Discovering the wonders of automatons

EFFORTS to imitate life by mechanical means fostered development of mechanical principles, which led to the production of more complex mechanisms. In the same way that Maillardet’s Automaton was built and programmed to delight with its poems and pictures, so today we build and programme computers to perform even more amazing tasks. In its own time, Maillardet’s Automaton was a wonder that helped pave the way for the greater technological wonders that amaze us today. (From the Franklin Institute web page on Mallairdet’s automatonE (www. http://www.fi.edu/learn/sci-tech/automaton/automaton.php?cts=instrumentation.)

For several summer Saturday mornings, my young daughter and I came through the back door of the Franklin Institute for her behind-the-scenes workshop in a science museum dedicated to an American founding father and curious inventor and eccentric, Benjamin Franklin.

To get there, we travelled halfway across the city of Philadelphia on an antiquated trolley that rumbled above ground for several miles and then plunged downward through an underground tunnel to cross under the river. Our journey was worth it because the Franklin Institute is an Aladdin’s cave of scientific adventure and misadventure. My daughter remembers the papier mache model of the heart that she could climb through; I remember the automaton.

The movie, Hugo, is based loosely on the story of the re-discovery and rescue of the Mallairdet automaton.

Seeing the movie conjured the memory of those early Saturday morning visits to the Institute passing by her enigmatic expression, pen poised carefully above the paper on her writing desk, as if she had stopped briefly only to notice my passing.

Over the years, from time to time when I visited during regular hours I saw her in action – seven different documents, drawings as in the movie, and poetry.

The mysterious creation of the Swiss clockmaker has an androgynous history. When first discovered, the automaton was dressed in what was thought to be a soldier’s costume – or tatters of it – but the fire that had destroyed all blueprints and sketches had apparently destroyed the legs, so for many years, including the time of my acquaintance, the automaton wore a long skirt covering the fact that there were no legs.

Hence, I was confused when I looked her up after these many years to discover first images of her in a clown costume and now stripped of any showgirl frippery to demonstrate the real beauty of the brass cams that make her the brainiest of all surviving automata.

In the 18th century (Mallairdet’s automaton was probably originally created before 1800), imitating lifelike actions with mechanical models was fashionable. Although relatively few survive and certainly very few as fine as the one in the Franklin Institute, they still fascinate us as entertainment but they are also important for science and history.

The Mallairdet automaton was programmed to simulate human actions – writing poetry and drawing. Her programming is based on physical movements of the cams.

In the digital age, we might not think of this as programming but the idea is the same while the means is different.

Instead of cams and spring-driven wind-up motors, modern robots use electricity

and take their instructions in a coded language.

Industrial robots – cousins of the automata – now work in areas too hazardous for humans, imitating or sometimes surpassing human actions.

Robots, because their programming is not dependent on metal or fixed gears, offer more flexible automation. Mallairdet’s automaton, for all the elegance of her cams, could only do something other than write her poems and drawings with considerable reconstruction.

We are indebted to Mallairdet and other mechanical-based computers such as the Enigma machine for some of the ideas so commonplace now that they are taken for granted. Imagine what it would be like to download apps for your phone if they were mechanical rather than digital?

In keeping with our own tradition of Scottish engineering and invention, this year’s British Science Festival in Caithness will celebrate at Castlehill with interactive workshops using K’Nex models for younger children and their parents and programmable robots for older children. Although hardly as elegant as the automaton, a Lego kit now puts in the hands of ordinary folks like you and me, more power to simulate lifelike actions than Mallairdet could dream of. I set my knitting needles aside and started making my K’Nex models in preparation for the festival. I like to think that Mallairdet, while demonstrating disdain for the look of the models, would have admired the ease of their construction and appreciated the ease of digital programming. What might he have programmed the writer to do if he could have done it with a few key

presses?

I like the democracy of digital programming: the power it puts at our fingertips. I look forward to creating a Lego robot and programming it to dance. Dancing is not as useful as programming a robot to vacuum the floor or build automobiles but it is my robot and I get to decide what it does.

The festival takes place at Castlehill Heritage Centre on September 15 and 16 from 10-4pm. K’Nex modelling workshops are being run for children and parents and Lego Mindstorm programmable robot workshops for older children.

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