FATHER OF ROBOTICS : ISMAIL AL-JAZARI (1136–1206)
Ismail Al-Jazari was a polymath: a scholar, inventor, mechanical engineer, artisan, artist and mathematician from the Artuqid Dynasty of Jazira in Mesopotamia.’The Book of Knowledge of Ingenious Mechanical Devices’ is a medieval Arabic book written by Ismail al-Jazari in the 12th century. It describes over fifty mechanical devices and automata, including clocks, water-raising machines, musical automatons, and humanoid robots. Al-Jazari provides detailed instructions for constructing each device and includes anecdotes and historical references. The book had a significant influence on the development of European clockmaking and automata, and it offers insights into daily life and technological innovations in the Islamic world during the medieval period. It’s his book that influenced key concepts of modern day robotics
The Muslim Engineer who first invent robot
Al-Jazari was a scientist, inventor, mathematician, and the first Arab mechanical engineer. He became famous for inventing machines, many of which were automatic, including the Elephant Clock and mechanical devices like the crankshaft by using robotics. He not only laid the groundwork for modern engineering, hydraulics, and robotics, but recorded his designs in a manner that would excite any enthusiast of Leonardo da Vinci’s notebooks. In fact, it is often claimed they may have inspired Leonardo himself.
From an early age, he was interested in machines and had an excellent imagination, which helped him to create his future devices. His father worked at the Artuklu Palace in Turkey, and he went on to follow his father to work at the palace as the chief engineer. He designed more than 50 different devices, including a water clock, a candle clock, fountains, musical devices, hand washing devices, and machines for raising water from ponds, rivers, and flowing canals. Many of these inventions were very innovative and advanced for his time.
His most famous device was the Elephant Clock. This was 22 feet tall, and the mechanism stayed hidden in the elephant, but this device essentially records every half hour or hour with the use of a bowl with a small hole that collects water and sets off movement when it is full, indicating the hour, or half hour, is up.
He wrote a book in 1206 that became very popular called “The Book of Knowledge of Ingenious Mechanical Devices”, which he gifted to the Sultan. This book contained designs, descriptions, and intricate paintings of more than 100 mechanical devices that he had thought of or created. Many of these devices were meant for entertainment purposes and had no real use, such as a trick vessel that appeared to have water in it, but when someone tried to drink it, it was empty.
Today, he is known as the father of robotics, and his book provided instructions for the design, assembly, and manufacture of machine parts, which has greatly helped the developments of technology and devices today. He died in 1206, and even upwards of 800 years after his death, we still remember his contributions to the Islamic World
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Aal-e-Qutub Aal-e-Syed Abdullah Shah Ghazi 