What is the History of Robotics?
The concept of robotics dates back to the Ancient Greeks at least. Greek mythology had at least one instance of robots, as the mechanical servants of the Greek god of technology, fire, and the forge, Hephaestus. In another Greek myth, Pygmalion, a master sculptor from Cyprus, crafts a statue named Galatea that comes to life. Around 350 BC, a brilliant Greek mathematician, Archytas, built a mechanical bird, “the Pigeon,” that could fly through the air on steam power. This is one of the first known milestones in robotics, as well as the first recorded model airplane. Many centuries later, in the late 1700s and early 1800s, the Industrial Revolution hit. This was fueled by steam power and extensive automation, especially in the production of textiles. The automated loom, invented in 1801, operated using punched card input. A couple decades later, in 1822, Charles Babbage introduced a prototype of his “Difference Engine” to the Royal Astronomical Society in Britain. Inspired by the automat
