View source for Automaton

{{short description|Self-operating machine}}
{{distinguish|text=[[automation]] as a process}}
{{About|a self-operating machine|other uses|Automaton (disambiguation)|Automata|Automata (disambiguation)|text=}}
[[File:Mechanical Pinochio.gif|thumb|[[Pinocchio]] automaton]]

An '''automaton''' ({{IPAc-en|ɔː|ˈ|t|ɒ|m|ə|t|ən|audio=en-us-automaton.ogg}}; {{plural form}}: '''automata''' or '''automatons''') is a relatively self-operating [[machine]], or control mechanism designed to automatically follow a sequence of operations, or respond to predetermined instructions.<ref name="definition">{{Cite web |date=2024-01-04 |title=Definition of AUTOMATON |url=https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/automaton |access-date=2024-01-25 |website=www.merriam-webster.com |language=en}}</ref> Some automata, such as [[Jacquemart (bellstriker)|bellstrikers]] in mechanical clocks, are designed to give the illusion to the casual observer that they are operating under their own power or will, like a mechanical [[robot]]. The term has long been commonly associated with automated [[puppet]]s that resemble moving humans or animals, built to impress and/or to entertain people.

[[Animatronics]] are a modern type of automata with [[electronics]], often used for the portrayal of characters or creatures in films and in theme park attractions.

==Etymology==
The word ''{{linktext|automaton}}'' is the latinization of the [[Ancient Greek]] {{transliteration|grc|automaton}} ({{lang|grc|{{linktext|αὐτόματον}}}}), which means "acting of one's own will". It was first used by [[Homer]] to describe an automatic door opening,<ref>Homer, [[Iliad]], 5.749</ref> or automatic movement of wheeled tripods.<ref>Homer, Iliad, 18.376</ref> It is more often used to describe non-electronic moving machines, especially those that have been made to resemble human or animal actions, such as the jacks on old public striking [[clock]]s, or the [[cuckoo]] and any other animated figures on a [[cuckoo clock]].

==History==
===Ancient===
[[File:Hero - De automatis, 1589 - 116959.jpg|thumb|The book ''About automata'' by [[Hero of Alexandria]] (1589 edition)]]
There are many examples of automata in [[Greek mythology]]: [[Hephaestus]] created [[List of Greek mythological creatures#Automatons|automata]] for his workshop;<ref>Him she found sweating with toil as he moved to and fro about his bellows in eager haste; for he was fashioning tripods, twenty in all, to stand around the wall of his well-builded hall, and golden wheels had he set beneath the base of each that of themselves they might enter the gathering of the gods at his wish and again return to his house, a wonder to behold. ''Homer, Iliad'' [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0012.tlg001.perseus-eng1:18.360-18.387 18.371{{ndash}}376] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230108104928/http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0012.tlg001.perseus-eng1:18.360-18.387|date=2023-01-08}}</ref><ref>he{{nbsp}}... went forth halting; but there moved swiftly to support their lord handmaidens wrought of gold in the semblance of living maids. In them is understanding in their hearts, and in them speech and strength, and they know cunning handiwork by gift of the immortal gods. These busily moved to support their lord{{nbsp}}... ''Homer, Iliad'' [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0012.tlg001.perseus-eng1:18.388-18.427 18.417{{ndash}}421] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230108104930/http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0012.tlg001.perseus-eng1:18.388-18.427|date=2023-01-08}}</ref> [[Talos]] was an artificial man of bronze; King [[Alkinous]] of the [[Phaiakian#The palace of King Alkinoös|Phaiakians]] employed gold and silver watchdogs.<ref>The automatones of Greek Mythology [http://www.theoi.com/Ther/Automotones.html online] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131106003132/http://www.theoi.com/Ther/Automotones.html |date=2013-11-06 }} at the ''Theoi Project''.</ref><ref>Hyginus. Astronomica 2.1</ref> According to [[Aristotle]], [[Daedalus]] used [[mercury (element)|quicksilver]] to make his wooden statue of [[Aphrodite]] move.<ref>{{cite book |author=Aristotle |title=De Anima |chapter=Chapter 3 |year=1907 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |url=https://archive.org/stream/aristotledeanima005947mbp/aristotledeanima005947mbp_djvu.txt}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0104:entry=daedalus-bio-1&highlight=automata |title=A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology, Daedalus |access-date=2022-11-08 |archive-date=2022-11-08 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221108174445/http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0104:entry=daedalus-bio-1&highlight=automata |url-status=live }}</ref> In other Greek legends he used quicksilver to install voice in his moving statues.

The automata in the [[Hellenistic civilization|Hellenistic world]] were intended as tools, toys, religious spectacles, or [[prototype]]s for demonstrating basic scientific principles. Numerous water-powered automata were built by [[Ktesibios]], a Greek inventor and the first head of the [[Great Library of Alexandria]]; for example, he ''"used water to sound a whistle and make a model owl move. He had invented the world's first 'cuckoo clock{{' "}}''.{{efn|This "first cuckoo clock" was further stated and described in the 2007 book ''The Rise and Fall of Alexandria: Birthplace of the Modern World'' by Justin Pollard and Howard Reid on page 132: ''"Soon Ctesibius's clocks were smothered in stopcocks and valves, controlling a host of devices from bells to puppets to mechanical doves that sang to mark the passing of each hour – the very first cuckoo clock!"''}} This tradition continued in [[History of Alexandria|Alexandria]] with inventors such as the [[Greek mathematics|Greek]] mathematician [[Hero of Alexandria]] (sometimes known as Heron), whose writings on [[hydraulics]], [[pneumatics]], and [[mechanics]] described [[siphon]]s, a [[Fire apparatus|fire engine]], a [[water organ]], the [[aeolipile]], and a programmable cart.<ref>{{citation |title=The programmable robot from Ancient Greece |author=Noel Sharkey|publisher=New Scientist|url=https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg19526111-600-the-programmable-robot-of-ancient-greece/|date= July 4, 2007 |volume=2611}}</ref><ref>{{Citation | doi = 10.2307/2846790 | issn = 0038-7134 | volume = 29 | issue = 3 | pages = 477–487 | last = Brett | first = Gerard | title = The Automata in the Byzantine "Throne of Solomon" | journal = Speculum| date = July 1954 | postscript = . | jstor = 2846790 | s2cid = 163031682 }}</ref> [[Philo of Byzantium]] was famous for his inventions.

[[File:Antikythera Fragment A (Front).webp|thumb|right|The [[Antikythera mechanism]] from {{circa|200–80 BC}} was designed to calculate the positions of astronomical objects.]]
Complex mechanical devices are known to have existed in [[Hellenistic civilization|Hellenistic Greece]], though the only surviving example is the [[Antikythera mechanism]], the earliest known [[analog computer]].<ref>{{cite book|author=Harry Henderson|title=Encyclopedia of Computer Science and Technology|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3Tla6d153uwC&pg=PA13|access-date=28 May 2013|date=1 January 2009|publisher=Infobase Publishing|isbn=978-1-4381-1003-5|page=13|quote=The earliest known analog computing device is the Antikythera mechanism. }}</ref> The clockwork is thought to have come originally from [[Rhodes]], where there was apparently a tradition of mechanical engineering; the island was renowned for its automata; to quote [[Pindar]]'s seventh [[Ancient Greek literature|Olympic Ode]]:

:The animated figures stand
:Adorning every public street
:And seem to breathe in stone, or
:move their marble feet.

