Who is the medieval “Father of robotics”? While thinking of a | Ask Me
Who is the medieval “Father of robotics”?
While thinking of an answer to this question, one can name an Italian polymath Leonardo da Vinci. But there was another medieval savant that lived before da Vinci and even might have inspired the Italian.
It is Badi al-Zaman Abu al-Izz Ismail ibn al-Razzaz al-Jazari, known as Ismail Al-Jazari (1136-1206) .
Born in Cizre (current Turkey) during the Islamic Golden Age, he was a polymath and served as an engineer in the service of the regional rulers, the Artuqids.
In 1206, drawing on a quarter of a century of prodigious output, he gave the world a catalog of his “matchless machines” - The Book of Knowledge of Ingenious Mechanical Devices.
One of Al-Jazari’s fantastical contraptions is regarded by many to be the first programmable “robot” in history. It was a boat that floated on a lake and entertained guests with 4 robot musicians. The mechanisms animating the drummers could be programmed to play different beats.
