Was “Tik-Tok of Oz” the First Intelligent Robot to Appear in Literature? - Connected World

For all robot aficionados, this popped up in the June 7, 2026, morning edition of JSTOR Daily, highlighting an article written in May by Livia Gershon:

“Did the First Robot Come from Oz?”

If so, then I nominate it for the title of “The Great Grandad of Artificially Intelligent Robots” and have gained a newfound appreciation for foundational literature such as The Wizard of Oz series.

I never thought of The Wizard of Oz (book or movie) as a piece of science fiction, but this article has me now appreciating it as such.

What Frank Baum, in 1907, created has engaged the minds of people across many generations. With the 1939 release of the now classic (and endlessly rebroadcasted) film on through the amazing rebirth of the tale at The Sphere in Las Vegas, the Tin Man has become a prime example of how we think an intelligent robot...

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