Gakutensoku, the First Robot Built in East Asia, Was Designed to Be a Friend, Not a Slave
In the late 1920s, Japanese biologist Makoto Nishimura built Gakutensoku, the first robot in East Asia, as a response to the portrayal of robots as slaves in Karel Čapek's play R.U.R. Unlike typical robots, Gakutensoku could change its facial expression, move its head and hands via air pressure, and even write with a pen. It was exhibited across Japan, Korea, and China before disappearing in Germany in the 1930s. A modern replica was created in 2008 and is on display at the Osaka Science Museum.
The robot he wanted to build would celebrate nature and humanity, and rather than a slave, it would be a friend, and even an inspirational model, to people.
- h_mirin
I'm Japanese, and this is the first I've heard of Gakutensoku. If you asked people in Japan for an old Japanese "robot", I think most would come up with this tea-carrying karakuri doll.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karakuri_puppet
That one predates the word "robot" entirely. The design is documented in a 1796 book called "Karakuri Zui", so Edo period, shoguns still in charge.
- tantalor
Automaton
- vintagedave
The Wikipedia page doesn't say: what happened to this robot?
> the details of its disappearance are unknown
A mystery! Someone will know...