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Robots in History: Legends and Prototypes from Ancient Times to the Industrial Revolution

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Explorations in the History of Machines and Mechanisms

Part of the book series: History of Mechanism and Machine Science ((HMMS,volume 32))

Abstract

Even in ancient times the idea of “robots”, intended as artificial beings that could substitute real individuals to carry out heavy and repetitive tasks, flourished and led to the birth of many legends. In addition, several ingenious inventors, belonging to different epochs and civilizations, designed and built prototypes of what we can define “robots”. In this paper, we sketch a brief history of Robotics throughout the centuries, from ancient times to the Industrial Revolution (18th century), describing the most interesting legends and the most relevant examples of robot prototypes that were designed and/or built.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Polytechnical Department of Engineering and Architecture, University of Udine, Udine, Italy

    A. Gasparetto

Authors
  1. A. Gasparetto
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Correspondence to A. Gasparetto .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Mechanical Engineering, Universidad Autónoma de Querétaro, Santiago de Querétaro, Mexico

    Carlos López-Cajún

  2. LARM: Lab. of Robotics and Mechatronics, DICeM:Univ of Cassino and South Latium, Cassino, Italy

    Marco Ceccarelli

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Gasparetto, A. (2016). Robots in History: Legends and Prototypes from Ancient Times to the Industrial Revolution. In: López-Cajún, C., Ceccarelli, M. (eds) Explorations in the History of Machines and Mechanisms. History of Mechanism and Machine Science, vol 32. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-31184-5_5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-31184-5_5

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-31182-1

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-31184-5

  • eBook Packages: EngineeringEngineering (R0)

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