However, the information gleaned from recent scans of the fragments indicate that it may have come from the colonies of [[Corinth]] in [[Sicily]] and implies a connection with [[Archimedes]].

According to [[Jewish folklore|Jewish legend]], [[Solomon|King Solomon]] used his wisdom to design a [[Solomon#Throne|throne]] with mechanical animals which hailed him as king when he ascended it; upon sitting down an eagle would place a crown upon his head, and a dove would bring him a [[Torah]] scroll. It is also said that when King Solomon stepped upon the throne, a mechanism was set in motion. As soon as he stepped upon the first step, a golden ox and a golden lion each stretched out one foot to support him and help him rise to the next step. On each side, the animals helped the King up until he was comfortably seated upon the throne.<ref>{{cite web|first = Nissan |last = Mindel|url= http://www.chabad.org/holidays/purim/article_cdo/aid/1345/jewish/King-Solomons-Throne.htm |title=King Solomon's Throne|website=www.chabad.org}}</ref>

In [[ancient China]], a curious account of automata is found in the [[Lie Zi]] text, believed to have originated around 400 BCE and compiled around the fourth century CE. Within it there is a description of a much earlier encounter between [[King Mu of Zhou]] (1023–957 BCE) and a mechanical engineer known as Yan Shi, an 'artificer'. The latter proudly presented the king with a very realistic and detailed life-size, human-shaped figure of his mechanical handiwork:

{{blockquote|
The king stared at the figure in astonishment. It walked with rapid strides, moving its head up and down, so that anyone would have taken it for a live human being. The artificer touched its chin, and it began singing, perfectly in tune. He touched its hand, and it began posturing, keeping perfect time...As the performance was drawing to an end, the robot winked its eye and made advances to the ladies in attendance, whereupon the king became incensed and would have had Yen Shih [Yan Shi] executed on the spot had not the latter, in mortal fear, instantly taken the robot to pieces to let him see what it really was. And, indeed, it turned out to be only a construction of leather, wood, glue and lacquer, variously coloured white, black, red and blue. Examining it closely, the king found all the internal organs complete—liver, gall, heart, lungs, spleen, kidneys, stomach and intestines; and over these again, muscles, bones and limbs with their joints, skin, teeth and hair, all of them artificial...The king tried the effect of taking away the heart, and found that the mouth could no longer speak; he took away the liver and the eyes could no longer see; he took away the kidneys and the legs lost their power of locomotion. The king was delighted.<ref name="needham volume 2 53">Needham, Volume 2, 53.</ref>
}}

Other notable examples of automata include [[Archytas]]' dove, mentioned by [[Aulus Gellius]].<ref>''Noct. Att. L.'' 10</ref> Similar Chinese accounts of flying automata are written of the 5th century BC [[Mohism|Mohist]] philosopher [[Mozi]] and his contemporary [[Lu Ban]], who made artificial wooden birds ({{transliteration|zh|ma yuan}}) that could successfully fly according to the {{transliteration|zh|Han Fei Zi}} and other texts.<ref name="needham volume 2 54">Needham, Volume 2, 54.</ref>

===Medieval===
{{Cite check|section|date=January 2012}}
The manufacturing tradition of automata continued in the Greek world well into the Middle Ages. On his visit to [[Constantinople]] in 949 ambassador [[Liutprand of Cremona]] described automata in the emperor [[Theophilos (emperor)|Theophilos]]' palace, including 
{{blockquote|"lions, made either of bronze or wood covered with gold, which struck the ground with their tails and roared with open mouth and quivering tongue," "a tree of gilded bronze, its branches filled with birds, likewise made of bronze gilded over, and these emitted cries appropriate to their species" and "the emperor's throne" itself, which "was made in such a cunning manner that at one moment it was down on the ground, while at another it rose higher and was to be seen up in the air."<ref name="Safran1998">{{cite book |title=Heaven on Earth: Art and the Church in Byzantium |last=Safran |first=Linda |year=1998 |publisher=Penn State Press |location=Pittsburgh |isbn=0-271-01670-1 |page=30 }} Records Liutprand's description.</ref>}} 
Similar automata in the throne room (singing birds, roaring and moving lions) were described by Luitprand's contemporary the Byzantine emperor [[Constantine Porphyrogenitus]], in his book ''[[De Ceremoniis]]'' (Perì tês Basileíou Tákseōs).

In the mid-8th century, the first [[wind power]]ed automata were built: "statues that turned with the wind over the domes of the four gates and the [[Palace of the Golden Gate|palace complex]] of the [[Round city of Baghdad|Round City of Baghdad]]". The "public spectacle of wind-powered statues had its private counterpart in the '[[Abbasid]] palaces where automata of various types were predominantly displayed."<ref>{{citation|title=Medieval Islamic Civilization: An Encyclopedia |volume=2 |first=Josef W. |last=Meri |publisher=[[Routledge]] |year=2005 |isbn=0-415-96690-6 |page=711}}</ref> Also in the 8th century, the [[Alchemy and chemistry in medieval Islam|Muslim alchemist]], [[Jābir ibn Hayyān]] (Geber), included recipes for constructing artificial [[snake]]s, [[scorpion]]s, and [[human]]s that would be subject to their creator's control in his coded ''Book of Stones''. In 827, [[Abbasid caliph]] [[al-Ma'mun]] had a silver and golden tree in his palace in [[Baghdad]], which had the features of an automatic machine. There were metal birds that sang automatically on the swinging branches of this tree built by [[Inventions of the Islamic Golden Age|Muslim inventors]] and [[Timeline of science and engineering in the Islamic world|engineers]].<ref>Ismail b. Ali Ebu'l Feda history, Weltgeschichte, hrsg. von Fleischer and Reiske 1789–94, 1831.</ref>{{page needed|date=January 2012}} The Abbasid caliph [[al-Muqtadir]] also had a silver and golden tree in [[Taj Palace|his palace]] in Baghdad in 917, with birds on it flapping their wings and singing.<ref>{{cite book | last=Le Strange |first=Guy | author-link=Guy Le Strange | title=Baghdad during the Abbasid Caliphate: from contemporary Arabic and Persian sources |url= https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.68175 | publisher=Clarendon Press | location=Oxford | year=1922 | edition=2nd | page=[https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.68175/page/n330 256]}}</ref> In the 9th century, the [[Banū Mūsā]] brothers invented a [[Program (machine)|programmable]] automatic [[flute]] player and which they described in their ''[[Book of Ingenious Devices]]''.<ref name=Koetsier>{{cite journal |last1=Koetsier |first1=Teun |year=2001 |title=On the prehistory of programmable machines: musical automata, looms, calculators |journal=Mechanism and Machine Theory |volume=36 |issue=5 |pages=589–603 |publisher=Elsevier |doi=10.1016/S0094-114X(01)00005-2}}</ref>

