THE TURK

In 1769, at the behest of Maria Theresa, the Holy Roman empress, there was designed a chess-playing robot called The Turk that was perhaps the most famous in a long line of automata (gratuitous uses of irregular plural form alert) of the 18th and 19th centuries. It quickly became a sensation around the courts of Europe as it seemed capable of rational thought - through not only moving the pieces with the use of its mechanical arm but gestures like shaking its head when faced with human blunders.

In fact, there was of course a certain William Lewis cunningly hidden inside its workings. The Turk was eventually destroyed by fire in 1854, but not after having achieved an impressive success rate, even taking the scalp of Napoleon Bonaparte along the way (checkmated in 24 moves), and devotees can now even play over the annotated games themselves. The fascinating story is in greater detail here, not forgetting its being the basis for the marvellous 1927 movie The Chess Player.

Nowadays, we look to Japan for the latest hi-tech automata or 'karakuri' - the remarkable factory robots, cyber pets, massage chairs, and many more. Surprisingly however, it was way back during the Edo period in the early 17th century that the interest there began.

Here is a beautiful almost awe-inspiring example of a Japanese automaton playing some Elgar on the violin.