AUTOMATION has taken over industry—especially the routine and
repetitious tasks. But when did automatic, programmable devices first appear on
the scene? Was it just a couple of centuries ago during Europe’s industrial
revolution? You may be surprised to learn that automatic machines were invented
much earlier.
During the early part of the era known
as the golden age of Islamic science, from the 8th to the 13th century C.E. and
beyond, Middle Eastern scholars translated into Arabic scientific and
philosophical texts that preserved the works of such renowned Greeks as
Archimedes, Aristotle, Ctesibius, Hero of Alexandria, and Philo of Byzantium. * Having these and other sources, the
Islamic Empire—which stretched from Spain across North Africa and the Middle
East to Afghanistan—possessed the knowledge that made it possible for them to
make automatic machines.
Those machines, says historian of
technology Donald Hill, could “continue working for long periods—hours, days
or even longer—without human intervention.” Why? The engineers had invented
effective control mechanisms that made automation possible. The machines used
water from elevated tanks to provide a steady supply of energy. Automatic
switching opened and closed valves or changed the direction of water flow. The
machines also had feedback systems, as well as what Hill calls “precursors of
fail-safe devices.” Consider some examples.
The Ingenious Banu Musa
The three Banu Musa—Arabic for “sons of
Musa”—lived in ninth-century Baghdad. They drew on the works of their
Hellenistic forerunners Philo and Hero, as well as Chinese, Indian, and Persian
engineers, to make over 100 devices. According to science writer Ehsan Masood,
these include water fountains that changed their patterns at intervals, clocks
with visual gimmicks, and vessels that served drinks automatically and
replenished themselves using clever combinations of floats, valves, and
siphons. According to historian of science Jim Al-Khalili, the sons of Musa
also built rudimentary life-size automatons—a “tea girl” that actually served
tea and a flute player, “possibly the earliest example of a programmable
machine.”
These automatic systems had much in common
with modern machines. However, “they used mainly water under pressure rather
than electronics, but many of the operating principles are the same,” says
science writer Ehsan Masood.
Al-Jazari—“Father of Robotics”
In 1206, Ibn al-Razzaz al-Jazari completed his
work, sometimes translated Compendium on the Theory and Practice of the
Mechanical Arts. It has been called “a study in systematic machine design.”
Some of al-Jazari’s technology went far beyond that published by the Banu Musa,
and his descriptions and diagrams are so detailed that modern engineers can
recreate his devices.
Al-Jazari’s book illustrates water-raising
devices, water clocks, candle clocks, water dispensers, musical automatons, and
a pump that converted the rotary motion of a waterwheel into the back-and-forth
movement of a piston that pumped water with great force. Historians give
al-Jazari the credit for designing hydraulic pumps three centuries before the
same basic design appeared in the West.
Al-Jazari also produced whimsical, yet
functional, clocks. The one illustrated here has been reconstructed in a Dubai
shopping mall. The timing mechanism is a perforated bowl that sits in a water
reservoir inside the elephant’s belly. The bowl becomes full in 30 minutes and
then sinks, triggering a series of actions that utilize ropes and balls that
are released from the “castle” on the elephant’s back. When the half-hour cycle
ends, the water bowl is automatically refloated, and the process starts over.
This device and other automatic machines attributed to al-Jazari have earned
him the title “father of robotics.”
The story of man’s ingenuity is truly amazing!
Yet, that story is more than just interesting history. It also gives us a sense
of perspective. At a time when many boast about modern technology, we are
reminded of just how much we owe to the brilliant and fertile minds that
preceded us and to our Creator who gave us this ability!
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