The dream of creating artificial life has captivated humanity for over 4,500 years. Long before the word “robot” existed, ancient civilizations were already crafting mechanical marvels that blurred the line between the living and the artificial. From Egyptian priests who hid inside statues to convince worshippers of divine presence, to Tesla’s ambitious vision of mass-producing humanoid robots, our species has persistently pursued the creation of our mechanical counterparts.

This journey through time reveals that many concepts we consider cutting-edge—autonomous machines, programmable devices, even entertainment robots—have roots stretching back millennia. Ancient Greek engineers built steam-powered birds that could fly 200 meters. Chinese craftsmen assembled entire mechanical orchestras. Medieval clockmakers created knights that jousted every quarter-hour. Each era brought its own interpretation of artificial life, shaped by the technology, beliefs, and dreams of its time.

What emerges from this timeline is not just a history of technological advancement, but a mirror reflecting humanity’s deepest aspirations and anxieties. Whether crafted for religious awe, royal entertainment, industrial efficiency, or companionship, these mechanical beings represent our endless desire to transcend the limitations of biology and create life from our own hands. As we stand at the threshold of an age where robots may soon walk among us as commonplace as smartphones, understanding this rich history becomes more relevant than ever.

From Egyptian Priests To Tesla’s Optimus: 99 Mind-Blowing Robot Facts Through History

