Ancient Japanese Wooden Robots

The Japanese fascination with robots and miniaturization dates back thousands of years. The ancient Karakuri Ningyo tradition dates back over a 1000 years to ancient Japan. Wooden sculptures were created by craftsmen that had gears and moving parts to enact movement and pre-defined behaviors (like loading a bow and shooting an arrow) in a impressively precise manner.

I saw this on a Discovery Science Channel show about Japanese Robotic technology. This explains why the Japanese from a cultural perspective have advanced so far with robotics. The continuing societal fascination and social adoption of this technology dates back to pre-Industrial Revolution times.

Interest in this ancient Japanese technology has recently been increasing as advances being made today are becoming more commercial. I find it ironic that I had not heard of this technology until very recently myself. I suspect students of robotics probably have this in their history books. If not, then this is yet another ancient technology that has gotten lost in the shuffle and is resurfacing as new again. The phrase "That which is old is new" seems to be a recurring theme when dealing with the archaeology of ancient technology.