This is a topic I can’t quite believe I haven’t covered at any point during this blog’s existence, as I'm such a huge fan of a) the Neuchâtel region and b) vintage computing.
This year marks the 250th anniversary of the creation of the world’s first programmable computer, which also happened to be the world’s first programmable robot. This might be a bit confusing to some, especially those who associate this concept with Babbage, Turing, etc. The world’s first “computer” was a mechanical automaton that translated a “program” into (mechanical) hand-written output. So no, it’s not a general-purpose computing device, but it’s still way more than a glorified printing press.
The device is an automaton built in the early 1770s in la Chaux-de-Fonds by the Jaquet-Droz family. It’s called The Writer, and sits alongside The Musician and The Draughtsman in the Neuchâtel Museum of Art and History. (There’s apparently a missing fourth automaton, called The Cave,…