rhizoverbBeta
DictionaryautomatonSelf-operating machine
noun

automaton

aw-TAH-muh-tahn/ɔːˈtɑːmətən/

A machine that carries out actions by itself.

The clockwork automaton strikes its drum with linked mechanical arms.

A small self-operating mechanical drummer: a human-shaped clockwork machine with exposed gears and linked arms striking a drum, making mechanical action visibly concrete.
Etymology
autoGreekself
+matonGreekthinking, animated, willing

“Self” and “animated” combine in the idea of a self-acting thing. Originally a self-acting machine, an automaton also came to mean a living being whose actions seem mechanical.

In context

Libranima218:27
no mere machine of an automaton. If he did not have a common soul in him, he had a subtle something that somehow anomalously did its duty.
Moby Dick - Illustrated Audiobook for Focused Reading (Part 3/3)

More examples

  • The museum displays several nineteenth-century automata.
  • He followed the repetitive routine like an automaton.
  • A concealed mechanism allowed the automaton to turn its head.

Forms

automaton · automatons · automata

Similar words

robot
Often suggests programmable behavior and interaction with its surroundings.
machine
Is broader and need not operate independently or resemble a person.