It is said that :- The first Automata was created by GOD. According to Talmundic tradition, Adam was created in 5 hours. In the first, his dust was gathered from all parts of the world; In the second, it was kneaded into a shapeless mass (Golem); In the third, his limbs were shaped; In the fourth, a soul was infused into him; In the fifth, he arose and stood on his feet.

If you swap the words Adam for Robot and view the stages from the point of a production line, soul for software and GOD to Honda. It does get scarry the idea of ancient aliens building robots in front of primative man, the language being his best understanding of what just happened before his eyes.

When we enter the world of automata we enter a world where some machines were real and some were actors, a little like the toymakes dolls in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. The famous magician Jean Eugène Rbert-Houdin (1805–1871) was known for creating automata for his stage shows.  Mythology has many stories about automata, some a wild and fanciful, others may have been based on fact. We can not say for sure what is fact or fiction, so what follows is a description of some of the more exciting reference to mythological automata which are based on accounts from the Ancient Greeks.

Prometheus was reputed to have made the first man and women on earth, with clay animated by fire and stolen from heaven. According to Apollodorus.

Hephaestus God of all mechanical arts, also known as Vulcan, God of life was reputed to have made two female statues of pure gold which assisted him and accompanied him wherever he went. Living young damsels, filled with minds and wisdom. LLiad (Book 18). I still keep seeing robots in my mind (C3PO ?).
Hephaestus was also accredited with making Talus, a giant made from brass,which guarded Crete against intruders. Talus dispensed of his victims by heating up his body and hugging them to death. His only vulnerable spot was his right ankle where there was a sinew of flesh and a vein of blood. The Argonauts could only land on Crete after Talus was destroyed through the intervention of Medea.

Pygmation King of Cyprus fell in love with a beautiful statue which he had made and marries her after Aphrodite brings her to life.

 The Ancient Greeks were clearly obsessed with the notion of creating mechanical living beings. We do know that they had very advanced engineering skills and most certainly managed to make partially animated Statues which would be used in Ceremonies. They were probable worked by levers and human powered, although there are descriptions of using steam and water as a source of power. The Greeks certainly had the technology and ingenuity to have used steam powered devises. Descriptions of wonderful mechanical people and objects not only came out of mythology but also other cultures from around the world. There seems to have been a common ambition to emulate living things through out the whole of the ancient world. The following is a description of some of the more intriguing ones.

15th century BC
Amenhotep son of Hapu had made a statue of Memnon, King of Ethiopia, near Thebes in Egypt, which uttered a melodious sound when struck by the the suns rays in the morning and during sunset. It was suggested that a divine power was partly responsible as the mechanisms were far to simple to sustain the noise.

The period 1860 to 1910 is known as "The Golden Age of Automata". During this period many small family based companies of Automata makers thrived in Paris. From their workshops they exported thousands of clockwork automata and mechanical singing birds around the world. It is these French automata that are collected today, although now rare and expensive they attract collectors worldwide. The main French makers were Vichy, Roullet & Decamps, Lambert, Phalibois, Renou and Bontems.

The rotating Sand Automata in this project is designed to show a number of aspects.

First and foremost It represents what would be expected of an A or A* project at GCSE it has 3 or more materials a mechanism, some electronics albeit fairly rudamentary. This could be enhanced based on the pupils skill set. The involute gears add a engineering aspect and all of these points could be covered in the portfolio. The project also shows trangulaton and the use of templates, jigs and interference jointing techniques.