Roboticists share something with all scientists and engineers. They stand on the shoulders of the people who came before. That means they learn from earlier work and build on it.
The work of roboticists started in ancient Greece. It began with Pygmalion, a character in mythology. He made an ivory sculpture of a woman and fell in love with her. Then he got help from Aphrodite, the Greek goddess of love. She turned the sculpture into a real person for Pygmalion to marry. That was the first humanoid machine, even if it was only imaginary.
Let’s speed through time to the late 15th century. That’s when artist Leonardo da Vinci made a mechanical knight. It could move its arms and mouth with the help of pulleys and gears. From there, the story goes on, with one discovery building on another. That’s how science and engineering work.
