automaton

The term for an automaton picked up steam elsewhere with the advent of artificial intelligence and the wider adoption of delivery robots.

The success of “Maybe Happy Ending” hinges in no small part on the miraculous performance of Darren Criss, who plays an automaton with a secretly sensitive heart.

Campione has become known for her unique specialism in dolls, doll houses, automata, birdcages and corkscrews.

But in the 18th and 19th centuries, the automaton — an intricate mechanical device that could take the form of a preening silver swan or an organ-playing doll — was a popular source of entertainment and wonder.

There, in the Morris Museum’s collection of mechanical musical instruments and automata, is a music box from around 1877.