[[Image:CIMA mg 8332.jpg|thumb|Automaton in the [[Centre International de la Mécanique d'Art|Swiss Museum CIMA]]]]
[[File:cima automaton.ogv|thumb|right|An automaton writing a letter in Swiss Museum CIMA]]
[[Al-Jazari]] described complex programmable [[Humanoid robot|humanoid automata]] amongst other machines he designed and constructed in the ''Book of Knowledge of Ingenious Mechanical Devices'' in 1206.<ref>{{cite journal | first=Lamia | last=Balafrej | title=Automated Slaves, Ambivalent Images, and Noneffective Machines in al-Jazari's Compendium of the Mechanical Arts, 1206 | url=https://doi.org/10.11588/xxi.2022.4.91685 |journal=21: Inquiries into Art, History, and the Visual | volume=3 | issue=4 | date=2022 |doi=10.11588/xxi.2022.4.91685 | pages=737–774| issn=2701-1569 }}{{cite web|url=https://muslimheritage.com/islamic-automation-al-jazaris-book-of-knowledge-of-ingenious-mechanical-devices/|first=Gunalan|last=Nadarajan|date=November 2008|title=Islamic Automation: Al-Jazari's Book of Knowledge of Ingenious Mechanical Devices}}</ref> His automaton was a boat with four automatic musicians that floated on a lake to entertain guests at royal drinking parties.<ref>{{citation|title=Book of Knowledge of Ingenious Mechanical Devices|last=al-Jazari|date=1026|chapter=Category II, Chapter 4|page=107}}</ref> His [[Mechanism (engineering)|mechanism]] had a programmable drum machine with pegs ([[Cam (mechanism)|cam]]s) that bump into little [[lever]]s that operate the [[Percussion instrument|percussion]]. The drummer could be made to play different rhythms and drum patterns if the pegs were moved around.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.shef.ac.uk/marcoms/eview/articles58/robot.html|title=A 13th Century Programmable Robot |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070629182810/http://www.shef.ac.uk/marcoms/eview/articles58/robot.html |archive-date=June 29, 2007 |publisher=[[University of Sheffield]]|website=shef.ac.uk}}</ref>

Al-Jazari constructed a [[hand washing]] automaton first employing the flush mechanism now used in modern [[flush toilet|toilet]]s. It features a female automaton standing by a [[Sink|basin]] filled with water. When the user pulls the lever, the water drains and the automaton refills the basin.<ref>{{citation |title=Robot Evolution: The Development of Anthrobotics |first=Mark E. |last=Rosheim |year=1994 |publisher=Wiley-IEEE |isbn=0-471-02622-0 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/robotevolutionde0000rosh/page/9 9–10] |url=https://archive.org/details/robotevolutionde0000rosh/page/9 }} also at [https://archive.org/details/robotevolutionde0000rosh/page/9 <!-- quote=Rosheim, Mark E. (1994), Robot Evolution: The Development of Anthrobotics. --> Internet Archive]</ref> His "peacock fountain" was another more sophisticated hand washing device featuring humanoid automata as [[Domestic worker|servant]]s who offer [[soap]] and [[towel]]s. Mark E. Rosheim describes it as follows: "Pulling a plug on the peacock's tail releases water out of the beak; as the dirty water from the basin fills the hollow base a float rises and actuates a [[Linkage (mechanical)|linkage]] which makes a servant figure appear from behind a door under the peacock and offer soap. When more water is used, a second float at a higher level trips and causes the appearance of a second servant figure—with a towel!"<ref name=Rosheim>{{citation |title=Robot Evolution: The Development of Anthrobotics |first=Mark E. |last=Rosheim |year=1994 |publisher=Wiley-IEEE |isbn=0-471-02622-0 |page=[https://archive.org/details/robotevolutionde0000rosh/page/9 9] |url=https://archive.org/details/robotevolutionde0000rosh/page/9 }} also at [https://archive.org/details/robotevolutionde0000rosh/page/9 <!-- quote=Rosheim, Mark E. (1994), Robot Evolution: The Development of Anthrobotics. --> Internet Archive]</ref>

Al-Jazari thus appears to have been the first inventor to display an interest in creating human-like machines for practical purposes such as manipulating the environment for human comfort.<ref>{{citation |title=Robot Evolution: The Development of Anthrobotics |first=Mark E. |last=Rosheim |year=1994 |publisher=Wiley-IEEE |isbn=0-471-02622-0 |page=[https://archive.org/details/robotevolutionde0000rosh/page/36 36] |url=https://archive.org/details/robotevolutionde0000rosh/page/36 }}</ref> Lamia Balafrej has also pointed out the prevalence of the figure of the automated slave in al-Jazari's treatise.<ref>{{cite journal | first=Lamia | last=Balafrej | title=Automated Slaves, Ambivalent Images, and Noneffective Machines in al-Jazari's Compendium of the Mechanical Arts, 1206 | url=https://doi.org/10.11588/xxi.2022.4.91685 |journal=21: Inquiries into Art, History, and the Visual | volume=3 | issue=4 | date=2022 |doi=10.11588/xxi.2022.4.91685 | pages=737–774| issn=2701-1569 }}</ref> Automated slaves were a frequent motif in ancient and medieval literature but it was not so common to find them described in a technical book. Balafrej has also written about automated female slaves, which appeared in timekeepers and as liquid-serving devices in medieval Arabic sources, thus suggesting a link between feminized forms of labor like housekeeping, medieval slavery, and the imaginary of automation.<ref>{{cite journal | first=Lamia | last=Balafrej | title=Instrumental Jawārī: On Gender, Slavery, and Technology in Medieval Arabic Sources |journal=Al-ʿUṣūr al-Wusṭā | volume=31 | date=2023 |doi=10.52214/uw.v31i.10486 | pages=96–126| issn=1068-1051 | doi-access=free }}</ref>

In 1066, the Chinese inventor Su Song built a [[water clock]] in the form of a tower which featured mechanical figurines which chimed the hours.<ref>Needham, Volume 4, Part 2, 111.</ref>

''[[Samarangana Sutradhara]]'', a [[Sanskrit]] treatise by [[Bhoja]] (11th century), includes a chapter about the construction of mechanical contrivances (automata), including mechanical bees and birds, fountains shaped like humans and animals, and male and female dolls that refilled oil lamps, danced, played instruments, and re-enacted scenes from Hindu mythology.<ref>{{cite book|last=Varadpande|first=Manohar Laxman|year=1987|title=History of Indian Theatre, Volume 1|page=68|publisher=Abhinav Publications |isbn=9788170172215|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SyxOHOCVcVkC&pg=PA68}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last= Wujastyk|first=Dominik|year=2003|title=The Roots of Ayurveda: Selections from Sanskrit Medical Writings|page=222|publisher=Penguin |isbn=9780140448245|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TaZCwjtmzZYC&q=automata&pg=PA222}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Needham|first=Joseph|year=1965|title=Science and Civilisation in China: Volume 4, Physics and Physical Technology Part 2, Mechanical Engineering|page=164|publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=9780521058032|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SeGyrCfYs2AC&q=bhoja+automata&pg=PA164}}</ref> {{better source needed|date=April 2024}}

