POSTER 2017, PRAGUE MARCH 24 1 Magicae Machinas Milestones in Robot and Automaton History Gil Goldman Dept. of Cybernetics, Czech Technical University, 120 00 Praha 2, Praha, Czech Republic [email protected], [email protected] Abstract. In this article, we will cover a brief history of what a robot is: in his famous 2015 article “The Road to automatons and robots throughout history, examine some Super Intelligence”, the blogger Tim Urban refers to robots of the world’s firsts, and cover a few modern intelligent simply as a “container for Artificial Intelligence”1. Andy and pre-intelligent systems. Rubin, inventor of the Android operating system, said in a 2016 interview with WIRED magazine that every machine We will discuss the Antikythera mechanism, Al Jazari’s could become a robot if it will “First… sense. Next, it must Floating Orchestra and Elephant clock, the work of Pierre compute. Then, it must actuate”2. The International Jaquet-Droz and Jacques de Vaucanson, and Tanaka’s Federation of Robotics (IFR) draws the distinction between famous Karakuri. We will also discuss modern robots such two types of robots: industrial robots - “An automatically as the pre-intelligent, remote or direct controlled Kuratas controlled, reprogrammable, multipurpose manipulator and TALON robots, and intelligent systems the likes of programmable in three or more axes, which may be either Asimo and Amazon’s robot swarms. fixed in place or mobile for use in industrial automation applications”3 – and service robots – “… is a robot that performs useful tasks for humans or equipment excluding Keywords industrial automation application”4. In professional circles, however, a robot is most commonly referred to as a Robotics, History, Automatons, Myths, Legends, machine capable of making decisions. Machines, history of robotics, history of automatons, robotics in mythology, modern robotics, industrial robotics, intelligent systems 2. Robots of the Past In this section, we will cover two aspects of robots in 1. What is a robot? history: humanoid machines in various mythologies and cultures, and actual automatons throughout history. We Robot. The very word conjures vivid and widely will contrast and compare their complexity, capabilities, varied images in our mind, visions of miraculous feats or of and purpose. terrible horrors. However, the definition of a robot and its cognitive weight have changed significantly across the centuries, between different countries and sometimes even from one person to the next. So before we review their history, we must first ask ourselves - What is a Robot? The term “Robot” comes from the medieval Czech- Slavic word “Robota”, originally meaning the work a 1 The Artificial Intelligence Revolution: Part 1 vassal, or peasant, was obliged to do for their ruling lord http://waitbutwhy.com/2015/01/artificial- for no payment. It was first used in its modern context in intelligence-revolution-1.html Karel Čapek’s 1920 play called “R.U.R”, Rossum’s Universal Robots (originally “Rossumovi Univerzální 2 What Is a Robot? Roboti” in Czech), which weaves the story of the creation of artificial humans to be used for cheap labor, quickly https://www.wired.com/2016/02/editors-letter- followed by the artificial humanoids revolt and the end of march-2016/ humanity. 3 Industrial robots according to the IFR: However, despite being the first to use the word, http://www.ifr.org/industrial-robots/ Čapek’s Robots are more akin to modern Cyborgs – 4 synthetic humanoids, rather than cognizant machines. As Service Robots definition according to the IFR: the word evolved and changed as it has sparked the http://www.ifr.org/service-robots imagination of thousands, resulting in many definitions for 2 GIL GOLDMAN, MILESTONES IN ROBOT AND AUTOMATON HISTORY 2.1 Mythical robots and humanoid However, perhaps the most renowned golem is the machines – golems, androids, and monsters Golem of Prague – brought to life by Rabbi Judah Loew Ben Bezalel, the Maharal of Prague, to fight those who From the day we have started producing artifacts, spread the infamous Blood Libels of the time. The Golem humanity has been enamored by the idea of infusing a was activated every Sunday and deactivated every Friday, inanimate object with artificial life. Along the centuries, we to prevent it from preforming sacrilege and violating have grown fond of telling fables of such instances when Saturday, or the holy Shabbat, during which Jews must rest legendary smiths and engineers have brought machines to and are forbidden from working. According to legend, one life. Friday night, the Rabbi forgot to deactivate the Golem, and it went on a rampage across Prague. The Rabbi eventually It seems that the first to tell the tale of cognizant caught up to the golem, fought it outside the Altneuschul – machines