It’s fitting that the European renaissance of automata, or kinetic sculptures designed to mimic human movement, began with a clockmaker—like their timekeeping counterparts, automata operate on cue, ...

The eighteenth century was the golden age of fascination with automata. Between 1738 and 1741, Jacques de Vaucanson thrilled Paris with a clockwork duck, flutist, and pipe player. These were ...

The developers behind “Bitcraft: Age of Automata” want you to build the world from the ground up. Villages, towns, cities, nations and empires are all in players hands. That’s how Clockwork Labs ...

This essay is excerpted from Strange Frequencies by Peter Bebergal, published by Penguin/TarcherPerigree. In an enormous Goodwill in Seattle, the horologist (a watchmaker and expert in related devices ...

Early modern automata : an abridged history -- Ever more variations on theme at the court of Rudolf II -- The gifts that keep on giving -- A figure of speech -- Hapsburg-Ottoman diplomatic machinery - ...