Editing Automaton (section)

===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>