The art of building purely mechanical automatons has dramatically declined with the arrival of electronics over the past century, but there are still a few craftsmen who keep the art form alive.

THE idea of a ‘mechanical man’ has receded into the background since the advent of the mechanical age. When practically all our necessities are pro- vided by automatic or semi-automatic machines, ...

The word automat is the Latinization of the Greek word αὐτόματον, which means acting of one’s own will. It is more often used to describe moving machines, especially those made to resemble human or ...