1. 2500 BCE – Egyptian priests created statues in which they could hide and manipulate certain parts to make the people believe that the statues were alive
2. 1100 BCE – Egyptian texts from 1100 BC also reported details of moving statues built using mechanical technology in ancient Egypt
3. 1023-957 BCE – King Mu of Zhou encountered a mechanical engineer known as Yan Shi, who presented a life-sized human automaton that could sing and act and “walked with rapid strides, moving its head up and down, so that anyone would have taken it for a live human being”
4. 520 BCE – the Greek engineer Daedalus was said to have built human statues that walked by the magical power of “quicksilver”
5. 5th century BCE – In “The Seventh Olympian,” 5th-century BCE Greek poet Pindar described the island of Rhodes as “The animated figures stand / Adorning every public street / And seem to breathe in stone, or / move their marble feet”
6. 400 BCE – Archytas of Tarentum created a steam-powered flying pigeon, “a bird-shaped model propelled by a jet of what was probably steam, said to have actually flown some 200 meters,” sometimes referred to as the world’s first robot
7. 300 BCE – Chinese craftsmen built an entire mechanical orchestra for the emperor during the Han Dynasty
8. 285 BCE – Ctesibius invented numerous automata including the hydraulis (a water organ that is the first keyboard instrument)
9. 250 BCE – Ctesibius invented a cam-operated statue that could stand up and sit down repeatedly
10. 3rd century BCE – During the Ptolemaic Dynasty, moving figures and statues of humans (including mechanical trumpeters), animals and mythological beasts were integrated into the Royal pageantry
11. 1st century CE – Hero of Alexandria created a steam-powered aeolipile (“Hero’s engine”) – a hollow sphere that rotates on an axis from steam flowing through bent pipes; the first automatic vending machine that dispensed holy water when a coin was inserted
12. 150 CE – Artificial servants, autonomous killing machines, surveillance systems, and sex robots have been part of the human imagination for thousands of years
13. 624 – Indian mathematician and astronomer Brahmagupta provides the first known description of a perpetual motion machine
14. 807 – Harun al-Rashid, Abbasid caliph, gifts Charlemagne a water clock with complicated hydraulic jacks and moving human figures
15. 850 – The Banū Mūsā brothers publish their Book of Ingenious Devices, describing about one hundred mechanical devices including automata
16. 9th century – Banū Mūsā brothers invent a programmable automatic flute player described in their Book of Ingenious Devices
17. 917 – Abbasid caliph al-Muqtadir has a silver and golden tree in his palace in Baghdad with mechanical birds flapping their wings and singing
18. 949 – Liutprand of Cremona describes the Throne of Solomon in Constantinople with roaring lions, singing birds, and a throne that rises to the ceiling
19. 11th century – Sanskrit treatise Samarangana Sutradhara by Bhoja includes a chapter on mechanical automata including bees, birds, and humanoid figures
20. 1088-1094 – Chinese inventor Su Song builds a 40-foot water clock tower in Kaifeng featuring mechanical figurines that chime the hours and 133 different clock jacks
21. 1206 – Ismail al-Jazari completes his Book of Knowledge of Ingenious Mechanical Devices, describing 100 mechanical devices including a boat with four automatic musicians that floated on a lake with a programmable drum machine; Al-Jazari’s peacock fountain features humanoid automata as servants offering soap and towels for hand washing
22. 1230s – Villard de Honnecourt sketches plans for automata including a rotating angel and an eagle with movable head in his portfolio; Villard de Honnecourt draws what may be the first European depiction of a perpetual motion machine
23. 1288 – Robert II, Count of Artois, begins construction of automata at Hesdin including mechanical monkeys covered in badger fur
24. Late 13th century – Hesdin park features mechanical monkeys, birds, and a bellows-operated organ among other automata
25. Early 14th century – Albertus Magnus creates a talking metal statue later destroyed by Thomas Aquinas who believed it to be demonic
26. 1352-1354 – First astronomical clock built at Strasbourg Cathedral featuring a mechanical rooster that crowed
27. 1390 – Richard II of England crowned by a mechanical angel built by the goldsmiths’ guild
28. 1392 – Wells Cathedral clock built featuring jousting knights that chase each other every 15 minutes
29. 1432 – Detailed maintenance bill documents Hesdin’s automata including speaking hermit and weather-making room
30. 1454 – Duke Philip creates “The Extravagant Feast of the Pheasant” featuring elaborate automata displays
31. Late 15th century – Rood of Grace at Boxley Abbey, a mechanical crucifix with moving eyes and lips, attracts pilgrims
32. 1495 – Leonardo da Vinci designed a humanoid automaton known as the Mechanical Knight in Milan, capable of standing, sitting, raising its visor, and moving its arms through a system of pulleys and cables
33. 1500s – Johannes Muller von Konigsberg (Regiomontanus) created a mechanical wooden eagle that reportedly flew from Konigsberg to meet Emperor Maximilian, saluted him, and returned
34. 1515 – Leonardo da Vinci created a mechanical lion for King Francis I of France that could walk and whose chest opened to reveal a bouquet of lilies
35. 1540s – Gianello Torriano built various mechanical birds for Emperor Charles V that could fly about rooms and even out windows
36. 1550s – Gianello Torriano created the Lute Player Lady automaton, a female figure that could move with small tripping steps, strum a lute with its right hand, and turn its head from right to left
37. 1560 – Gianello Torriano possibly created the Clockwork Prayer monk automaton, made of wood and iron, that could walk in a square, strike its chest, raise and lower a cross and rosary, turn and nod its head, roll its eyes, and mouth silent prayers
38. 1600s – Christiaan Huygens created automata for the King of France, including one notable machine featuring an entire fighting mechanical army
39. 1662 – Takeda Omi completed his first butai karakuri puppet in Japan, building several large puppets for theatrical exhibitions
40. 1737 – Jacques de Vaucanson built The Flute Player automaton, a life-size figure of a shepherd that played the flute with a repertoire of twelve songs
41. 1738 – Jacques de Vaucanson created The Digesting Duck, which could flap its wings, drink water, eat grain, and seemingly defecate
42. 1745 – Jacques de Vaucanson created the world’s first completely automated loom, drawing on the work of Basile Bouchon and Jean Falcon
43. 1760 – Friedrich von Knaus presented his fourth writing automaton to Holy Roman Emperor Francis Stephen, capable of writing any phrase composed in advance and writing to dictation via a hand-operated control
44. 1770s – Pierre Jaquet-Droz, with his son Henri Louis and Jean Frédéric Leschot, created three famous automata: The Writer, The Draughtsman, and The Musician
45. 1773 – James Cox and John Joseph Merlin created the Silver Swan automaton, which could bend its neck, open its bill, and appear to catch and eat fish
46. 1790s – The Writer automaton by Jaquet-Droz, containing over 6,000 parts, could write up to forty different letters with the letters changeable according to user wishes
47. 1800 – Henri Maillardet built the Draughtsman-Writer automaton, which could write four poems and draw four sketches
48. 1804 – Joseph Marie Jacquard develops the Jacquard loom in France, using punch cards to control weaving patterns and creating one of the first programmable machines that could follow instructions
