The Enlightenment was an exciting time in which the unprejudiced progress of science and thought allowed new wonders to cause great sensation in society. One of them was the manufacture of automata, thanks to the perseverance, creativity and technical and physiological knowledge of its creators, mimicked living beings. Such is the case of the flute player created by the French engineer Jacques de Vaucanson (1709-1782), a lifesize shepherd presented to the French Academy [...]