A Brief History of Robot Birds Our recent post on the history of
the cuckoo clock inspired some research into other examples of
early, non-timekeeping robot birds. For centuries, birds–pigeons
and canaries in particular–have been a popular subject for
inventors and engineers experimenting with early mechanical
systems and robotics. Take, for example, Bubo, the ancient
clockwork owl seen in the 1981 film Clash of The Titans. Bubo
was forged by Hephaestus to aid Perseus in his quest and Bubo
was, of course, purely fictional. There were however, actual
avian automatons in actual ancient Greece. The earliest example
dates to 350 B.C.E. when the mathematician Archytas of Tarentum,
who some credit with inventing the science of mechanics, is said
to have created a mechanical wooden dove capable of flapping its
wings and flying up to 200 meters, powered by some sort of
compressed air or internal steam engine. Archytas’ invention is
often cited as the first robot, and, in light of recent
technological advancements, pe