Automaton figure of a monk, South Germany or Spain, c. 1560

Video made by John Hiller for the Smithsonian Institution, running time 5 minutes, no audio. Automaton figure of a monk, South Germany or Spain, c. 1560; National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.

http://www.blackbird.vcu.edu/v1n1/non...

for more info.

• Category

  Science & Technology

[Odeonremix]

In 1562, the heir to the throne of Spain sustained a serious head wound that caused him fever and blindness. His father, the king, thought all was lost, until the heir was reportedly cured by the miraculous corpse of a Spanish monk that had been dead for 100 years.In his desperation, the king had allowed the monk's mummified body to be placed in bed with his sick son and he was so thankful when this dubious medical treatment actually worked that he commissioned a moving replica of the dead monk

[tungmobi]

You should mention that you're quoting the cracked.com article "The 7 Creepiest Old School Robots".

[kengle1]

Hm. Looks suspiciously like a Dalek to me.

[nivlaksomat]

while i'm not sure which is featured in this video, there is a replica. The original is not used very often, if ever, but does supposedly still function.

[ferociousgumby]

That guy's pretty wound up.

[gingernutTV]

Its okay, I didn't need any sleep tonight anyway...

[Amin Khajehnassiri]

Amazing what craftsmen could do in 1500s with clockwork mechanics.

[buttman20]

C'mon now son, that's just embarrassing. It says "no audio" in the description... 

[Deolinda Blathorsarn]

No sound here...

[yourpolice]

EXTERMINATE!

[Ceirdwyn]

So creepy. This thing will outlast us all.

[RXdash78]

Hi, Animatronio!

[Clark Kent]

I think robots would be one of my greatest fears, along with shark attacks. They're cool in comic books and movies, etc., but I can't help all the paranoia sci-fi films like Terminator have given me about machines taking over the world. And like it says in the Cracked article, the part where it turns at 0:13 is just creepy (in my opinion)!

It could be cool to own one of those though. I'd just make sure it didn't know where any sharp objects were.