were the Chinese, apparently the first in history Prague’s old-new synagogue, and eventually defeated it by to have discovered the wonders of the automaton. as erasing the first letter of the word inscribed on the golems mentioned in The Writings of Master Lei (“列子” (Lei forehead, E’Met, thus changing its meaning from Truth to Zi), in Chinese). According to the Lei Zi, the ingenious Met – Dead. Jewish legend says the clay remains of the artificer Yan Shi has presumably created a fully functional, Maharal’s Golem were hidden in the Old-New synagogue’s human-like android for the entertainment of King Mu of th attic, where they remain locked to this day, waiting for a the Zhou Dynasty, approximately during the 10 century powerful rabbi to activate it again should it be needed to BC. The android has allegedly walked, talked, danced, protect the Jews of Prague. sang, and “…winked its eye and made advances to the ladies in attendance…”5. It is assumed that the android myth was created solely to glorify the Zhou Dynasty, as the 2.2 Ancient automatons – navigational book goes to great lengths to show that the androids computers and defecating ducks anatomy was compliant with the way human anatomy was perceived at the time of writing. We may find evidence of As is human nature, we have always aspired to it in the book in the form of “…The king tried the effect of achieve our fantasies and make our dreams reality – and the taking away the heart, and found that the mouth could no dream of a functioning automaton was not different. longer speak; he took away the liver and the eyes could no The first mechanism to be considered as an automaton longer see; he took away the kidneys and the legs lost their was the Antikythera Mechanism. Nicknamed “The World’s power of locomotion…”6. First Analog Computer”, the Antikythera Mechanism was Another famous instance of mythical humanoid discovered in April 1900 on a sunken ship near Antikythera machines are the Jewish Golems – powerful beings made Island in Greece, after which it is named. The mechanism of clay, dirt, or metal, created by the greatest and most was stored in the Athens National Museum for more than powerful Jewish Mekubbals (Jewish mystics) in times of 50 years, until in 1951 Professor Derek J. De Solla Price dire need or great danger. There are two general types of has heard of the device, and spent over 20 years Golems: the first type of Golem is created by Ashkenazi intermittently analyzing it with his colleague Charalampos mystics, made of clay or dirt, and draw its strength from Karakalos, a Greek nuclear physicist. words of power, usually derivatives of the 70 different The Antikythera Mechanism was recovered from the names for God in Jewish mythology, written on a piece of sunken ship as a block of dirt, rusty bronze, and tin, and parchment deposited in the Golem’s mouth. was later separated into its distinct 82 pieces7, and was The second type, the Sephardic Golems, were made dated to the year 87 BC, though more recent measurements of various metals (bronze, iron, etc.) and drew their power have estimated it to have been created up to 120 years from the astral effect of the stars. Golems, by their very earlier, around 200 BC. The mechanism is believed to definition, were machines – inanimate, mute humanoids, have been used as an astronomical clock – predicting E’Met) eclipses, holidays, and the cycles of the ancient Olympic ,אמת) activated by writing the Hebrew word Truth on a piece of jewelry given to the Golem, or directly unto Games. The mechanism’s front dial is assumed to have the Golem’s body. Golems were used mainly as labor, to been decorated with Zodiac signs and a Sothic Egyptian preform demanding and repetitive physical tasks or, thanks Calendar, whose month names were the original Egyptian to their hulking physique, as protection during times of names transcribed into Greek. strife. The first Golem in Jewish mythology is said to be The mechanism had a lever, which has yet to have Adam, the first man, created by god out of clay, and given been recovered, through which the mechanism was limited intelligence and purpose. operated. Rotating the lever would move a date pointer, which would be used to set the desired date. It was, 5 Joseph Needham, Science and Civilization in China: Volume 2 7 Gears from the Greeks. The Antikythera 6 J. Needham, Science and Civilization in mechanism: a calendar computer from ca 80 B.C., by De Solla Price, New York, NY (USA): Science China: Volume 2 History Publications POSTER 2017, PRAGUE MARCH 24 3 however, impossible to externally set a year to be His most famous invention, the Elephant Clock, was calculated, so a prerequisite to using the mechanism was to heavily influenced by Indo-Chinese clockwork technology, know the year to which it was calibrated.