is a deep misconception.
Self-acting mechanisms - automatons appeared in the days of
Ancient Greece. They were able to perform a certain set of
actions according to a rigidly set program without human
intervention. For example, a mechanical computer known as
the Antiochean Mechanism. Information about such automatons
is found in the Iliad. There tells how Hephaestus forged unusual
tripods for serving guests. But there is reliable information about
the mechanism of the Archite of Tarentum. In the 4th century BC,
he made a wooden dove that flew "with the help of a secret spring
and dropped to the ground without the slightest difficulty." Judaic
texts tell of the throne of King Solomon, that on its six steps there
were pairs of golden lions and eagles. The king, ascending to the
throne, pressed his feet on the steps of the throne seat, and the
animals began to move.
Another interesting invention from antiquity: the automaton
servant, created by Philo of Byzantine, a mechanic of the 3rd
century BC. NS. This miracle of robotics was intended for a
completely logical purpose - filling a bowl with wine, then mixing
it in exact proportions with water. The supply of liquids came from
two containers with tubes placed inside the mechanism. In the
16-18 centuries in Europe, robots became more widespread.
Automatons were human or animal-like mechanisms that could
perform complex movements. In the collection of the Smithsonian
Institution there is one of the earliest examples of such automatons
- the "Spanish monk" (about 40 cm in height), able to walk, hitting
his chest with his right hand and nodding his head; periodically
he brings the wooden cross in his left hand to his lips and kisses
him. It is believed to have been created in 1560.
In 1649, for King Louis XIV, artisans built an automaton consisting
of several miniature court ladies, lackeys and horses harnessed to
carriages. Vaucanson's automatons became especially famous in the
18th century. The man who played the flute; on the flute; a duck
eating food and watchmakers from Switzerland; a girl playing the
harmonium; writing boy. The latter had a mechanical memory. He
was able to record not one, but many different texts. Including
randomly. This terrified the public of that era.
In the same 18th century, evidence of mechanisms with a living
mind appeared. For example, in 1770 the inventor Wolfgang von
Kempelen, who served at the court of the Austrian Empress Maria
Theresa, invented a chess automaton for her - the Turk, which later
became the hero of one of Hoffmann's phantasmagorias. For more
than eighty years "Turok" beat almost all opponents, until it became
clear that a live chess player was hiding under the chess table. Such
mechanisms also existed in Russia. For example, Tsar Alexei
Mikhailovich had a pair of mechanical lions in the Kolomna Palace,
capable to some extent of adopting the movements of real animals.
The roaring lions' mechanisms were made in 1673 by Pyotr Vysotsky,
a watchmaker of the Armory. The most striking example of an
automaton can be considered the famous Peacock clock with figures
of birds, acquired by Catherine II.
It is known that in the 11th century in India was written "Samarangana
sutradhara" - a book, a treatise on architecture and mechanics, which
included descriptions of automatons, including even mechanical bees.
In Japan, automatons are called Karakuri dolls. They were of three
types: theatrical, miniature (home toys) and religious. Robots
participated in festivals and ceremonies, much like automatons in
ancient Greece. The karakuri fashion in Japan lasted from the 17th
to the 19th century.
But with the onset of the 20th century, by the beginning of the First
World War, the production of automatons practically disappeared. In
the 20th century, automatons were replaced by a massive clockwork toy.
One of the last known toy automatons was the most complex Russian
automaton, "The Revived Tree" by the Simbirsk master Alexei Morozov.
This is a one and a half by one and a half meters table, on which there
are 62 dolls performing various chores. The dolls are set in motion by
rotating the handle. All parts, gears, levers of the mechanism are made
of wood. This automaton was made between 1905 and 1912. And now
it is exhibited in the museum.
This is not a complete list of ancient robots. There are references to
combat automatons used in military conflicts and even in the battles of
the gods (aliens). Of course, all this was of a more modest scale than
modern wars. But if such technologies existed in antiquity, where did they
come from? From an ancient civilization or from space? The question is
still open.
