Automaton | Can’t Sleep? Learn About Early Robots

In 1769, a chess-playing machine called the Turk toured the courts of Europe, beating Benjamin Franklin in a game when he was ambassador to France. The Turk was not a true automaton—it was operated from inside by a hidden human director. But the fact that it fooled one of the era's sharpest minds shows how powerful the idea of a self-moving machine had become by the eighteenth century, and how long humans had been trying to build one.

What an Automaton Actually Is

An automaton is a relatively self-operating machine designed to automatically follow a sequence of operations or respond to predetermined instructions. The word comes from the ancient Greek automaton, meaning "acting of one's own will." Homer used it first to describe automatic doors and self-moving wheeled tripods. Some automata, like bell strikers and mechanical clocks, are designed to give the illusion that they are operating under their own power or will—like a mechanical robot. The term has long been associated with automated puppets that resemble moving humans or animals, built to impress and entertain. Animatronics are a modern type of automata with electronics, used for characters in films and theme park attractions.

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