From Cave Paintings to the Internet A Chronological and Thematic Database on the History of Information and Media Robotics / Automata Outline

Browse the Database by Theme

300 BCE – 30 CE

The First Automata Recorded
(10 CE – 70 CE)

800 – 900

The First Programmable Machine & the Earliest Known Mechanical Musical Instrument
(850)

1200 – 1300

First Recorded Designs of a Programmable Automaton
(1206)

1400 – 1450

One of the Earliest Surviving Italian Manuscripts on Technology and War Machines
(Circa 1420)

1450 – 1500

Leonardo Builds a Programmable Mechanical Automaton
(1478)

1650 – 1700

Mechanistic View of the Human Body
(1662)

1700 – 1750

A Loom Controlled by Perforated Paper Tape
(1725)

Complex Enough to Provide a Credible Imitation of Life
(1731 – 1738)

The First Automaton to Simulate Biological Processes
(1739)

1750 – 1800

The Chess-Playing Turk
(1769)

The First Successful Speech Synthesizer
(1791)

1800 – 1850

Poe Writes Maelzel's Chess Player
(April 1836)

1910 – 1920

The First Decision-Making Automaton
(1911)

1920 – 1930

Robot
(1920)

1930 – 1940

"Modern Times"
(1936)

1945 – 1950

The First Electronic Autonomous Robots
(1948)

Comparison of Computers and the Human Brain
(September 20, 1948)

Comparing the Functions of Genes to Self-Reproducing Automata
(September 20 – September 20, 1949)

1950 – 1955

"Can Man Build a Superman?"
(January 23, 1950)

The First Demonstration of Computer Music
(August 7 – August 9, 1951)

1960 – 1970

Replicants
(1968)

1980 – 1990

Blade Runner
(1982)

2000 – 2005

Conflicts between Androids and Men
(2001)

2005 – 2010

Robot Scientist becomes the First Machine to Discover New Scientific Knowledge
(April 3, 2009)

2010 – Present

"The World's First Full-Size Robotic Girlfriend"
(January 9, 2010)