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Ancient Robot Was Programmed with Rope

Posted by Zonk on Sat Jul 07, 2007 02:42 PM
from the would-you-like-any-more-mead-master dept.
Robotics Science
Pingu93 writes "New Scientist has a feature about the 'worlds first' programmable robot, dating from 60AD. It was designed by a Greek inventor who was, appropriately enough, called Hero. He designed his rolling machine so that it could be programmed using rope and pegs in different configurations. Some of the writers at New Scientist went so far as to build their own version of the robot and the technology blog has some video of it in action."
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  • Actually, his name was Hiro (Score:5, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 07 2007, @02:43PM (#19782177)
    And he suddenly appeared one day, and disappeared just as mysteriously. He also had Asian features which were very out of place in Greece.
    • Hiro Protagonist?

      • Re:Actually, his name was Hiro (Score:4, Funny)

        by locokamil (850008) on Saturday July 07 2007, @02:55PM (#19782273) Homepage
        I just finished reading Snow Crash. At the beginning, I thought Hiro's story would not end well. By page 700, I thought it wouldn't end at all...
        • Indeed, isn't it a fantastic book?

          I keep telling people to read it. Sooner or later, everbody listens to Reason...
          • Lots and lots and lots of interesting bits and pieces. The problem is that bits and pieces don't an intersting book make. Also, the style of writing verged on infodump for vast tracts. Fortunately, these defects were fixed in time for Cryptonomicon and The Baroque Cycle (which all rank in my top 50).
            • Interestingly, I thought exactly the opposite- I couldn't get through the Baroque Cycle (which was some many thousands of pages long) and I had to force myself to read Cryptonomicon, and even then, I didn't get half of it on the first go-around and had to read it again. Snowcrash, I could just pick up and read.

              I did really like the Diamond Age, too.
              • To each his/her own! I haven't read Diamond Age yet, although it is on my list of books to read-- I hear good things about it.

            • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

              by thc69 (98798)

              Indeed, isn't it a fantastic book?
              Nope, it isn't.
              Liar.

              (Or as they say on digg: FAIL.)

                • Re: (Score:3, Funny)

                  by thc69 (98798)
                  That's possible, or perhaps (more likely) you've somehow managed to read better books than I have. I've read quite a large quantity of books in the past approximately 15 years or so.

                • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

                  by mstahl (701501)

                  No. I've simply read more books than you.

                  Or, you're just an asshole. You can disagree about Snow Crash, but don't belittle someone and then presume yourself to be better read than they are simply because you disagree.

    • He was caught thinking freely, and some bastard monopolist patent-troll threatened him with crucifixion.
      "Crucifixion or freedom?" asked the civil servant.
      "Freedom. I saw that flick, and I'll just hop the next boat headed for the Seychelles, thanks," replied Hero, demonstrating pragmatism over commitment to art.

    • Just imagine, ROBOTS could have built the Pyramids, and we could have skipped Slavery and SERFDOM...

      Just suppose Robots and AI based computers could do ALL our WORK ?

      NOW, more ROBOTS means more FREEDOM for HUMANs !! as long as we take it ALL the way and restructure the economy into what you will come to know as TEAM INFINITY's WAGELESS ROBOTIC ECONOMY.

      http://TeamInfinity.com/TRANSFORMER_WAGELESS [teaminfinity.com]

      Robotics & Artificial Intelligence together can ELIMINATE ALL HUMAN JOBS, and MONEY in one fell s

      • Re: (Score:3, Funny)

        by Anonymous Coward
        I find your ideas intriguing and would like to subscribe to your newsletter.

  • Geezz (Score:2, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward
    Wow, has it been THAT long since Heathkit went under?

  • Visual Rope (Score:3, Funny)

    by padlocked.swings (1113899) on Saturday July 07 2007, @02:52PM (#19782241)
    Or Vrope?

    Or .rope instead of .net?

    Microsoft Rope?

    Rope++

    Compiler converts Rope to Chain?

  • GrEkZ (Score:5, Funny)

    by helfen (791121) on Saturday July 07 2007, @03:03PM (#19782349)
    along with this http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antikythera_mechanism [wikipedia.org]
    we should already have on /. plenty of HoMeRz, 4r1st0tl3, 4l3x4nd3rz and even one S0cr4t3s.

  • "Can you do better?" (Score:5, Funny)

    by wile_e_wonka (934864) on Saturday July 07 2007, @03:05PM (#19782371)

    And now we're issuing a challenge: can you to do better? Can you build a version of Hero's robot that can perform as well as the inventor's original?


    Could you please give us a video of the original, please, for comparative purposes?

  • Name (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Poromenos1 (830658) on Saturday July 07 2007, @03:06PM (#19782381) Homepage
    Actually, the name doesn't have anything to do with the actual word hero, it's just that enough letters were dropped in the English transliteration that it now is written the same. In Greek the name is and the Greek word for hero is - (ancient-modern).

    • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

      by Poromenos1 (830658)
      OK, slashdot doesn't like greek characters. The name is Hron and the word for hero is Hros-Hroas.
      • Yeah--I had the darnest time properly trying to write uTorrent using the letter mu once (even using the HTML form of the letters doesn't work).

  • steam engines and automatic plays (Score:5, Interesting)

    by wizardforce (1005805) on Saturday July 07 2007, @03:08PM (#19782393) Journal
    The Greeks used these rope powered machines to function in their plays. they would set up what amounts to be an automatic play, it would be set up beforehand, they would program it and let it run through and the audience was thus amazed. The Greeks were also the first to create a primitive steam engines, it consited of to curved spouts attached to a wheel of some sort which would spin. they used it primarily as entertainment for the emperor and such. if only they had thought about using that power like we learned how to over 1500 years later, imagine what the world would be like.