49. 1837 – Charles Babbage conceives the Analytical Engine, the first design for a general-purpose computer with features including conditional branching, looping, and integrated memory
50. 1890 – Nikola Tesla creates one of the first remote-controlled devices, a radio-controlled boat that could be steered wirelessly
51. 1898 – Nikola Tesla publicly demonstrates his radio-controlled boat at Madison Square Garden, showing the potential for wireless control of mechanical devices
52. 1920 – Karel Čapek writes the play “R.U.R. (Rossum’s Universal Robots)” in Czechoslovakia, introducing the word “robot” to the world, derived from the Czech word “robota” meaning forced labor
53. 1921 – Karel Čapek’s play “R.U.R.” premieres in Prague on January 25, bringing the concept of artificial workers and the term “robot” to international attention
54. 1927 – Westinghouse Electric Corporation engineer Roy J. Wensley builds the Televox robot, one of the first robots put to useful work, capable of answering telephone calls and operating switches
55. 1928 – W.H. Richards exhibits Eric, a humanoid robot constructed of aluminum, at the Model Engineers Society in London, capable of moving its hands and head while speaking
56. 1937 – Westinghouse creates Elektro, a 7-foot tall humanoid robot that could walk, talk, smoke cigarettes, and blow up balloons, exhibited at the 1939 World’s Fair
57. 1942 – Isaac Asimov formulates the Three Laws of Robotics in his short story “Runaround,” establishing ethical principles that would influence robot design philosophy for decades
58. 1948 – William Grey Walter creates Elmer and Elsie, the first autonomous robots capable of phototaxis, finding their way to a recharging station when their batteries ran low
59. 1954 – George Devol files a patent for a “Programmed Article Transfer” device, introducing the concept of universal automation that would become the foundation for the first industrial robot
60. 1956 – George Devol meets Joseph Engelberger at a cocktail party, leading to their collaboration on developing the first industrial robot
61. 1961 – General Motors installs the first Unimate robot at their Inland Fisher Guide Plant in Ewing Township, New Jersey, where it extracts hot metal parts from a die-casting machine, marking the beginning of industrial robotics
62. 1966 – Stanford Research Institute begins development of Shakey, the world’s first mobile intelligent robot capable of reasoning about its actions
63. 1969 – Victor Scheinman invents the Stanford Arm at Stanford University, the first all-electric, 6-axis articulated robot designed for computer control
64. 1970 – Luna 17 lands on the Moon carrying Lunokhod 1, the first successful robotic lunar rover, which operates for 11 months exploring the lunar surface
65. 1973 – KUKA develops the FAMULUS robot, one of the world’s first articulated industrial robots with six electromechanically driven axes
66. 1974 – Cincinnati Milacron introduces the T3 (The Tomorrow Tool), the first commercially available industrial robot controlled by a microcomputer
67. 1975 – Victor Scheinman develops the Programmable Universal Manipulation Arm (PUMA) design while at MIT, revolutionizing precision assembly robotics
68. 1978 – Unimation develops the PUMA (Programmable Universal Machine for Assembly) robot from Victor Scheinman’s design with support from General Motors
69. 1979 – The Stanford Cart, developed by Hans Moravec, successfully navigates a chair-filled room autonomously, advancing mobile robot navigation
70. 1981 – Takeo Kanade develops the direct drive arm at Carnegie Mellon University, the first robotic arm with motors installed directly in the joints
71. 1985 – The PUMA 560 robotic surgical arm performs the first robot-assisted surgery, a neurosurgical biopsy, demonstrating robots’ potential in medicine
72. 1986 – Honda begins its humanoid robot research program, which would eventually lead to the creation of ASIMO
73. 1992 – Marc Raibert spins Boston Dynamics off from MIT to develop dynamic highly mobile robots
74. 1996 – Honda unveils P2, the first self-regulating bipedal humanoid robot, standing 1.82m tall and weighing 210kg
75. 1997 – NASA’s Pathfinder mission delivers Sojourner, the first successful Mars rover, which operates for 83 days on the Martian surface
76. 1998 – LEGO releases Mindstorms RCX, bringing programmable robotics to education and hobbyists worldwide
77. 1999 – Sony introduces AIBO, the first commercially successful entertainment robot designed as a robotic pet dog
78. 2000 – Honda unveils ASIMO (Advanced Step in Innovative Mobility), a humanoid robot capable of walking, running, and climbing stairs
79. 2002 – iRobot introduces the Roomba, the first commercially successful domestic robot vacuum cleaner, bringing robotics into millions of homes
80. 2003 – NASA launches Spirit and Opportunity Mars rovers, which far exceed their 90-day planned missions, with Opportunity operating until 2018
81. 2004 – DARPA Grand Challenge sees autonomous vehicles attempt to navigate a desert course, though none complete it, spurring advancement in self-driving technology
82. 2005 – Boston Dynamics creates BigDog, a quadruped robot funded by DARPA designed to carry heavy loads over rough terrain
83. 2007 – DARPA Urban Challenge is won by Carnegie Mellon’s Boss vehicle, demonstrating autonomous navigation in urban environments
84. 2009 – Google begins its self-driving car project (later Waymo), led by Sebastian Thrun and Anthony Levandowski
85. 2010 – NASA and GM reveal Robonaut 2, the first humanoid robot in space, designed to work alongside astronauts on the International Space Station
86. 2011 – IBM’s Watson defeats human champions at Jeopardy!, demonstrating advanced natural language processing in robotic systems
87. 2012 – Baxter robot by Rethink Robotics introduces collaborative industrial robots designed to work safely alongside humans
88. 2013 – Boston Dynamics unveils Atlas, an advanced humanoid robot capable of navigating rough terrain and performing complex movements, and Google acquires eight robotics companies including Boston Dynamics
89. 2014 – Soft robotics emerges as a field with Harvard’s first untethered soft robot, inspired by biological systems
90. 2015 – Google provides the world’s first fully driverless ride on public roads in Austin, Texas, with a car that has no steering wheel or pedals
91. 2016 – Google’s self-driving car project becomes Waymo, a subsidiary of Alphabet, marking the transition from research to commercial autonomous vehicles
92. 2017 – Saudi Arabia grants citizenship to Sophia the robot, sparking global debate about robot rights and personhood
93. 2018 – Boston Dynamics’ Atlas performs parkour, demonstrating unprecedented agility in humanoid robots
94. 2019 – Boston Dynamics’ Spot becomes the company’s first commercially available robot, bringing advanced quadruped robotics to various industries
95. 2020 – Robots play crucial roles during COVID-19 pandemic, performing disinfection, delivery, and telepresence tasks in hospitals worldwide
96. 2021 – NASA’s Perseverance rover lands on Mars carrying Ingenuity, the first helicopter to achieve powered flight on another planet
97. 2022 – Tesla unveils Optimus humanoid robot prototype, aiming to bring general-purpose humanoid robots to mass production
98. 2023 – ChatGPT integration into robotics platforms enables natural language control of robots, advancing human-robot interaction
99. 2024 – Waymo expands robotaxi services to multiple cities, marking widespread commercial deployment of autonomous vehicles

