Finite State Machines Predate Computers

1. The Antikythera Mechanism
   1. The Antikythera Mechanism Research Project
   2. An Ancient Greek Computer, a 1959 Scientific American article
   3. In Search of Lost Time, a 2006 Nature article
2. Medieval astronomical clocks
   1. The Prague Orloj (astronomical clock), with all its dials
   2. The Prague Orloj: An applet that models the movement of the main dial
3. The abacus
   1. A history of the abacus, along with examples of its use
   2. The Art of Calculating with Beads: history, pictures, instructions, and an applet you can run
4. Programmable automata and the Jacquard loom
   1. Wikipedia’s page on the Jacquard loom with excellent pictures
   2. An excellent collection of pictures of looms, cards, and woven textiles
5. The Towers of Hanoi
   1. A good applet that lets you play the game
   2. Implementations of the Tower of Hanoi in every programming language you can imagine
   3. A mathematical analysis of the problem

Controlling a Soccer-Playing Robot

1. RoboCup
2. The Austin Villa Team