PART 1 • From antikythera to zarkov: a tour of how we came to be here
The Turk was accompanied by a “master of ceremonies” presenter
who would interact with the audience when the Turk was exhibited. An
operator sat inside the cabinet (not inside the dummy, as some have
speculated) and would make the moves; a complex series of rods and
gears would transmit the move to the Turk's arm. The Turk would pick up
a piece and move it to the desired square.
Although the “automaton” (today we'd say “robot”) or “mechanical mind”
aspect of the Turk (and his contemporaries) was a complete hoax, the unit
really was a remarkable feat of mechanical engineering, quite advanced
for the time.
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