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I Can’t Sleep

Automaton | Can’t Sleep? Learn About Early Robots

I Can’t Sleep

Benjamin Boster

Science, Mental Health, Alternative Health, Health & Fitness

4.51.2K Ratings

🗓️ 5 June 2026

⏱️ 35 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Automata have fascinated people for thousands of years. This episode explores the history of self-operating mechanical devices, from ancient myths and early engineering experiments to elaborate clockwork creations that could write, draw, play music, and imitate life itself. Often considered the ancestors of modern robots, these remarkable machines inspired wonder long before the invention of electricity. Along the way, you’ll hear about inventors, royal collections, mechanical birds, programmable machines, and humanity’s long-standing fascination with building objects that appear to move on their own. It’s steady and consistent, with no whispering and no sudden changes, just enough to give your mind something to follow as you wind down. Happy sleeping! Read with permission from Automaton, Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Automaton), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. — Ad-free episodes: ⁠icantsleep.supportingcast.fm⁠Have a topic in mind? ⁠Request a topic⁠ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit ⁠megaphone.fm/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

Attention all passengers.

0:04.2

The Uber ride for Mark and Jamal's romantic weekend will depart in four minutes from Platform 6.

0:10.5

Your ride comes with a rolling countryside sunset view and a table seat, ideal for playing footsie beneath.

0:17.9

Thank you for booking your tickets on Uber.

0:21.7

Trains on Uber.

0:24.6

Get the new fix-and-fall tariff from British Gas, where prices can only slide down.

0:30.1

If energy prices climb up, no worries, you'll be fixed for two years, but if later the market falls, so will your tariff.

0:37.3

A win-win, sorted automatically by us.

0:41.1

Price cap, taken care of.

0:43.4

Fix your prices today.

0:45.3

Search British Gas Fix and Fall.

0:47.3

Tis and C's eligibility and limitations apply.

0:49.2

Price Review based on the off-gen price cap after 12 months.

0:51.2

See Britishgas.com.uk.

0:52.4

combe for more.

0:55.0

Welcome to the I Can't Sleep podcast, where I help you drift off one fact at a time.

1:03.8

I'm your host, Benjamin Boster.

1:07.2

And today's episode is about Automaton.

1:11.4

There are those who have the edge with 5G plus on EE, and others?

1:17.0

Not so much.

1:18.3

Those who can download a kids' film while boarding a plane, or those who can't.

1:23.9

Those who book the only taxi nearby.

...

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