[[Villard de Honnecourt]], in his 1230s sketchbook, depicted an early escapement mechanism in a drawing titled ''How to make an angel keep pointing his finger toward the Sun'' with an angel that would perpetually turn to face the sun. He also drew an automaton of a bird with jointed wings, which led to their design implementation in clocks.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Bedini |first=Silvio A. |date=1964 |title=The Role of Automata in the History of Technology |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/3101120 |journal=Technology and Culture |volume=5 |issue=1 |pages=24–42 |doi=10.2307/3101120 |jstor=3101120 |s2cid=112528180 |issn=0040-165X|url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=de Solla Price |first=Derek J. |date=1964 |title=Automata and the Origins of Mechanism and Mechanistic Philosophy |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/3101119 |journal=Technology and Culture |volume=5 |issue=1 |pages=9–23 |doi=10.2307/3101119 |jstor=3101119 |issn=0040-165X|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

At the end of the thirteenth century, [[Robert II, Count of Artois]], built a pleasure garden at his castle at [[Hesdin]] that incorporated several automata as entertainment in the walled park. The work was conducted by local workmen and overseen by the Italian knight Renaud Coignet. It included monkey marionettes, a sundial supported by lions and "wild men", mechanized birds, mechanized fountains and a bellows-operated organ. The park was famed for its automata well into the fifteenth century before it was destroyed by English soldiers in the sixteenth century.<ref name="The Garden of Earthly Delights: Mahaut of Artois and the Automata at Hesdin, Elly R. Truitt">{{cite journal | doi=10.17077/1536-8742.1850 | title=The Garden of Earthly Delights: Mahaut of Artois and the Automata at Hesdin | date=2010 | last1=Truitt | first1=Elly R. | journal=Medieval Feminist Forum | volume=46 | pages=74–79 | url=https://repository.brynmawr.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1023&context=history_pubs | url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Landsberg |first=Sylvia |title=The Medieval Garden |year=1995 |publisher=Thames and Hudson |location=New York |page=22}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Macdougall |first=Elisabeth B |title=Medieval Gardens |year=1986 |publisher=Dumbarton Oaks |isbn=9780884021469 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=i6lciEEzyZ8C&q=hesdin+AND+%28park+OR+gardens%29+Robert&pg=PA127 |access-date=19 July 2012}}</ref>

The Chinese author Xiao Xun wrote that when the [[Ming dynasty]] founder [[Hongwu Emperor|Hongwu]] (r. 1368–1398) was destroying the palaces of [[Khanbaliq]] belonging to the previous [[Yuan dynasty]], there were—among many other mechanical devices—automata found that were in the shape of tigers.<ref name="needham volume 4 part 2 133 508">Needham, Volume 4, Part 2, 133 & 508.</ref>

===Renaissance and early modern===
[[File:Horlogerie-Musée des Arts décoratifs de Strasbourg (1).jpg|thumb|First Strasbourg clock rooster, worked from 1352 to 1789.]]
[[File:Cuckoo strikes the 8th hour.ogv|thumb|right|A [[cuckoo clock]] with a built-in automaton of a [[cuckoo]] that flaps its wings and opens its beak in time to the sounds of the cuckoo call to mark the number of hours on the analogue dial]]
[[File:Clockwork crayfish automoton, made in Augsburg 1589, Technical Instrument Museum, Dresden.jpg|thumb|Clockwork crayfish automaton, made in Augsburg in 1589, Technical Instrument Museum, Dresden]]
The [[Renaissance]] witnessed a considerable revival of interest in automata. Hero's treatises were edited and translated into Latin and Italian. Hydraulic and pneumatic automata, similar to those described by Hero, were created for garden [[grotto]]es.

[[Giovanni Fontana (engineer)|Giovanni Fontana]], a [[Padua]]n engineer in 1420, developed ''Bellicorum instrumentorum liber''{{efn| Full title: ''Bellicorum instrumentorum liber, cum figuris et fictitys litoris conscriptus'', Latin for "Illustrated and encrypted book of war instruments"<ref>{{cite web|title=''Bellicorum Instrumentorum Liber'' {{!}} The Faith of a Heretic|url=http://www.krauselabs.net/writings/bellicorum-instrumentorum-liber/|website=www.krauselabs.net|date=5 November 2015 |access-date=23 November 2016}}</ref>}} which includes a puppet of a [[camelidae|camelid]] driven by a clothed primate twice the height of a human being and an automaton of Mary Magdalene.<ref>{{cite book|editor-last=Riskin|editor-first=Jessica|title=Genesis Redux: Essays in the History and Philosophy of Artificial Life|date=2007|publisher=University of Chicago Press|location=Chicago [u.a.]|isbn=9780226720807|edition=[Online-Ausg.].}}</ref> He also created mechanical devils and rocket-propelled animal automata.<ref>{{Citation |last=Grafton |first=Anthony |title=The Devil as Automaton |date=2007 |work=Genesis Redux |pages=46–62 |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.7208/chicago/9780226720838.003.0003 |access-date=2024-02-18 |publisher=University of Chicago Press |doi=10.7208/chicago/9780226720838.003.0003 |isbn=978-0-226-72081-4|url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last1=Battisti |first1=Eugenio |title=Le macchine cifrate di Giovanni Fontana: con la riproduzione del Cod. icon. 242 della Bayerische Staatsbibliothek di Monaco di Baviera e la decrittazione di esso e del Cod. lat. nouv. acq. 635 della Bibliothèque nationale di Parigi |last2=Saccaro Del Buffa Battisti |first2=Giuseppa |last3=Fontana |first3=Giovanni |date=1984 |publisher=Arcadia Edizioni |isbn=978-88-85684-06-5 |location=Milano}}</ref>

[[File:Statues on Prague Astronomical Clock 2014-01 (landscape mode) 3.jpg|thumb|Bell-ringing Death on [[Prague astronomical clock]]]]
While functional, early clocks were also often designed as novelties and spectacles which integrated features of automata. Many big and complex clocks with automated figures were built as public spectacles in European [[town centre]]s. One of the earliest of these large clocks was the [[Strasbourg astronomical clock]], built in the 14th century which takes up the entire side of a cathedral wall. It contained an astronomical calendar, automata depicting animals, saints and the life of Christ. The mechanical rooster of Strasbourg clock was active from 1352 to 1789.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Ungerer |date=1921 |title=L'Horloge Astronomique de la Cathedrale de Strasbourg. |journal=L'Astronomie |volume=35 |pages=89–102|bibcode=1921LAstr..35...89U }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |title=1921LAstr..35...89U Page 91 |url=https://articles.adsabs.harvard.edu//full/1921LAstr..35...89U/0000095.000.html |access-date=2024-02-19 |journal=L'Astronomie|bibcode=1921LAstr..35...89U |last1=Ungerer |first1=Alfred |author2=La Redaction |date=1921 |volume=35 |page=89 }}</ref> The clock still functions to this day, but has undergone several restorations since its initial construction. The [[Prague astronomical clock]] was built in 1410, animated figures were added from the 17th century onwards.<ref name="realhistory">{{cite web | url=http://roborobotics.com/Animatronics/history-of-animatronics.html | title=The Real History of Animatronics | publisher=Rogers Studios | access-date=August 4, 2014}}</ref> Numerous clockwork automata were manufactured in the 16th century, principally by the goldsmiths of the [[Free imperial city|Free Imperial Cities]] of central Europe. These wondrous devices found a home in the [[cabinet of curiosities]] or ''Wunderkammern'' of the princely courts of Europe.

