Islamic Automation A Reading of al-Jazari's The Book of Knowledge of Ingenious Mechanical Devices (1206)

Abstract

This paper would draw on the work of al-Jazari, a 13th century Islamic scholar, engineer and scientist, specifically his The Book of Knowledge of Ingenious Devices, as a means to develop alternative histories and futures for robotic arts. It would be argued that the various machines developed and conceptualized by al-Jazari reflect not only an alternative perspective on automation radically different from those developed in the West but also present a range of new possibilities for contemporary explorations in robotic arts.