Automaton
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An automaton (plural: automata) is a self-operating machine. The word is sometimes used to describe a robot, more specifically an autonomous robot.
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History
Automata, from the Greek automatos, “acting of one’s own will, self-moving,” is more often used to describe non-electronic moving machines, however, especially those that have been made to resemble human or animal actions, such as the jacks on old public striking clocks, or the cuckoo and any other animated figures on a cuckoo clock.
The automata of ancient Egypt were intended as toys or tools for demonstrating basic scientific principles, including those built by Hero of Alexandria. When his writing on hydraulics, pneumatics, and mechanics were translated into Latin in the sixteenth century, Hero’s readers initiated reconstruction of his machines, which included siphons, a fire engine, a water organ, and various steam-powered devices.
The first recorded design of a humanoid automaton is credited to Leonardo da Vinci around the year 1495. The design of Leonardo's robot was not rediscovered until the 1950s. The robot, which appears in Leonardo's sketches, could, if built successfully, move its arms, twist its head, and sit up. The device was built (with a few modern mechanical advances in mind) and it actually functioned.
The sixteenth century witnessed a considerable revival of interest in automata. Hero's treatises were edited and translated into Latin and Italian. Numerous clockwork automata were manufactured, principally by the goldsmiths of the Free Imperial Cities of central Europe. These wondrous devices found a home in the cabinets of curiosities or 'Wunderkammern' of the princely courts of Europe. Hydraulic and pneumatic automata, similar to those described by Hero, were created for garden grottoes.
A new attitude towards automata is to be found in Descartes when he suggested that the bodies of animals are nothing more than complex machines - the bones, muscles and organs could be replaced with cogs, pistons and cams. Seventeenth-century France was the birthplace of those ingenious mechanical toys that were to become prototypes for the engines of the industrial revolution. Thus, in 1649, when Louis XIV was still a child, an artisan named Camus designed for him a miniature coach, and horses complete with footmen, page and a lady within the coach; all these figures exhibited a perfect movement. According to P. Labat, General de Gennes constructed, in 1688, in addition to machines for gunnery and navigation, a peacock that walked and ate.
The world's first successfully-built biomechanical automaton is considered to be The Flute Player, invented by the French engineer Jacques de Vaucanson in 1737. He also constructed a mechanical duck that could eat and defecate, seeming to endorse Cartesian ideas that animals are no more than machines of flesh.
In 1769, a chess-playing automaton called the Turk, created by Wolfgang von Kempelen, made the rounds of the courts of Europe, but in fact was a famous hoax, operated from inside by a hidden human operator.
Other Eighteenth Century automata makers include the prolific Frenchman Pierre Jaquet-Droz (see Jaquet-Droz automata) and his contemporary Henri Maillardet. Maillardet, a Swiss mechanician, created an automaton capable of drawing four pictures and writing three poems. Maillardet's Automaton is now part of the collections at The Franklin Institute Science Museum in Philadelphia.
Automata of this sort were also created in Japan and are known as Karakuri.
Contemporary automata continue this tradition with an emphasis on art, rather than technological sophistication. Contemporary automata are represented by the works of Cabaret Mechanical Theatre in the United Kingdom and Dug North in the United States.
A fascinating evolution of the mechanized toys developed during the XVIII and XIX century is represented by automata made with paper. The possibility to export the complete design throughout the world with a simple click of the mouse gives paper automata (and in general paper modelling) a great impact. Despite the relative semplicity of the material, paper automata intrinsecally are objects with a high degree of technology, where the principles of mechanics meet the artistic creativity. Popular sites where to find paper automata are, among the others: paperPino, Flying Pig, Paper Machines.
Other historic examples
Other notable examples of automata include Archytas's dove, mentioned by Aulus Gellius, Noct. Att. L. 10; and Regiomontanus's wooden eagle and iron fly, the former which, as Hakewill relates, flew forth of the city, met the emperor, saluted him, and returned. It is said that the iron fly flew out of Regiomontanus's hands at a feast, and taking a round, returned to him. Template:Ref label
Automata in fiction
- In 2000 video role-playing game Grandia II, the automata were soulless battle machines invented during the war between Granas and Valmar (good and evil god, respectively) about 10,000 years prior to the events of the game. One of them, Tio, joins the player's party at a certain point.
- In 2002 adventure game Syberia and its sequel, Syberia II, the automatons were a key plot device crucial to completing the main quest. Automatons' unique feature that set them apart from normal clockwork mechanisms was that they possessed a soul implanted into them by their creator, Hans Voralberg.
- In 2006, Square Enix introduced the Automaton into the world of Final Fantasy XI Online as a new gameplay feature in the Treasures of Aht Urhgan Expansion Pack.
Other meanings
- An automaton is a mathematical model for a finite state machine, see automata theory.
- Automaton is a rock band from Seattle, Washington.
- Automaton is a song by London's Neo New-Wave Band The Rakes(The b-side of recent single "work,work,work(pup,club,sleep))
The figure of Tik Tok, the "Mechanical Man of Oz", a sentient man made of clockwork, would be another example of a automaton.
References
See also
- Animatronics
- Automata theory
- Cellular automaton
- Dug North
- Finite state automaton
- Henri Maillardet
- Karakuri
- Mechatronics
- paperPino
- Pushdown automaton
- Pierre Jaquet-Droz
- Cabaret Mechanical Theatre
- Silver Swan