Robot history: everything you wanted to know

Robot history: everything you wanted to know

Up next

Magna Carta: why didn't King John keep his word?

As King John was poised to press his seal into the wax of a document whose impact would reverberate for centuries, did he understand the ramifications it would have? And what were the chances he would keep his word? In this penultimate episode of HistoryExtra's Sunday Series on M ...  Show more

How to be a Victorian

The Victorian period was a time of great economic, cultural and technological change. But what was it like to actually live through it? Speaking to Isabel King, author Jamie Camplin – whose latest book is Being Victorian – charts the highs and lows of the era, from the lasting le ...  Show more

Recommended Episodes

Season 2 | Trailer
History's Greatest Conspiracy Theories

Did NASA fake the moon landing? Did the Knights Templar discover America? And was Elizabeth I really a man in disguise? In Season 2 of History's Greatest Conspiracy Theories, Rob Attar is joined by expert historians to explore how these theories came about and whether any of them ...  Show more

How Old is America?
American History Hit

When fossils were discovered in the US during the 19th Century, it altered American understandings of science, religion, race and more. So what was the Hadrosaurus Foulkii, and why did it have such an enormous effect?


Caroline Winterer, William Robertson Coe Professo ...

  Show more

Origins of the Wheel
The Ancients

It is one of the most pivotal inventions in human history - the wheel.


New research suggests that the wheel was first created by prehistoric miners in the Carpathian Mountains to transport copper. Tristan Hughes speaks to the team behind this fascinating theory; arch ...

  Show more

SYMHC Classics: Five Historical Robots
Stuff You Missed in History Class

Today we revisit an episode on the technology of yesteryear. Long before Czech playwright Karel Capek coined the term "robot" in his 1920 play "R.U.R.," mechanized creations - automata - were being created without electronics or computers. Many were simple, but they paved the way ...  Show more