{"id":240730,"date":"2026-03-05T14:10:32","date_gmt":"2026-03-05T10:10:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/abcmedia.am\/?p=240730"},"modified":"2026-03-05T15:41:29","modified_gmt":"2026-03-05T11:41:29","slug":"oldest-film-depicting-a-robot-found-in-us-library-of-congress-archive","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/abcmedia.am\/en\/news\/240730\/","title":{"rendered":"Oldest film depicting a robot found in US Library of Congress archive"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Archivists at the Library of Congress believe they may have discovered the first depiction of a robot in cinemas, thanks to a 127-year-old reel that had been gathering dust in a garage for decades. The artifact in question is called Gugusse And The Automaton, a 45-second-long reel made by pioneering French filmmaker Georges Méliès sometime around 1897, Popular Science<\/a> writes.<\/p>\n

The reel had not been screened for more than a century.<\/p>\n

Though appearing more than 20 years before the word robot was officially coined, it still manages to touch on an enduring theme reoccurring in sci-fi movies to this day. A fear of the robots fighting back.<\/p>\n

In the brief silent film, Méliès portrays a magician named Gugusse who is showing off an “automaton” in what looks like a proto–robot manufacturing facility. The automaton is dressed as a clown and stands on top of a pedestal. After some exuberant jumping, Gugusse begins twisting a crank at the bottom of the pedestal, apparently winding up the automaton like a toy. Once wound up, the robot moves its arms up and down, much to Gugusse’s delight. That delight, however, doesn’t last long.<\/p>\n

In the next scene, the automaton is replaced by a larger humanoid figure. Gugusse once again winds it up, and the machine again responds by moving its limbs. But this time, after a few sporadic gyrations, the automaton reorients itself toward the magician and begins using the walking sticks in its hands as weapons, aggressively beating its creator. In a fit of rage, Gugusse grabs the robot by the legs and hoists it off the pedestal. He then pulls out a comically large hammer and bashes the automaton over the head. With each blow, the machine grows smaller and smaller until it disappears entirely. And just like that, the clip ends.<\/p>\n

Experts knew about this old silent film but thought it was lost forever.<\/p>\n

It was found by chance in a collection of films that belonged to a 19th-century potato farmer named William Delisle Frisbee. He used to travel around showing movies with his projector. His family later donated the films to the Library of Congress.<\/p>\n

Now the film is available to watch for free in 4K.<\/p>\n