Automata is an Ancient Greek term denoting objects (plants or artificial mechanisms) that grow, act, or move on their own, without obvious external control. Illustration 1. Manuscript illustration (8th/14th century) of "the basin of the scribes", a phlebotomy measuring device from al-Jazarī's Automata . Automatic devices are most commonly denoted in Arabic by the term ḥiyal , which expresses the artful and evasive treatment of the principle of an apparently automatic action. As a technological term, ḥiyal is used primarily for artificial mechanisms that are actuated mechanically, pneumatically, or