hckrnws

Well, to be pedantic, if it's 19th century it would have to be an automaton. The word robot wasn't coined until 1923.

From the article

> (The word "robot" didn't appear until 1921, when Czech dramatist Karel Čapek coined it in his science fiction play R.U.R..)

The actual title of the short uses the word "automate", French for "automaton"; I suspect NPR simply used the more familiar word in their headline for clarity.

You didn't read the link, did you? This is addressed in the article.

Oh boy, this takes me down memory lane.

George Meliese's silent films and automatons were at the core of the beautifully illustrated and written YA novel from the mid-2000s named The Invention of Hugo Cabret [0].

[0] - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Invention_of_Hugo_Cabret

"[...] attacks a human clown with a stick."

Why does NPR call Gugusse "a human clown" ? He is not wearing clown clothes.

Gugusse looks more to me like the "mad inventor" of the robot, with a comedic bald head.

the llm editing the llm writing it missed it?

Agreed 100%. That's a mad scientist. I'll bet the coat with exaggerated tails was comically out of fashion as well.