In 1454, [[Philip the Good|Duke Philip]] created an entertainment show named ''The extravagant [[Feast of the Pheasant]]'', which was intended to influence the Duke's peers to participate in a crusade against the Ottomans but ended up being a grand display of automata, giants, and dwarves.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Bowles|first1=Edmund A.|title=Instruments at the Court of Burgundy (1363–1467)|journal=The Galpin Society Journal|date=1953|volume=6|pages=41–51|doi=10.2307/841716|jstor=841716}}</ref>

A banquet in Camilla of Aragon's honor in Italy, 1475, featured a lifelike automated camel.<ref name="Sill2000">{{cite journal |last1=Sill |first1=Christina Rose |date=2013-04-10 |title=A Survey of Androids and Audiences: 285 BCE to the Present Day |url=http://summit.sfu.ca/system/files/iritems1/12906/etd7811_CSill.pdf |journal=Summit Research Repository |publisher=Simon Fraser University |pages=1, 16}}</ref> The spectacle was a part of a larger parade which continued over days.

[[Leonardo da Vinci]] sketched a complex mechanical knight, which he may have built and exhibited at a celebration hosted by [[Ludovico Sforza]] at the court of Milan around 1495. The design of [[Leonardo's robot]] was not rediscovered until the 1950s. A functional replica was later built that could move its arms, twist its head, and sit up.<ref name="nih">{{cite journal |title = The da Vinci robot|journal = J. Endourol.|volume = 20|issue = 12|pages = 986–90|quote = ... the date of the design and possible construction of this robot was 1495 ... Beginning in the 1950s, investigators at the University of California began to ponder the significance of some of da Vinci's markings on what appeared to be technical drawings ... It is now known that da Vinci's robot would have had the outer appearance of a Germanic knight.|pmid = 17206888|doi = 10.1089/end.2006.20.986|date = December 2006|last1 = Moran|first1 = M. E.}}
</ref>

Da Vinci is frequently credited with constructing a mechanical [[lion]], which he presented to [[Francis I of France|King Francois I]] in [[Lyon]] in 1515. Although no record of the device's original designs remain, a recreation of this piece is housed at the [[Clos Lucé|Château du Clos Lucé]].<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-france-davinci-lion/da-vincis-lion-prowls-again-after-500-years-idUSTRE57D1MQ20090814|title=Da Vinci's lion prowls again after 500 years|last=Shirbon|first=Estelle|date=August 14, 2009|work=Reuters|access-date=April 12, 2019}}</ref>

The [[Smithsonian Institution]] has in its collection a clockwork monk, about {{convert|15|in|abbr=on}} high, possibly dating as early as 1560. The monk is driven by a key-wound spring and walks the path of a square, striking his chest with his right arm, while raising and lowering a small wooden cross and rosary in his left hand, turning and nodding his head, rolling his eyes, and mouthing silent obsequies. From time to time, he brings the cross to his lips and kisses it. It is believed that the monk was manufactured by [[Juanelo Turriano]], mechanician to the [[Holy Roman Emperor]] [[Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor|Charles V]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Clockwork Prayer: Introduction, Elizabeth King |url=https://blackbird-archive.vcu.edu/v1n1/nonfiction/king_e/prayer_introduction.htm |access-date=2024-01-25 |website=blackbird-archive.vcu.edu}}</ref>

The first description of a modern [[cuckoo clock]] was by the [[Augsburg]] nobleman [[Philipp Hainhofer]] in 1629.<ref name=cuckoo>{{cite book|last1=Molesworth|title=The Cuckoo Clock|date=1914|publisher=JB Lippincott Company|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ut81AQAAMAAJ|access-date=10 August 2014}}</ref> The clock belonged to Prince Elector [[August, Elector of Saxony|August von Sachsen]]. By 1650, the workings of mechanical cuckoos were understood and were widely disseminated in [[Athanasius Kircher]]'s handbook on music, ''[[Musurgia Universalis]]''. In what is the first documented description of how a mechanical cuckoo works, a mechanical organ with several automated figures is described.<ref>{{cite book|first1=Athanasius |last1=Kircher |title=Musurgia Universalis sive Ars magna consoni & dissoni |location=Rome |date=1650 |volume=2 |page=343f and Plate XXI}}</ref> In 18th-century Germany, clockmakers began making cuckoo clocks for sale.<ref name="realhistory"/> Clock shops selling cuckoo clocks became commonplace in the [[Black Forest]] region by the middle of the 18th century.<ref>{{Cite book|title = Rare and Unusual Black Forest Clocks|last = Miller|first = Justin|publisher = Schiffer|year = 2012|page = 30}}
</ref>

[[Image:Takeda Oumi karakuri.jpg|thumb|A Japanese automata theater in Osaka, drawn in 18th century. The Takeda family opened their automata theater in 1662.]]
[[Japan]] adopted clockwork automata in the early 17th century as "[[karakuri puppet|karakuri]]" puppets. In 1662, Takeda Omi completed his first ''butai karakuri'' and then built several of these large puppets for theatrical exhibitions. Karakuri puppets went through a golden age during the [[Edo period]] (1603–1867).<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|title=Robots that Talk and Listen: Technology and Social Impact|last=Markowitz|first=Judith|date=2014|publisher=Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG|isbn=9781614516033|location=Berlin|page=33}}</ref>

A new attitude towards automata is to be found in [[René Descartes]] when he suggested that the bodies of animals are nothing more than complex machines – the bones, muscles and organs could be replaced with [[gear|cogs]], [[piston]]s, and [[Cam (mechanism)|cam]]s. Thus [[mechanism (philosophy)|mechanism]] became the standard to which [[Nature]] and the [[organism]] was compared.<ref>{{cite book |author1=Duane P. Schultz |author2=Sydney Ellen Schultz |title=A History of Modern Psychology |pages=28–34 |publisher=Thompson Wadsworth |year=2008}}</ref> [[France]] in the 17th century was the birthplace of those ingenious [[mechanical toy]]s that were to become prototypes for the engines of the [[Industrial Revolution]]. Thus, in 1649, when [[Louis XIV of France|Louis XIV]] was still a child, [[François-Joseph de Camus]] designed for him a miniature coach, complete with horses and footmen, a page, and a lady within the coach; all these figures exhibited a perfect movement. According to [[Jean-Baptiste Labat|Labat]], [[Jean-Baptiste de Gennes|General de Gennes]] constructed, in 1688, in addition to machines for gunnery and navigation, a peacock that walked and ate. [[Athanasius Kircher]] produced many automata to create Jesuit shows, including a statue which spoke and listened via a [[speaking tube]].

