A Brief History of Robotics
KJ Smith
Sep 2026 · Ashleigh Robertson
Ebook
75
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About this ebook
Long before we had electricity or even a word for “robot,” we dreamed of artificial servants—and feared them. A Brief History of Robotics traces the ancient, recurring fantasy of the mechanical human, from the automatons of Hero of Alexandria and the clockwork monks of the Middle Ages, to the terrifying golem of Jewish folklore and the flesh-and-blood homunculi of alchemical legend. This concise chronicle follows the modern emergence of robotics through the industrial revolution's mechanical looms, the word itself—coined by Karel Čapek in his 1920 play R.U.R., where artificial workers rise up to destroy their creators—and the post-war explosion of cybernetics and control theory that gave machines the first glimmer of purpose. It introduces the pioneers who turned myth into mechanism: George Devol and Joseph Engelberger, who installed the first industrial robot on a General Motors assembly line; Shakey the robot, who learned to navigate a room of obstacles; WALL-E's ancestors in the form of planetary rovers; and the relentless march of robotic arms, grippers, sensors, and actuators that now assemble our cars, pack our Amazon orders, and defuse our bombs.
Long before we had electricity or even a word for “robot,” we dreamed of artificial servants—and feared them. A Brief History of Robotics traces the ancient, recurring fantasy of the mechanical human, from the automatons of Hero of Alexandria and the clockwork monks of the Middle Ages, to the ter...
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