| The idea of artificial people dates at | | | | humanoid robot was made by Leonardo da |
| least as far back as the ancient legend | | | | Vinci (1452-1519) in around 1495. Da |
| of Cadmus, who sowed dragon teeth that | | | | Vinci's notebooks, rediscovered in the |
| turned into soldiers, and the myth of | | | | 1950s, contain detailed drawings of a |
| Pygmalion, whose statue of Galatea came | | | | mechanical knight able to sit up, wave |
| to life. In Greek mythology, the | | | | its arms and move its head and jaw. The |
| deformed god of metalwork (Vulcan or | | | | design is likely to be based on his |
| Hephaestus) created mechanical servants, | | | | anatomical research recorded in the |
| ranging from intelligent, golden | | | | Vitruvian Man. It is not known whether |
| handmaidens to more utilitarian | | | | he attempted to build the robot (see: |
| three-legged tables that could move | | | | Leonardo's robot). |
| about under their own power. Medieval | | | | An early automaton was created 1738 by |
| Persian alchemist Jabir ibn Hayyan, | | | | Jacques de Vaucanson, who created a |
| inventor of many basic processes still | | | | mechanical duck that was able to eat |
| used in chemistry today, included | | | | grain, flap its wings, and excrete. |
| recipes for creating artificial snakes, | | | | Many consider the first robot in the |
| scorpions, and humans in his coded Book | | | | modern sense to be a teleoperated boat, |
| of Stones. Jewish legend tells of the | | | | similar to a modern ROV, devised by |
| Golem, a clay statue animated by | | | | Nikola Tesla and demonstrated at an 1898 |
| Kabbalistic magic. Similarly, in the | | | | exhibition in Madison Square Garden. |
| Younger Edda, Norse mythology tells of a | | | | Based on his patents 613,809, 723,188 |
| clay giant, Makkurkalfi or Mistcalf, | | | | and 725,605 for "teleautomation", Tesla |
| constructed to aid the troll Hrungnir in | | | | hoped to develop the "wireless torpedo" |
| a duel with Thor, the God of Thunder. | | | | into an automated weapon system for the |
| The word robot was introduced by Czech | | | | US Navy. (Cheney 1989) Tesla also |
| writer Karel Capek in his play R.U.R. | | | | proposed but did not build remotely |
| (Rossum's Universal Robots) which was | | | | operated war planes and ground vehicles. |
| written in 1920 (See also Robots in | | | | He also predicted these remote |
| literature for details of the play). | | | | controlled machines were merely |
| However, the verb robotovat, meaning "to | | | | precursors of "machines possessed of |
| work" or "to slave", and the noun robota | | | | their own intelligence" (Cheney 1989). |
| (meaning corve) used in the Czech and | | | | See also the PBS website article (with |
| Slovak languages, has been used since | | | | photos) : Tesla - Master of Lightning: |
| the early 10th century. It was suggested | | | | Race of Robots |
| that the word robot had been coined by | | | | In the 1930s, Westinghouse made a |
| Karel Capek's brother, painter and | | | | humanoid robot known as Elektro. It was |
| writer Josef Capek. | | | | exhibited at the 1939 and 1940 World's |
| Concepts akin to today's robot can be | | | | Fairs while the first electronic |
| found as long ago as 450 BC when the | | | | autonomous robots were created by W. |
| Greek mathematician Archytas of Tarentum | | | | Grey Walter at Bristol University, |
| postulated a mechanical bird he called | | | | England in 1948. |
| "The Pigeon" which was propelled by | | | | The first human to be killed by a robot |
| steam. Heron of Alexandria (10AD-70AD) | | | | was 37 year-old Kenji Urada, a Japanese |
| made numerous innovations in the field | | | | factory worker, in 1981. According to |
| of automata, including (allegedly) one | | | | the Economist.com, Urada "climbed over a |
| that could speak. Al-Jazari (1136-1206) | | | | safety fence at a Kawasaki plant to |
| an Ortoqid (Artuk) Arab inventor | | | | carry out some maintenance work on a |
| designed and constructed automatic | | | | robot. In his haste, he failed to switch |
| machines such as water clocks, kitchen | | | | the robot off properly. Unable to sense |
| appliances and musical automats powered | | | | him, the robot's powerful hydraulic arm |
| by water (See one of his works at [6]). | | | | kept on working and accidentally pushed |
| One of the first recorded designs of a | | | | the engineer into a grinding machine." |