Found, by the Library of Congress, a long-lost 1897 Méliès film, 45 seconds long, the first film to portray a robot. If you like Méliès''s whacko early films (and why wouldn't you?), you'll want to see this:
https://blogs.loc.gov/loc/2026/02/lost-19th-century-film-by-melies-discovered-at-the-library/