Illustration from an 1851 English edition of Hero’s Pneumatica, in which he describes machines working on air, steam or water pressure.
Featured on PDR in the essay Frolicsome Engines: The Long Prehistory of Artificial Intelligence
Defecating ducks, talking busts, and mechanised Christs — Jessica Riskin on the wonderful history of automata, machines built to mimic the processes of intelligent life.
Also appearing in the essay…
Hydraulic Fountain by Hero
Date
1851
From
Pneumatica
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