    • Re:steam engines and automatic plays (Score:5, Informative)

      by tscola (14621) on Saturday July 07 2007, @03:38PM (#19782629)
      "The Greeks were also the first to create a primitive steam engines"

      It was, in fact, the very same Hero of Alexandria who invented the steam engine.

      • Re:steam engines and automatic plays (Score:5, Informative)

        by I(rispee_I(reme (310391) on Saturday July 07 2007, @05:24PM (#19783423) Journal
        It was, in fact, the very same Hero of Alexandria who invented the steam engine.

        I did my Humanities project on Hero last semester. The professor tried to give me guff because I "didn't specify who the hero was."

        Seriously.

        Other fun facts about Hero of Alexandria:

        He invented the first vending machine, a coin-operated fountain;
        the first pedometer, which tracked miles traveled with pebbles;
        and a primitive nickelodeon that performed an automatic play.

        I couldn't get my model of his aeolipile to work. Oh well. No shame in being shown up by the ancient Greeks.

        • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

          by WilliamSChips (793741)
          Wasn't he also the one responsible for the formula for a triangle's area? (Next time, use the alternate transliteration Heron)

  • Hmm... (Score:4, Funny)

    by sesshomaru (173381) on Saturday July 07 2007, @03:08PM (#19782397) Journal
    Hero? I always thought the name was Mechanicles...

  • SMP ETC (Score:5, Funny)

    by toddhisattva (127032) on Saturday July 07 2007, @03:16PM (#19782455) Homepage
    I heard they had a multi-threaded design as well....
  • Be warned: this robot was created before the rules of robotics; it would have no problem killing you and everyone that you care about.

  • don't read too fast... (Score:5, Funny)

    by Pinkoir (666130) on Saturday July 07 2007, @03:56PM (#19782771)
    Wow....I read that headline too fast and it came out "Ancient Robot Wars Programmed by Pope" which, frankly, would have been a pretty interesting story. I'm disappointed now.

    -Pinkoir

  • Great info, bad article. Here's how it works. (Score:3, Informative)

    by Animats (122034) on Saturday July 07 2007, @04:11PM (#19782863) Homepage

    Clever little piece of early technology. Main article is link to a paysite. Video has too much talking head and not enough of the thing working.

    Actual YouTube link. [youtube.com] About two minutes of talking head (skip that part), five seconds of the thing working. The second sequence of the robot, where you see how the cord is wound around the axles, makes it obvious how the thing works.

    The basic idea is that you have a 3-wheeled platform with two powered wheels and an idler. The powered wheels are on a split shaft, and each half of the shaft has a drum around which a cord is wound. The cords go up to a pole, through a pulley, and down to a weight.

    If that was the whole thing, it would just go in a straight line. The clever part is that there are some pins in the rollers, and those are used to reverse the winding direction of the cords. So by putting in appropriate pins and winding the cord in alternate directions, you can set it to move forward, turn in place in either direction, or reverse. Simple, cute, and reasonably accurate, because the programming setup determines the distance in each mode, not the time.

    You can't cycle it, though; it's a one-shot thing. Once it's run, you have to manually redo all the proper winding and setup. This is significant, because, unlike something cam-driven, it has no potential as an industrial technology. It doesn't lead to, say, an automatic weaving loom.

  • Either no one RTFA (yes, I know, I must be new here) or everyone is subscribed to the magazine:

    This is a preview of the full article. New Scientist Full Access is available free to magazine subscribers
    Sure, the second link with the video works, but what's the point of linking to paid content?

  • Hero was smart (Score:4, Insightful)

    by bxwatso (1059160) on Saturday July 07 2007, @04:45PM (#19783079)
    This is a good reminder that people from all times and all places were just as smart and innovative as we are today. They had the same drives as all people. The difference between Hero and the Woz is the Woz drew from a more robust technological base. That is why investigation into basic sciences such as materials, chemistry, and physics is important. It lays the groundwork for future technologies.
  • With enough rope and enough height for that weight to drop, you could build something to... ... TAKE OVER THE WORLD!!!

    (and demand like 1.000.000,= euro's)
  • To continue reading this post, subscribe to drcagn. Get 4 posts by drcagn and instant access to all online content for only USD $4.95.

    • Textual Code? (Re:Old) (Score:5, Interesting)

      by Tablizer (95088) on Saturday July 07 2007, @03:16PM (#19782457) Homepage Journal
      I believe I saw the exact same thing rather a long time ago

      Either way it is pretty cool because it is a simple concept that is powerful. I wonder how one would express it as text code? Perhaps something like this:

      Left Wheel: wwwpwwpwpwwwpwwww

      Right Wheel: wwwwpwwppwwwpwwpw

      Where "p" is a reversal peg and "w" is a wrap of string. However, the pegs don't necessarily have to be on the same line. Thus, maybe put a digit that indicates a partial wrap. Example: "ww5wp". Here the "5" means 5/10'ths of a wrap (0.5). Using fractions of 10 keeps it to single digits. I'm sure this is an oversimplification of the different ways the string can be wrapped, though.

      • Re: (Score:2, Interesting)

        by scottrocket (1065416)
        Interesting-I remember back in the 80's, reading a Scientific American article about using ropes, knots,& pulleys to create AND, OR, NAND etc. gates. At the end of the article, this idea was proffered: could an assembly of ropes and knots, in motion, create a sentient, intelligent life form? Sorry that I can't remember the issue- I'd like to read it again!

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