We observe the progress of modern robotics almost every day. We read various articles about new human assistants - robots.
But after all, even earlier, in earlier centuries, people dreamed and realized similar plans. Here are some examples of amazing early robots and automatons. Only when you consider medieval robots, remember that their inventors lived in a time when there was no electricity or gasoline. Only work by candlelight.
Note: An automaton is a clockwork mechanism (automaton) that outwardly resembles a humanoid robot or an animal. Some of them could perform quite complex movements, for example: writing, playing musical instruments. One of the most expensive dolls. 18th century doll. The cost is $ 6.25 million.
18th century doll.
Leonardo da Vinci is known all over the world for his inventions, many of them have survived to our time thanks to his drawings. For example: Leonardo's Robot, was developed around 1495, but we only learned about it in the 1950s. We do not know if Leonardo built such a robot in his time, but this one was assembled according to his drawings. And he even actually worked, he could even make a couple of movements.
A robot based on Leonardo's drawings.
Promotional video:
In England, the then famous astrologer and mathematician John Dee designed a wooden beetle in 1543 that could almost fly.
Wooden flying beetle.
And here are two automatons from the mid-sixteenth century. On the left is a German wooden figure of a monk, equipped with all sorts of levers thanks to which the monk could move his arms and legs. And on the right is an Italian automaton, a woman playing the lute.
Figures of a monk and a woman.
Eighteenth century automatons
French inventor Jacques de Vaucanson. Lived and worked in the eighteenth century. His most famous inventions are the brass ducks and the flutist. Ducks fluttered, beat their wings, pecked at the scattered food. The flutist was a human-sized automaton, inside of which were arranged springs and bellows, which conducted air into various parts of the mechanism so that the lips of the automaton and his fingers made the correct movements along the flute. Jacques Vaucanson's mechanisms are the key mystery of Best Deal.
Jacques de Vaucanson's duck.
A little later, in the same eighteenth century, a Swiss-born watchmaker Pierre Jaquet-Droz created three automatons: a musician, an artist, a calligrapher, which are still considered scientific miracles. The musician is actually a figure of a girl playing the organ and consisting of 2500 parts. The music played by the robot is not fake, is not recorded and is not played by the music box: the doll really touches the keys of the instrument with its fingers. The tool is custom made and consists of 24 tubes. The musician doll even “breathes” (you can see how her chest moves), as well as her eyes follow where her fingers move. The girl can play five melodies that were written by the son of the inventor - Henri-Louis Jacquet-Droz.
Automatons Musician and Calligrapher.
The artist's automaton was created in 1773 and consisted of 2,000 parts. He could paint three pictures: a portrait of Louis XV and his dog with the inscription "My dog", the royal couple Marie Antoinette and Louis XVI and a picture of Cupid, who drives a chariot drawn by butterflies. The mechanism controls the hands of the automaton and is responsible for lifting the pencil. In addition, the artist fidgets in his chair and periodically blows dust off the pencil.
Automaton Artist.
The calligrapher is the most complex automaton, assembled in 1772 and consisting of 6,000 parts. The mechanism is similar to the artist's automaton. A calligrapher can write 40-letter text using a quill pen. Periodically, the automaton dips the pen into the inkwell and shakes it off to avoid blotting. The eyes, just like the musician's, move after the text, and the head turns to the inkwell when he dips his pen there. Of course, the robots of the 18th century never dreamed of what modern robots are doing, but what they did in those "dense" times is shocking.
Three wonderful automatons by Pierre Jaquet-Droz.
In 1805, the inventor Henri Mellardé invented an automaton that wrote poetry in French and English. More than a hundred years later, in 1928, the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia purchased this robot for its museum. But the history of the robot was unclear and when acquiring it, the staff of the institute doubted the authenticity of the object. But already at the institute, years later, it was possible to establish an automaton and the first thing he wrote was: "Written by the automaton Mellard." At that moment, all doubts disappeared.
Henri Mellard's robot writing poetry and his manuscripts.
Joueuse de Tympanon A musical automaton was built in 1772, where a very beautiful young lady plays a musical instrument. She, like the automaton of Pierre Jacquet-Droz, plays for real, and does not reproduce music from a music box.
Joueuse de Tympanon.
And this Turk was invented in 1770 by Wolfgang von Kempelen. The mechanical Turk played chess masterly and even defeated Frederick II and Napoleon. The Turk was seated at a chess table, the doors of which were open and demonstrated a complex mechanism. But later it turned out that this whole structure was built on an illusion, and in fact a good chess player was hiding in the box and it was he who played for the mechanical Turk.
Turk is a chess player.
And here is a rather interesting exhibit from 1790 belonging to Tipu Sultan, the ruler of Mysore and a fierce opponent of the expansion of British rule in India. It is a wooden automaton containing a mini organ and depicting a roaring tiger attacking a European soldier.
A robot belonging to the Tip Sultan.
Vintage robots - helpers
Joseph Faber's machine, developed in the mid-nineteenth century, spoke English: it could read the alphabet, sing, laugh, and even utter individual phrases.
Joseph Faber's car.
1891-1893 George Moore, a native of Canada, made a human-sized automaton that was propelled by the steam generated in its body on a gas boiler. The goal of the automaton was a noble occupation - helping disabled people move around the city in a wheelchair.
1891-1893 invention by George Moore.
Another walking robot was introduced in 1900 by inventor Louis Philippe Peru. His robot was used as a coach carrier.
Robot cabby Louis Philippe Peru.
