Robots have long been implemented in Western society, beginning with Greek Philosopher and mathematician Archytas, who was said to have constructed a small bird out of wood and used steam to power its movements. Conjuring images of the autonomous owl in the film classic Clash of the Titans, the robotic bird Archytas built was then suspended from a pivot bar that allowed it to fly as much as 200 meters before it ran out of steam!

Archytas may have been the first to attempt to create devices that would mimic the functions of nature according to the will of man,  but he was obviously not the last. According to an article that appeared recently at Space Daily, now the military hopes to secure funding for the implementation of robots that can outsource a variety of human-like tasks, as well as those of other creatures, for covert field operations (image above courtesy of DeltaMike via Flickr).

“Robots are automating military ground systems, permitting vital protection of soldiers and people in the field,” the article reads. “One vendor, BAE Systems has an ant size robot useful for reconnaissance and networking robots in development. As soldiers take up secure positions behind a wall, they deploy a small reconnaissance team.”

Described as a “very small reconnaissance team,” tiny minions of military might will enter an area by hopping, crawling, flying, and other methods of travel best suited for collecting information about an area. “The stealthy autonomous reconnaissance squad vanishes into a suspicious building for several minutes, then relays the all-clear back to its partners outside when that is the case.”

Looking back at the history of robotics implemented by humans to serve various tasks, the military’s continued use of machines that are becoming more and more autonomous shows how far our technology has brought us. Artist and inventor Leonardo Divinci is credited with building the first known humanoid robot as early as 1495, when he designed an armored knight that could sit up, wave its arms, and move its head, as well as “talk” by opening and closing its mechanical jaw. The only function this novelty creation was believed to have was that it apparently startled nearby children!

Looking back to Medieval folklore from another European locale, we find other experiments similar to Leonardo’s Frankensteinian fiddling. In this excerpt from my book Magic, Mysticism and the Molecule, I discuss the legend of the Rabbi Yehuda Loevy ben Bezalel the Maharal, a famous rabbi and Jewish mystic who lived in Prague during the late sixteenth century. In an effort to defend his fellow Jews against anti-Semitic attacks called “blood libels” made frequently at the time, it is said that the Rabbi created a “golem” he used to help enforce safety and protection throughout the Jewish ghettos.

In the spring of 1580, the Maharal gathered his two closest disciples, R. Yitzchak ben Shimshon HaKohen Katz (his son-in-law) and R. Yaakov ben Chayyim HaLevi Sasson, and working under cover of darkness, together they created a “man” from the mud of the Vlatava River near Prague.

The ancient Kabalistic incantation said to have brought the golem, which the Maharal had called “Yossele,” to life involved the inscription of the word “emet”, meaning “God’s truth”, on the creature’s forehead. At the end of its service (which in some traditions coincided with the golem becoming violent and non-submissive to the Maharal), it was destroyed once the Rabbi erased the first letter of this word, creating a new word, “met”, meaning death in the Hebrew language. At the time of its destruction, the golem was laid to rest beneath a pile of Hebrew manuscripts in the attic of the Old-New Synagogue in Prague; an ancient building that remains a popular landmark to this day. No one has entered the attic in centuries, and it remains closed due to being a possible fire hazard.

The Maharal’s fable is a strange one, and yet there are other strange references from around the same time that recount occult practitioners dabbling in the creation of artificial “anti-men.” When reviewing the folklore surrounding German philosopher Albertus Magnus, we find that he too was credited with trying to instill artificial life into a mechanical body of some sort. Having believed that stones maintained bizarre occult properties (which he mentions in his work De mineralibus) minimal evidence suggests that Magnus himself may have dabbled in alchemy. Along with such knowledge of the occult sciences, according to legend Magnus also attempted to create an “artificial being” using the power of the philosopher’s stone, an esoteric item sought by the likes of John Dee and Edward Kelley which was later said to have been inherited by Magnus’ protege, Thomas Aquinas, shortly before his death. This strange “being” was named “Android”, and was said to have drawn its power from “angels from the netherworld” and “metals and material unknown to this world.” Thomas, viewing the creation as being some “diabolic being,” called it a “tool of Satan and blasphemy to God,” and hence destroyed it.

How many of the stories involving the creation of these strange “Anti-Men,” golems, and “diabolical beings” are rooted in some kind of truth? Were these historical figures like the Maharal and Albertus Magnus, like Davinci, merely experimenting with automated puppets of some sort, or had they truly found stranger, esoteric ways to automate their Anti-Men? Perhaps there were more technological innovations that occurred throughout the middle ages than history would have us know, but due to the superstitions of the populace, they were viewed as “evil” or “playing God,” and hence similar practices were abolished; but not before folk tales involving mystical practices that produced these Frankenstein-like robots could be penned. For all we know, one day the mechanized remains of the Maharal’s Golem may be found lying in the attic of the Old NEw Synagogue by a brave rabbi, rusty and corroding after lying dormant for centuries… but in all likelihood, it’s more fun to merely consider the possibility, rather than to expect it as fact.