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The Beginning of the Automation

A Brief Review on the Automatic Devices in the Hellenistic Age

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Advances in Robot Design and Intelligent Control

Part of the book series: Advances in Intelligent Systems and Computing ((AISC,volume 371))

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Abstract

Some examples of the most interesting automatic devices of the Hellenistic Age are presented. These devices can be considered the first examples of automatic mechanical systems, thus representing the precursors of the automation; they clearly show how the concept of automation was present in the minds of ancient scientists and engineers since the II century B.C. or even earlier. The devices also clearly show the surprising modernity of the knowledge of the ancient scientists and engineers, both conceiving the mechanical designs and the building of them. Moreover, the presented device spans a rather wide range of fields of applications. The automatic systems that were chosen are presented by grouping them by inventor. The latter are: Archimedes, Heron of Alexandria, Ctesibius, Dionysius of Alexandria and Philon of Byzantium.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Industrial Engineering, University of Naples “Federico II”, Naples, Italy

    Cesare Rossi

Authors
  1. Cesare Rossi
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Correspondence to Cesare Rossi .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Fac of Auto Ctrl & Comp Sci (Automatica), University Politehnica of Bucharest, Bucharest, Romania

    Theodor Borangiu

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Rossi, C. (2016). The Beginning of the Automation. In: Borangiu, T. (eds) Advances in Robot Design and Intelligent Control. Advances in Intelligent Systems and Computing, vol 371. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-21290-6_6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-21290-6_6

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-21289-0

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-21290-6

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