robotculture

[robotculture]

The great elephant water-clock by the Islamic engineer and inventor Al-Jazari  (1136–1206). The clock had various moving parts including animated automatic animals. Learn more here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GmNBbLI8VUg

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A “karakuri” automaton in the form of a Tea Server, circa 1800. British Museum.

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Automaton of Hercules/Herakles slaying the Dragon of the Hesperides. A late Renaissance depiction of a 2nd century machine described by Hero of Alexandria in his book on Pneumatics.

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The Creation of Pandora- German illustrated card, early 20th century.

For information on the myth, primary texts and visual sources see:

article on Pandora @ Theoi.com

[robotculture]

Here some of my favorite covers for Philip K. Dick's masterpiece "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep". A number of automata sheep/lambs were actually made as toys in 19th century Paris. And of course "Dolly the sheep" entered the scene at the end of the 20th century as the first cloned mammal. 

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That tools could somehow be made to do our work for us was a fantasy that appealed to Aristotle, who writes in his politics: "if, in like manner, the shuttle would weave and the plectrum touch the lyre without a hand to guide them, chief workmen would not want servants, nor masters slaves..."

The dream of artificial servants echos down through the centuries, from the myths of Hephaistos and Daedalus who fashioned serving maids of metal and tripods that could wheel themselves in and out of rooms to serve gods or mortal kings to the flights of fancy of modern illustrators, Disney Imagineers and Japanese roboticists.

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In Fellini's 1975 film CASANOVA, the randy rogue finds himself enamored of a mechanical dancer named Rosalba. The eighteenth century was an era when elaborate automata became more common in European high culture- although no one ever created an actual android dancer of normal human proportions. Rosalba was played by the choreographer/dancer Leda Lojodice. The performance is stunning and perhaps the most compelling work of an actor playing a robot ever captured on film.

The scene can be seen here:

[robotculture]

One of the first flying machines in the records is the semi-legendary dove (or pigeon) of Archytas. According to the Latin author Aulus Gellius in his book "Attic Nights", the Greek mathematician Archytas created a wooden bird that was powered by steam and flew 200 meters. You can see a recreation of the famous invention at the Museum of Ancient Greek Technology.

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"At its core RoboEarth is a world wide web for robots: a giant network and database repository where robots can share information and learn from each other," said Rene van de Molengraft, the RoboEarth project leader.

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Watch the stunning trailer for the MIT Robot Opera DEATH AND THE POWERS!

[robotculture]

ROBOTS IN OPERA! Images from Tod Machover and Robert Pinsky's new opera about the future of earth in which robots attempt to understand the extinct species of homo sapiens:  "Death and the Powers" .

[robotculture]

The Greeks reported that there were temples in Egypt with statues that moved and doors that opened of their own accord. These fanciful illustrations of an automatic door and idols pouring libations are based in part on the mechanisms outlined in the writings of Heron of Alexandria.

source:  "The picture history of inventions, from plough to Polaris" by Umberto Eco, 1963.

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"The Theraphim of the Hebrews", from "Oedipus Aegyptiacus" by Athanasius Kircher, 1652-1654

 "Theraphim/teraphim" are small, religious objects mentioned in the Hebrew Bible, they are usually interpreted as either the household gods of the Jewish ancestors or some sort of oracular device. Abraham Ibn Ezra, the medieval rabbi, thought they might have been connected in some way to astrological powers. Others have connected them with the preserved heads or oracular skulls used by other near-eastern peoples.  In this sense they qualify as "talking statues" and could be thought of as an ancestor of the robot!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teraphim

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In the ancient world a number of shrines and temples were reputed to have statues that could speak. Egyptian statues with holes for speaking tubes have been found, leading to the conclusion that priests would use this kind of ventriloquism to give voice to the gods and impress the worshipers.

Source unknown. 20th century illustration

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Don Quixote is fooled into thinking a head of brass can speak- in actuality it's the old speaking tube in the statue trick!

Gobelins Tapestry C.1763 The Enchanted Head from the tales of Don Quixote. Photo credit: Clive Boursnell

[robotculture]

The dwarf and the brazen head, illustration from 'Valentine and Orson' (colour litho), Brock, Henry Matthew (1875-1960) (after) / Private Collection / The Bridgeman Art Library

source: http://www.bridgemanart.com/en-GB/asset/370578/Brock-Henry-Matthew-1875-1960-after/The-dwarf-and-the-brazen-head-illustration-from-%27

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Inside cover of "Valentine and Orson" by Walter Crane, 1897. The brothers are shown approaching the brazen head which reveals the secret of their parentage to them. source: https://archive.org/details/valentineorson00cran