Rough sketch of list themes (WIP):

• Automata as wonders/marvels.

  • Kinds of automata: clocks, toys, musical instruments, orreries, etc.

  • Masks as automata.

• Mechanical philosophy.

  • Mechanism vs. Organicism/Holism/Vitalism in the history of ideas.

  • Hermeneutic aspects (interpreting and understanding phenomena as machines):

    • Metaphor and analogy in robotics and biology.

    • Biomechanics, iatromechanics.

    • Engineering inspiration from nature.

    • Co-evolution of humans and machines.

    • Different genealogies of ideas to wonder/spectacle, e.g. robot as slave labor.

  • Recent analytic philosophy of mechanism aka "the new mechanical philosophy".

  • Literature and scifi that touch on the above subjects.

• Robots and robotics.

  • Practical SWE books for robotics

    • Associated tech: C++, Python, ROS, Arduino, Raspberry Pi, Elixir (Nerves framework)

  • Human-Robot Interaction.

  • Things in robotics I know nothing about, but wish to know more: planning and decision making, basic kinematics and dynamics, vision and sensors ...