Data source: ‘A Complete History Of Robots: From The Ancient Era To Today‘

Final Thoughts

What strikes me most about this timeline isn’t the sophistication of modern robotics, but rather how wrong we’ve been about what makes something “new.” Every generation believes they’re the first to imagine mechanical servants, automated workers, or artificial companions—yet here we see Egyptian priests pioneering animatronics 4,500 years ago, not for utility but for pure theatrical deception. The Banū Mūsā brothers programmed a flute player in the 9th century. Leonardo da Vinci built a walking lion that opened its chest to reveal flowers. These weren’t stepping stones to “real” robotics—they were complete visions in themselves, as revolutionary in their time as any Mars rover or surgical robot.

Perhaps the most profound revelation is how the purpose of robots has come full circle. We began with spectacle and wonder—mechanical monks praying, silver swans catching fish, golden trees with singing birds. Then came centuries of utilitarian focus: looms, assembly lines, vacuum cleaners. Now, as we develop social robots, AI companions, and humanoid assistants, we’re returning to that ancient impulse for connection and amazement. The child marveling at ASIMO walking up stairs experiences the same awe as a medieval peasant watching cathedral clock knights joust.

This history also reveals an uncomfortable truth: we’ve been having the same anxieties about artificial beings for millennia. Thomas Aquinas destroyed Albertus Magnus’s talking statue, believing it demonic. Today we debate AI consciousness and robot rights. The questions haven’t changed—only the vocabulary has. As we rush toward a future of ubiquitous robotics, perhaps the greatest lesson from these 4,500 years is humility. We are not the first to dream these dreams, fear these fears, or believe we’re on the cusp of creating life. We’re simply the latest chapter in humanity’s longest-running obsession.

Thanks for reading!