content: This was fairly impressive, made over 200 years ago by the Japanese. These automata were originally developed by the Greeks over 2000 years ago and rediscovered by medieval Islamic engineers after translation into Arabic many of the original Greek manuscripts between 850-1150. The technology then got to Europe via scholars attending Islamic universities in Spain in the 12th-13th centuries. There were some spectacular examples made in Augsburg in the 16th century including one of a centaur which moved around the table and shot arrows (it was a drinking game). The technology got to Japan early in the 17th century, partly through diplomatic gifts of automata as Europeans began trading with Japan.