The Greek myth of Talos, the first robot

How often we attribute most of our technological advancements to the advent of the modern age, especially to the 21st century! But we do not realise that the concepts for such ground-breaking technology are born out of the myths and legends of our civilization. For instance, the concepts of flying machines and nuclear weapons are very much present in our epics, the Ramayana and the Mahabharata. Similarly, the concept of robots came from the Greek myth of Talos.

Talos was the invention of Hephaestus, the Greek god of technology and invention, and he was created to protect the island of Crete from intruders. The automaton had the ability to discern and feel like human beings, according to the various portrayals of the myth.

So the concepts of robots and artificial intelligence did exist all those centuries ago! However, people did not possess the resources required to build them properly at that time. Imagine how advanced we would have been had they been successfully built then!

Click on this video to learn more about Talos, the inception of robotics and AI in our civilization.