Who or which is the only ‘robot’ to have defeated both Benjamin Franklin and Napoléon Bonaparte?
The game in which they got defeated was the Chess by the way!
Then you would think what is so great about it! There are modern computer which can defeat anyone!
But this was in the 1770s or so!
So there was a ‘chess’ playing ‘robot’ which could defeat anyone!
Without much beating around the, well board! Lemme tell you that the ‘robot’ was called the “Mechanical Turk”!
The formal name was actually Kempelen’s “Mechanical Turk” which was an 18th-century chess-playing automaton, presented by Wolfgang von Kempelen in 1770!
What amazed audiences is that it was seen to play chess autonomously!
In its feats it when on to defeat everyone! Even fooling Benjamin Franklin and Napoleon!
It was actually an elaborate hoax!
The device concealed a human chess master inside to control the moves, sparking early debates about artificial intelligence and automation while fooling figures like Napoleon Bonaparte!
A wooden cabinet with a life-sized, turbaned figure (the “Turk”) was seated behind a chessboard. Then a skilled chess player hid inside the cabinet, controlling the Turk’s arm via levers and pulleys!
In fact the doors were opened to show complex clockwork, and a candle was lit to prove no one was inside, but the operator was in a hidden compartment, tracking moves on an internal board and communicating via brass discs!
The hidden player could play a strong game, defeat opponents, and even perform the Knight’s Tour, convincing many it was a true machine!
After Kempelen, it was toured by Johann Mälzel and played against famous figures, including Benjamin Franklin and Napoleon.
Finally writer Edgar Allan Poe correctly deduced it was a hoax in 1836, publishing his analysis! Brain is better than Brawn as always!
The original Turk was destroyed in a fire in 1854, but its story inspired fascination with automation and the concept of thinking machines!
This proves that not everything can be done by machines! Like act for example!
One word for acting which is right there on the top is Sreenivasan!
A very quick sketch since am under the weather but could not leave without a dedication since he deserved much more!
Sreeni eta you will be missed! Your legacy will continue for ages though!
Heartfelt condolences…
Om shanti
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