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Of automatons and robots
![](https://corporate.webassets.siemens-healthineers.com/7f6e51ee0b3de8ad/4b65ba7824dc/v/a195cb2bc2e4/Robot-Rex.jpg)
Of automatons and robots – a history in pictures
The dream of robots assisting doctors and revolutionizing medicine is not new. On the contrary it goes back a long way and tells the story of a robot turtle, automats and speaking androids.
For 2,000 years we humans have wanted to build machines that look like us. For a long time, automatons were the best that contemporary engineers could produce. Humanoid robots did not emerge until 1970. Prior to that, they belonged to the world of science fiction.
Mademoiselle Claire
![Mademoiselle Claire in 1912](https://corporate.webassets.siemens-healthineers.com/9f68128a9159d4e2/a89218ea0db7/v/16a676f1bf8c/madmoiselleClaire.jpg)
Robots in industry
![Robots in industry](https://corporate.webassets.siemens-healthineers.com/82477658c723a033/33fbeab8a0c1/v/6ffe633cd806/industryRobot.jpg)
![Robot turtle](https://corporate.webassets.siemens-healthineers.com/2cfe23e6c076532e/f6357a819078/v/81f624a687be/robotTurtle.jpg)
Like a real animal
Use in anatomy
![Lumena](https://corporate.webassets.siemens-healthineers.com/3001a556934b68cb/9503d66963bd/v/8d81542856ba/lumena-use-in-anatomy.jpg)
Robots are mortal too
![Robots are mortal too](https://corporate.webassets.siemens-healthineers.com/77b3780795d2b0bd/64112ca6ba11/v/7565d8f690b4/SimOne.jpg)
![Flexible fingers](https://corporate.webassets.siemens-healthineers.com/eded33f621f182b5/2dc6c673d132/v/8d01b40a6786/bionic-hand-prothesis.jpg)
Flexible fingers: In 2007, Juan Arredondo received the first bionic hand prosthesis with individually movable fingers. As electrodes also recorded the electrical signals from his arm muscles, he could even grip a tennis ball.
![Yik San Kwoh](https://corporate.webassets.siemens-healthineers.com/aa9e18cd22cb9353/51c36354f774/v/586e5fa4308b/YikSanKwoh.jpg)
Safe for the brain: Yik San Kwoh developed a computer-controlled robotic arm in 1985 that was able to target a brain tumor with an accuracy of one hundredth of a millimeter. The arm was mainly used to take tissue samples.
![Man as machine](https://corporate.webassets.siemens-healthineers.com/7f6e51ee0b3de8ad/4b65ba7824dc/v/a195cb2bc2e4/Robot-Rex.jpg)
Man as machine: Rex is an artificial human. Introduced in 2013, he possessed the best artificial organs and limbs of his time and clearly demonstrated what was possible. However, he lacked a stomach and brain.
Building the future of robotics, imaging, and device integration
![Key visual for Endovascular Robotics](https://corporate.webassets.siemens-healthineers.com/627dabce7eac0c01/108bcc4c0bbb/v/f258f9dfa1fc/siemens-healthineers_neurovascular-interventions_web.jpg)
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Hildegard Kaulen, PhD, is a molecular biologist. Following positions at Rockefeller University in New York and Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, she now works as a freelance science journalist for newspapers and scientific magazines.