[[File:Vaucanson Automata.jpg|thumb|right|All three of Vaucanson's Automata: [[Vaucanson Flute Player|The Flute Player]], The Tambourine Player, and Digesting Duck]]
[[File:MechaDuck.png|thumb|A postulated interior of the [[Digesting Duck|Duck of Vaucanson]] (1738–1739)]]
The world's first successfully-built biomechanical automaton is considered to be ''[[Vaucanson Flute Player|The Flute Player]]'', which could play twelve songs, created by the French engineer [[Jacques de Vaucanson]] in 1737. He also constructed ''The Tambourine Player'' and the ''[[Digesting Duck]]'', a mechanical duck that – apart from quacking and flapping its wings – gave the false illusion of eating and defecating, seeming to endorse Cartesian ideas that animals are no more than machines of flesh.<ref name="vaucanson">{{cite journal|last1=Fryer|first1=David M.|last2=Marshall|first2=John C.|title=The Motives of Jacques de Vaucanson|journal=Technology and Culture|volume=20|issue=2|page=257|doi=10.2307/3103866|jstor=3103866|year=1979|s2cid=111617989 }}</ref>

In 1769, a chess-playing machine called [[Mechanical Turk|the Turk]], created by [[Wolfgang von Kempelen]], made the rounds of the courts of [[Europe]] purporting to be an automaton.<ref name="randi" />{{rp|34}} The Turk beat [[Benjamin Franklin]] in a game of chess when Franklin was ambassador to France.<ref name="randi" />{{rp|34–35}} The Turk was actually operated from inside by a hidden human director, and was not a true automaton.

[[File:Maillardet's automaton at the Franklin Institute.webm|thumb|[[Maillardet's automaton]] is drawing a picture.]]
[[File:Tipu's Tiger with keyboard on display 2006AH4168.jpg|thumb|[[Tipu's Tiger]] made for [[Tipu Sultan]] of [[Mysore]], featuring a European soldier being mauled by a tiger]]
Other 18th century automaton makers include the prolific Swiss [[Pierre Jaquet-Droz]] (see [[Jaquet-Droz automata]]) and his son Henri-Louis Jaquet-Droz, and his contemporary [[Henri Maillardet]]. Maillardet, a Swiss mechanic, 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]]. Belgian-born [[John Joseph Merlin]] created the mechanism of the [[Silver Swan (automaton)|Silver Swan]] automaton, now at [[Bowes Museum]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.thebowesmuseum.org.uk/Collections/ExploreTheCollection/TheSilverSwan.aspx|title=The Bowes Museum > Collections > Explore The Collection > The Silver Swan|website=www.thebowesmuseum.org.uk|access-date=2014-10-01|archive-date=2016-12-11|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161211085541/http://thebowesmuseum.org.uk/Collections/ExploreTheCollection/TheSilverSwan.aspx|url-status=dead}}</ref> A musical elephant made by the French [[clockmaker]] Hubert Martinet in 1774 is one of the highlights of [[Waddesdon Manor]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7YEPhe2Gp0Y|title=A Marvellous Elephant – Waddesdon Manor|last=Waddesdon Manor|date=22 July 2015|via=YouTube}}</ref> [[Tipu's Tiger]] is another late-18th century example of automata, made for [[Tipu Sultan]], featuring a European soldier being mauled by a tiger. [[Catherine the Great]] of Russia was gifted a very large and elaborate [[Peacock Clock]] created by James Cox in 1781 now on display in the [[Hermitage Museum]] in [[Saint Petersburg]].

According to philosopher [[Michel Foucault]], [[Frederick II of Prussia|Frederick the Great]], [[Kingdom of Prussia|king of Prussia]] from 1740 to 1786, was "obsessed" with automata.<ref>Michel Foucault, ''[[Discipline and Punish]]'', New York, Vintage Books, 1979, p.136: "The classical age discovered the body as object and target of power... The great book of Man-the-Machine was written simultaneously on two registers: the anatomico-metaphysical register, of which Descartes wrote the first pages and which the physicians and philosophers continued, and the technico-political register, which was constituted by a whole set of regulations and by empirical and calculated methods relating to the army, the school and the hospital, for controlling or correcting the operations of the body. These two registers are quite distinct, since it was a question, on one hand, of submission and use and, on the other, of functioning and explanation: there was a useful body and an intelligible body... The celebrated automata [of the 18th century] were not only a way of illustrating an organism, they were also political puppets, small-scale models of power: Frederick, the meticulous king of small machines, well-trained regiments and long exercises, was obsessed with them."</ref> According to [[Manuel de Landa]], "he put together his armies as a well-oiled [[clockwork]] mechanism whose components were robot-like warriors".

In 1801, [[Joseph Marie Jacquard|Joseph Jacquard]] built [[Jacquard loom|his loom automaton]] that was controlled autonomously with punched cards.

Automata, particularly watches and clocks, were popular in China during the 18th and 19th centuries, and items were produced for the Chinese market. Strong interest by Chinese collectors in the 21st century brought many interesting items to market where they have had dramatic realizations.<ref name=NYT>{{cite news|last=Kolesnikov-Jessop|first=Sonia|title=Chinese Swept Up in Mechanical Mania|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/26/fashion/26iht-ACAW-AUTOMATON26.html|access-date=November 25, 2011|newspaper=The New York Times|date=November 25, 2011|quote=Mechanical curiosities were all the rage in China during the 18th and 19th centuries, as the Qing emperors developed a passion for automaton clocks and pocket watches, and the "Sing Song Merchants", as European watchmakers were called, were more than happy to encourage that interest.}}</ref>

===Modern===
The famous magician [[Jean-Eugène Robert-Houdin]] (1805–1871) was known for creating automata for his stage shows.<ref name="copperfield-2021">{{Cite book |last1=Copperfield |first1=David |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1236259508 |title=David Copperfield's history of magic |last2=Wiseman |first2=Richard |last3=Britland |first3=David |date=2021 |isbn=978-1-9821-1291-2 |location=New York, NY |oclc=1236259508 |author-link=David Copperfield (illusionist) |author-link2=Richard Wiseman}}</ref><ref name="randi">{{Cite book |last=Randi |first=James |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/26162991 |title=Conjuring |date=1992 |publisher=St. Martin's Press |isbn=0-312-08634-2 |location=New York |oclc=26162991|author-link=James Randi}}</ref>{{rp|33}} Automata that acted according to a set of preset instructions were popular with magicians during this time.<ref name="randi" />{{rp|33}}

[[File:Automa Manzetti 1840.JPG|thumb|150px|The flute-player by [[Innocenzo Manzetti]] (1840)]]
In 1840, Italian inventor [[Innocenzo Manzetti]] constructed a [[flute]]-playing automaton, in the shape of a man, life-size, seated on a chair. Hidden inside the chair were levers, connecting rods and [[compressed air]] tubes, which made the automaton's lips and fingers move on the flute according to a program recorded on a cylinder similar to those used in [[player piano]]s. The automaton was powered by clockwork and could perform 12 different arias. As part of the performance, it would rise from the chair, bow its head, and roll its eyes.[[Image:Alexander Pushkin automaton android by François Junod.JPG|thumb|right|[[Alexander Pushkin]] automaton (2010) by Swiss automaton maker François Junod]] 
The period between 1860 and 1910 is known as "The Golden Age of Automata". Mechanical coin-operated fortune tellers were introduced to boardwalks in Britain and America.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.americanantiquities.com/Journal%20Articles/Fortune%20Telling%20machines.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201019031915/https://www.americanantiquities.com/Journal%20Articles/Fortune%20Telling%20machines.html|url-status=usurped|archive-date=October 19, 2020|title=Fortune Telling Machines|last=Keyser|first=Cheryl|access-date=2020-10-15|language=en}}</ref> In Paris during this period, many small family based companies of automata makers thrived. From their workshops they exported thousands of clockwork automata and mechanical singing birds around the world. Although now rare and expensive, these French automata attract collectors worldwide. The main French makers were [[Blaise Bontems|Bontems]], Lambert, Phalibois, Renou, [[Roullet & Decamps]], Theroude and Vichy.

