Robotic art

These last included flying automatons, mechanized doves and fish, angels and dragons, and automated cup-bearers, all hydraulically actuated for the amusement of emperors by engineer-craftspeople whose names have mostly been lost to history.

[1] By the time of the Sui dynasty (sixth century AD), a compendium was written called the Shai Shih t'u Ching, or "Book of Hydraulic Excellencies".

There are reports that the Tang dynasty saw Chinese engineers building mechanical birds, otters that swallowed fish, and monks begging girls to sing.

An early innovator in the Western world was Hero of Alexandria (c. 10–70 AD), who wrote "On Automatic Theaters, On Pneumatics, and on Mechanics", and is said to have built fully automated theatrical set-pieces illustrating the labors of Hercules among other wonders.

[3] In the 15th-16th century, Leonardo da Vinci invented several theatrical automata, including a lion which walked onstage and delivered flowers from its breast,[4] and a moving suit of armour.

The magician Isaac Fawkes, in 1722, created a clock that "played a variety of tunes on the organ, flute and flangolet with birds whistling and singing".

Supported by a horizontal bar attached to a vertical post, it was capable of walking in a circle at a speed of four or five miles an hour; reportedly, it could not be held back by two men.

[7] In 1898, the engineer and inventor Nikola Tesla demonstrated a remote-controlled boat in Madison Square Garden, making use of a specially built indoor pond.

In 'Home Automation' a family of lifesize aluminum animatronic crash test dummies musically self-destruct, as they watch color code threat alerts on their projected home TV.

[17] Human Study #4, La Classe, a theatrical art installation with twenty one drawing robots was premiered in 2017 during the Merge Festival in London and was featured on BBC and Wired.

In 2019 the artwork by Patrick Tresset was awarded a honorary mention at the Prix Ars Electronica, a smaller version with ten robots was exhibited at this occasion in Linz.

Monumental robotic artworks were presented, including Jean Michel Bruyère's Le Chemin de Damastès, a 50 m kinetic sculpture composed by 21 computer-animated hospital-type beds, the Chico MacMurtrie's Totemobile, a fullscale Citroën DS which transformed in a few minutes to an 18-meter-high totem, and two artworks by Shiro Takatani and Christian Partos specially conceived for the 3D Water Matrix, a robotic interface designed to create and display animated and three-dimensional liquid.

[citation needed] Le Grand Palais (Paris) in 2018 organised an exhibition titled ‘’Artists & Robots", curated by Laurence Bertrand Dorleac, Jerome Neutres and Miguel Chevalier.