55 Items Tagged

Automata

Horloge Charvet

After decades of damage, this feat of timekeeping and automaton art has been given a new lease on life.

Podcast: Musée Mécanique

Inside a vintage arcade in San Francisco.

The Podcast Team May 8, 2024

Barboursville, West Virginia

Billy Bob’s Wonderland

This arcade is one of the last places to catch a public performance by the now-defunct ShowBiz Pizza's house band of animatronic animals.

Automatons of the Goyesque Carillon

Automatons of the Goyesque Carillon

This piece of early engineering is rather unknown despite its location in the heart of Madrid.

Podcast: Robot Saints

What can medieval automata teach us about the age of AI?

The Podcast Team October 17, 2023

Giants of St. Dunstan-in-the-West

The Astounding World of Automata

From mechanical dragons to storytelling clocks, 18 marvelous machines.

Jonathan Carey September 15, 2023

<em>Le Défenseur du temps</em>—<em>The Defender of Time</em>—has been reinstalled in the Quartier de l'Horloge in Paris. Throughout the day, the metal swordsman marks the passage of time by fighting off a dragon, a rooster, and a crab.

Wonder Is Everywhere: The Defender of Time, a Plan to Bomb the Moon, and More From Around the Web

Get a peek into what we’re obsessed with right now.

April White May 12, 2023

Musée des Automates

A centuries-old quest to create artificial life is alive and well in the French town of Limoux.

Front view of El Papamoscas

El Papamoscas

For more than half a millennia, this automaton has rung an hourly bell.

Giants of St. Dunstan-in-the-West

London, England

Giants of St. Dunstan-in-the-West

A pair of club-wielding guardians stand watch over London's first public clock to feature a minute hand.

mechanical instruments

Podcast: Maillardet’s Automaton

Join us for a daily celebration of the world’s most wondrous, unexpected, even strange places.

The Podcast Team July 26, 2022

The automaton is perched above the store.

Salt Street Watchmaker

An automaton perched above an classic clock and watch store

Video • Wonder From Home

Show & Tell With a Master Magic Auctioneer

It's huge, with a great sense of humor.

This Gigantic Laughing Kookaburra Is Out to Brighten Your Day

A sculptor hitched the cackling bird to a trailer and is taking it on the road.

Jessica Leigh Hester June 8, 2020

<em>Karakuri</em> dolls have been an ornate element of Japanese craftsmanship since the Edo period.

What It’s Like to Build a Traditional Japanese Automaton From Scratch

All you need is a good imagination. And a whole lot of patience.

Isaac Schultz June 4, 2020

Video • Wonder From Home

Show & Tell With Antiquarian Horologist Nico Cox

Video • Wonder From Home

Show & Tell: The Mechanical Magic of Scotland’s House of Automata

Museum Tinguely.

Basel, Switzerland

Museum Tinguely

An interactive exhibition space dedicated to the kinetic sculptures of Swiss artist Jean Tinguely.