Roosevelt Rozon
The first machine that came to mind was the “Boneshakers” automaton. Automaton is a mechanical device that is made to imitate the movements of a human being. It uses a series of simple machines in order to follow a set sequence of movements. It requires no software or electricity for this to happen. Automatons can be dated back to medieval times.
https://themadmuseum.co.uk/history-of-automata/
The “Boneshakers” automaton tells a story of three skeletons riding on a bike being chased by a dog. The skeletons are pedaling while they move away from the bike to look back at the dog chasing them. As seen in the video, the simple machines used in this are wheel and axles using gears, pulleys, and a lever. The wheel and axles mechanism is used to turn the wheels on the bikes as well as propel wooden wedges that provide the movements for the running dog. The pulleys are also moved using the wheel and axles.
This stood out to me due to how it is constructed to follow the exact same sequence with every rotation. All these movements are accomplished with the use of simple machines. It’s like the very basis for robots without the use of electricity or computer programming.
This is a great find. Very low-tech, but with good results.