Abstract automata theory started in mid-20th century with [[finite automata]];<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.rutherfordjournal.org/article030107.html | title=The Structures of Computation and the Mathematical Structure of Nature | first=Michael S. | last=Mahoney | publisher=The Rutherford Journal | access-date=7 June 2020 }}</ref> it is applied in branches of [[formal science|formal]] and [[natural science]] including [[computer science]], [[physics]], [[biology]], as well as [[linguistics]].

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]], [[Thomas Kuntz]],<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.artomic.com/gallery/automata/automata.html|title=Artomic Automata|website=artomic.com|access-date=2008-04-25|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100305195010/http://www.artomic.com/gallery/automata/automata.html|archive-date=2010-03-05|url-status=dead}}</ref> [[Arthur Ganson]], [[Joe Jones (Fluxus musician)|Joe Jones]] and [[Le Défenseur du Temps]] by French artist [[Jacques Monestier]].

Since 1990 Dutch artist [[Theo Jansen]] has been building large automated PVC structures called ''strandbeest'' (beach animal) that can walk on wind power or compressed air. Jansen claims that he intends them to automatically evolve and develop [[artificial intelligence]], with herds roaming freely over the beach.

British sculptor [[Sam Smith (English sculptor)|Sam Smith]] (1908–1983) was a well-known maker of automata.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://sam-smith.org/bio/|title=Biography, Sam Smith 1908–1983 &#124; Sam Smith|date=21 May 2013 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://sam-smith.org/events/|title=Events: Sam Smith|date=21 May 2013 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.serpentinegalleries.org/whats-on/sam-smith/|title=H C Westermann/Sam Smith |website=Serpentine Galleries}}</ref>

===Proposals===
In 2016, the [[NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts]] program studied a rover, the [[Automaton Rover for Extreme Environments]], designed to survive for an extended time in Venus' environmental conditions. Unlike other modern automata, AREE is an automaton instead of a [[robot]] for practical reasons—Venus's harsh conditions, particularly its surface temperature of {{Convert|462|C|F}}, make operating electronics there for any significant time impossible. It would be controlled by a [[mechanical computer]] and driven by wind power.<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.nasa.gov/feature/automaton-rover-for-extreme-environments-aree |title=Automaton Rover for Extreme Environments (AREE) |last=Hall |first=Loura |date=1 April 2016 |work=NASA |access-date=29 August 2017 |language=en}}</ref>

==Clocks==
{{main|Automaton clock}}

Automaton clocks are clocks which feature automatons within or around the housing and typically activate around the beginning of each hour, at each half hour, or at each quarter hour. They were largely produced from the 1st century BC to the end of the Victorian times in Europe. Older clocks typically featured religious characters or other mythical characters such as Death or Father Time. As time progressed, however, automaton clocks began to feature influential characters at the time of creation, such as kings, famous composers, or industrialists. Examples of automaton clocks include [[chariot clock]]s and [[cuckoo clock]]s. The [[Cuckooland Museum]] exhibits autonomous clocks. While automaton clocks are largely perceived to have been in use during medieval times in Europe, they are largely produced in Japan today.

In [[Automata theory]], clocks are regarded as [[timed automaton]]s, a type of [[Finite-state machine|finite automaton]]. Automaton clocks being finite essentially means that automaton clocks have a certain number of states in which they can exist.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Wang |first=Jiacun |title=Formal Methods in Computer Science |publisher=CRC Press |year=2019 |isbn=978-1-4987-7532-8 |pages=34}}</ref> The exact number is the number of combinations possible on a clock with the hour, minute, and second hand: 43,200. The title of timed automaton declares that the automaton changes states at a set rate, which for clocks is 1 state change every second. Clock automata only takes as input the time displayed by the previous state. The automata uses this input to produce the next state, a display of time 1 second later than the previous. Clock automata often also use the previous state's input to 'decide' whether or not the next state requires merely changing the hands on the clock, or if a special function is required, such as a mechanical bird popping out of a house like in cuckoo clocks.<ref>{{Cite web |title=How Do Cuckoo Clocks Work? |url=https://www.cuckooclocks.com/blog2.asp |access-date=2024-06-02 |website=www.cuckooclocks.com}}</ref> This choice is evaluated through the position of complex gears, cams, axles, and other mechanical devices within the automaton.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Munchow |first=Joshua |date=2020-07-19 |title=All About Automata: Mechanical Magic (With Action Videos) |url=https://quillandpad.com/2020/07/19/all-about-automata-mechanical-magic-with-action-videos/ |access-date=2024-06-02 |website=Quill & Pad |language=en-US}}</ref>

==See also==
* [[Automata theory]], the study of abstract machines and automata
* [[Mechanical toy]]
* [[Wind-up toy]]
* [[Android (robot)|Android]]
* [[Brazen head]]
* [[Cellular automaton]]
* [[Centre International de la Mécanique d'Art]]
* [[Christian Ristow]]
* [[Ctesibius]]
* ''[[Genesis Redux]]''
* [[Fortune teller machine]]
* [[Giles Walker]]
* [[Golem]]
* [[Hero of Alexandria]]
* [[La Maison de la Magie Robert-Houdin]] display of 19th century automata
* [[Maillardet's automaton]]
* [[Marvin's Marvelous Mechanical Museum]]
* [[Orchestrion]]
* [[Singing bird box]]
* [[Theo Jansen]]
* [[Whirligig]]

