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Further Development Numerous other automatons were created during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Then in 1893, a Canadian inventor, George Moore, made a large steam-powered android. The late nineteenth and early twen- tieth centuries saw the emergence of humanoid robots. During 1970s, mobile robots and different types of robotic arms were developed. Ancient Times Robot-like automatic creatures were created for the first time in 250 BCE. The earliest movable figure was known as a clepsydra. It was made by an Egyptian inventor, Ctesibius of Alexandria. Later in the first century CE, Hero of Alexandria created a programmable device that could speak. These devices that could move and speak themselves were known as automatons.

Fictional Robots Inspired by robot myths, several authors also began writing about robot-like creatures. In 1818, Mary Shelley, a British novelist, wrote about Frankenstein. Frankenstein was an artificial creature created by a doctor in the book. Then in 1921, the first use of the term robot was made in the play “Rossum’s Universal Robots.” The play was written by a Czech writer, Karel Capek. Another mention of robots was in the story “Runaround” written in 1942 by sci- ence fiction writer, Isaac Asimov.

SCIENCE FACTS

● ● The term robotics was used for the first time by Isaac Asimov in his story “Runaround” in 1942. ● ● In 1940, a British roboticist, Grey Walter, developed a small tur- tle-like robot that was called “Machina Speculatrix” or “Machina.”

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ROBOTICS