Robots, clocks and computers: How Ancient Greeks got there first

A Kotsanas Museum of Ancient Greek Technology employee presents a replica of the ancient Antikythera Mechanism, in Athens, Greece. — Photos: Reuters

ATHENS: A humanoid figure dressed as a maid holds a jug in its right hand and, as hidden gears click and whirr, lifts it and pours wine into a cup a bystander has placed into the palm of its left.

The robot is a recreation of the automatic servant of Philon, designed more than 2,200 years ago by a Greek engineer and operating though a complex mechanism of springs, weights and air pressure that also allowed it to dilute the alcohol with water.