==Notes==
{{notelist}}

== References ==
{{Reflist|30em}}

==Further reading==
* {{cite book |last1=Bailly |first1=Christian |title=Automata: The Golden Age: 1848–1914 |year=2003 |publisher=Robert Hale |location=London |isbn=9780709074038}}
* {{cite journal | last=Balafrej | first=Lamia | title=Automated Slaves, Ambivalent Images, and Noneffective Machines in al-Jazari's Compendium of the Mechanical Arts, 1206 | url=https://doi.org/10.11588/xxi.2022.4.91685 |journal=21: Inquiries into Art, History, and the Visual | volume=3 | issue=4 | date=2022 |doi=10.11588/xxi.2022.4.91685 | pages=737–774| issn=2701-1569 }}
* {{cite EB9 |wstitle= Automaton |volume= III |page=142 }}
* {{cite book |last1=Beyer |first1=Annette |title=Faszinierende Welt der Automaten : Uhren, Puppen, Spielereien |date=1983 |publisher=Callwey |location=München |isbn=9783766706591 |edition=1st}}
* {{cite book |last1=Bowers |first1=Q. David |title=Encyclopedia of Automatic Musical Instruments |url=https://archive.org/details/encyclopediaofau0000bowe |url-access=registration |date=1974 |publisher=Vestal Press |location=Vestal, NY |isbn=9780911572087 |edition=4. printing}}
* {{cite book |last1=Brauers |first1=Jan |title=Von der Äolsharfe zum Digitalspieler: 2000 Jahre mechanische Musik, 100 Jahre Schallplatte |date=1984 |publisher=Klinkhardt & Biermann |location=München |isbn=9783781402393}}
* {{cite book |last1=Cardinal |first1=Catherine |last2=Mercier |first2=François |title=Museums of horology La Chaux-de-Fonds, Le Locle |date=1993 |publisher=Banque Paribas |location=Geneva |isbn=9783908184348}}
* {{cite book |last1=Carrera |first1=Roland |last2=Loiseau |first2=Dominique |last3=Roux |first3=Olivier |last4=Luder |first4=Jean Jacques |title=Androids: The Jaquet-Droz Automatons |date=1979 |publisher=Scriptar |location=Lausanne |isbn=9782880120184}}
* {{cite book |last1=Chapuis |first1=Alfred |last2=Droz |first2=Edmond |title=The Jaquet-Droz mechanical puppets |date=1956 |publisher=Historical Museum |location=Neuchatel |oclc=315497609}}
* {{cite book |last1=Chapuis |first1=Alfred |last2=Gélis |first2=Edouard |title=Le monde des automates; étude historique et technique |date=1928 |oclc=3006589}}
* {{cite book |last1=Critchley |first1=Macdonald |last2=Henson |first2=R. A. |title=Music and the brain. Studies in the neurology of music |date=1978 |publisher=Heinemann |location=London |isbn=9780433067030}}
* {{cite book |last1=Hyman |first1=Wendy Beth |title=The Automaton in English Renaissance Literature |date=2011 |publisher=Ashgate |location=Farnham, Surrey |isbn=978-0-7546-6865-7}}
* {{cite book |last1=Lapaire |first1=Claude |title=Clock and Watch Museum, Geneva |date=1992 |publisher=Art and History Museum |location=Geneva |isbn=9782830600728}}
* {{cite journal |last1=Montiel |first1=Luis |title=Proles sine matre creata: The Promethean Urge in the History of the Human Body in the West |journal=Asclepio |date=30 June 2013 |volume=65 |issue=1 |page=001 |doi=10.3989/asclepio.2013.01|doi-access=free }}
* {{cite book |last1=Ord-Hume |first1=Arthur W. J. G. |title=Clockwork music: an illustrated history of mechanical musical instruments from the music box to the pianola, from automation lady virginal players to orchestrion |date=1973 |publisher=Crown Publishers |location=New York |isbn=9780517500002}}
* {{cite book |last1=Ord-Hume |first1=Arthur W.J.G. |title=Barrel organ: the story of the mechanical organ and its repair |date=1978 |publisher=A.S. Barnes |location=South Brunswick, N.J. |isbn=9780498014826 |url=https://archive.org/details/barrelorganstory00ordh }}
* Rausser, Fernand; Bonhôte, Daniel; Baud, Frédy (1972). ''All'Epoca delle Scatole Musicali'', Edizioni Mondo, 175 pp.
* {{cite book |last1=Troquet |first1=Daniel |title=The wonderland of music boxes and automata |date=1989 |location=Sainte-Croix |oclc=27888631}}
* {{cite book |last1=Waard |first1=R. D. |year=1967 |title=From music boxes to street organs |oclc=609338403}}
* {{cite book |last1=Webb |first1=Graham |title=The musical box handbook |date=1984 |publisher=Vestal Press |location=Vestal, NY |isbn=9780911572360 |edition=2nd |url=https://archive.org/details/musicalboxhandbo00webb }}
* {{cite book |last1=Weiss-Stauffacher |first1=Heinrich |last2=Bruhin |first2=Rudolf |title=The marvelous world of music machines |date=1976 |publisher=Kodansha International |location=Tokyo |isbn=9780870112584}}
* {{cite book |last1=Winter-Jensen |first1=Anne |title=Automates & musiques: pendules |date=1987 |publisher=Musée de l'horlogerie et de l'émaillerie |location=Genève |isbn=9782830600476}}
* Wosk, Julie (2015). ''My Fair Ladies: Female Robots, Androids, and Other Artificial Eves.'' {{ISBN|9780813563374}}.

==External links==
{{Sister project links |wikt=automaton |commons=Category:Automata |n=no |v=no |q=no |s=1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Automaton |b=no}}
* [http://homepage.ntlworld.com/kinetic-arts/sculpture/automata.htm The Automata and Art Bots mailing list home page] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303200743/http://homepage.ntlworld.com/kinetic-arts/sculpture/automata.htm |date=2016-03-03 }}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20021205014113/http://www.automata.co.uk/History%20page.htm History]
* [http://www.modernautomatamuseum.com/ Modern Automata Museum]
* [http://www.thehouseofautomata.com The House of Automata – The largest online gallery of automata]
* [https://automatamagazine.com/ Automata Magazine]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20070821154911/http://www.fi.edu/pieces/knox/automaton/index.html Maillardet's Automaton]
* [http://www.karakuri.info/ Japanese Karakuri] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210318010124/http://www.karakuri.info/ |date=2021-03-18 }}
* [https://www.jstor.org/stable/432766 J. Douglas Bruce, 'Human Automata in Classical Tradition and Mediaeval Romance', ''Modern Philology'', Vol. 10, No. 4 (Apr., 1913), pp. 511–526]
* [https://www.jstor.org/stable/2915500 M. B. Ogle, 'The Perilous Bridge and Human Automata', ''Modern Language Notes'', Vol. 35, No. 3 (Mar., 1920), pp. 129–136]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20160113214335/http://cite-automate.fr/ conservation of automata]
* [http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2011/07/123_years_later_voice_of_thoma.html Thomas Edison's talking doll]
*[https://waddesdon.org.uk/the-collection/search/?collection=0&query_params%5BUSER_SYM_3%5D%5B%5D=automata&year_from=&year_to=&query_params%5BSUBJECT_EVENT%5D%5B%5D=&query_params%5BUSER_SYM_104%5D=&query_params%5BACCESSION_NO%5D=&sort=USER_SYM_111&direction=asc Automata in the Waddesdon Manor collection] 
* {{YouTube|id=7YEPhe2Gp0Y|title=Video of elephant automaton}}
* {{YouTube|id=ilPlVRoUl_8|title=Video of Catherine the Great's 'The Peacock Clock'}}

{{Robotics}}

[[Category:Robotics]]
[[Category:18th century in technology]]
[[Category:Ancient Greek technology]]
[[Category:Automata (mechanical)| ]]
[[Category:Articles containing video clips]]
[[Category:History of robotics]]