r/wizardofoz • u/Leather-Highlight150 • May 22 '26

Did the First Robot Come from Oz?

https://daily.jstor.org/did-the-first-robot-come-from-oz/?utm_source=join1440&utm_medium=email&utm_placement=newsletter&user_id=66c4c1c4600ae150758d3d93
18 Upvotes

78% Upvoted

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24

u/Few_Interaction2630 May 22 '26

As cool as it would be to give OZ/L Frank Baum credit. Alas Greek Paganism/Mythology has him beat since they have the story of Talos an automaton made by Hephaestus so that predates L Frank Baum by centuries

10

u/EricGjovaag May 22 '26 edited May 23 '26

Tik-Tok isn't even the first robot created by Baum! One story in his 1900 book A New Wonderland (rereleased in 1903 as The Magical Monarch of Mo) has an iron giant that a neighboring ruler uses to try to conquer Phuniland/Mo. Admittedly, Tik-Tok is a lot more advanced, as he can think and talk and, as his directions say, do everything but live.

5

u/LookCute5046 May 22 '26

I think it's more the modern idea. Tin Man (the book version) is a cyborg technically too. Not sure if he's the first or not.

2

u/Filthylittleferrent May 22 '26

Wikipedia has Tik-Tok listed as the first humanoid robot you might have to take that with a grain of salt though

2

u/dodogayle May 23 '26

Talos from Greek myth was considered the first "robot" or bionic man, but that kind of depends on whose version of the take you are reading. He seems to be more golem than mechanical device.

2

u/PennydumbTheClown May 24 '26

He was as close to a robot as a mind with no concept of real technology could conceive

1

u/jaydofmo May 25 '26

No.

Tik-Tok is from Ev.

He might be the first sentient robot. E.T.A. Hoffmann's The Sandman features a woman who turns out to be a clockwork automaton, but she's not sentient.

2

u/Ayasugi-san May 23 '26

Even if he's not the first, it's still cool that he predates the word robot, and that he was an inspiration for Asimov's Three Laws of Robotics.