Monday, April 24, 2006

Robot- Illustration Friday


(Insert robot voice here)"You are exactly .05 inches northwest of the beech tree which is exactly 37 years old and home to a family of possums! Would you like to play again?" Sometimes Tommy wished he hadn't made his robot to be quite so smart!

Robot- Illustration Friday.
Whew! Just made it! I was striving to get this in Sunday evening but the computer was pre-occupied with my partner's addiction to "Diner Dash!" LOL!
What a busy week end! I am surprised I came up with anything, let alone three pieces. You get to see my favourite. Sorry it's the rough draft...Again, busy, busy, busy!
Oh, and for you info groupies here's a little more...

History of "Robot"
The idea of artificial people dates at least as far back as the ancient legend of Cadmus, who sowed dragon teeth that turned into soldiers, and the myth of Pygmalion, whose statue of Galatea came to life. In classical mythology, the deformed god of metalwork (Vulcan or Hephaestus) created mechanical servants, ranging from intelligent, golden handmaidens to more utilitarian three-legged tables that could move about under their own power. Jewish legend tells of the Golem, a clay statue animated by Kabbalistic magic. Similarly, in the Younger Edda, Norse mythology tells of a clay giant, Mökkurkálfi or Mistcalf, constructed to aid the troll Hrungnir in a duel with Thor, the God of Thunder.

The word Robot was introduced by Czech writer Karel Čapek in his play R.U.R. which was written in 1920 (See also Robots in literature for details of the play).

Concepts akin to today's robot can be found as long ago as 450B.C. when the Greek mathematician Archytas of Tarentum postulated a mechanical bird he called "The Pigeon" which was propelled by steam. Al-Jazari (1136-1206) an Ortoqid (Artuk) Turkish inventor designed and constructed automatic machines such as water clocks, kitchen appliances and musical automats powered by water.


Source is Google's Answers.com.

19 comments:

Anonymous said...

Cute illustration!!! Thanks for the history too!

Kay Aker said...

So lively and fun! Love the little possum dangling from the tree. Thanks for the fascinating info.

trowbridge chronicles said...

Funny drawing!

Caroline said...

I can see that the possum is whispering to the robot - maybe that's why its so smart!

Lee said...

fun robot ellen :) love it as always!

Amy Zaleski said...

Lots of fun, Ellen! I like the border and the animals are great - especially the possum!

carla said...

Thie history is fascinating and the drawing is adorable! You've created three great characters and a fun little scene:>

valerie walsh said...

fun, funny and charming!!! love it!

steve said...

Awesome Ellen--love the "spotted" post too.

Jaimie said...

I love the happy robot as well as the expressions on the other three figures. great job

Anonymous said...

This is great!! I love the expression on the boy’s face. I would love to see this illustration with a little color! I bet it would really pack a nice punch! . .Oh and I wanted to sat too that I love the solid line work!

Unknown said...

CUTE charming illo!

buep said...

So funny! I love the dog :)

Majeak Ann said...

wow..this is a very nice drawing!!..it also has this retro-quality that I like!

Larry Lee said...

Love the story line. I think we would have to program our robots with some randomness so that they would be more sun to play with. Very nice illo.
8^)

Larry Lee said...

P.S. Coincidentally, my e-mail notified me of your comment exactly as I was writing to your blog. Weird. Thanks for your kind words.
8^)

Linda said...

Funny, interesting history, thanks for that, Poor Tommy, love the doggy

Anette Heiberg said...

What a fun robot. He looks so cute and strange (in a good way)!
www.wynlen.no

morealyera said...

Tommy, Tommy... what did you do? LOL!

Very cute... I love the possum. Great info, too!

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Delaware, United States
I'm a professional artist, a wife, a step-mother, grand-mother, friend, Ms. Fix-it, older sister and a daughter. A regular "person in progress!" Oh yah, and I draw alot! Copyright 2010-2012.

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