Believe it or not, robots have been around for some time. In 350BC a Greek mathematician Archytas built a mechanical bird called 'The Pigeon'. It was one of the earliest studies of flight. Leonardo Da Vinci created a mechanical device which formed the appearance of an armored knight.
From the 15th century highly skilled inventors made mechanical machines called 'automatons' which were all the rage in their day. One of the most famous being the chess playing 'Turk'. A life size mechanical Turkish man who sat at a table, smoking a pipe, and beat every human that challenged him to a game of chess. It was later discovered that he was controlled by a midget underneath the table operating it with levers and pedals. Although the people of the time were completely unaware of this, thinking the machine could think for itself. Unfortunately the original Turk was destroyed in a fire. How it was made is still a mystery.
Another strange robot was 'Golem' a 16th century legend that came alive in the Jewish district of Prague in order to protect that community in times of danger.
Antique robots, especially the early tin ones are highly collectible, the one on the right fetched over $3,000. Along with original box of course.
In 1927 the movie 'Metropolis' was released in which the first female robot called 'Maria' hit the screens. Issac Asimov, in 1940, wrote a series of short science fiction stories which included robots. Asimov is credited with the term Robotics, which was first mentioned in his story 'Runaround'. He also created the Three Laws of Robotics...

1) A robot may not injure a human being, or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.
2) A robot must obey the orders given it by human beings except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.
3) A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law.

Let's all hope the robots stick to those rules.

THE CHESS PLAYING TURK
AUTOMATON

GOLEM

ANTIQUE ROBOT