The inspiration for the movie Hugo is actually a true story of a master Swiss watchmaker who make an actually writing doll which could actually be programmed to choose which and which sequence of letters to write. This doll still works today. http://www.chonday.com/Videos/the-writer-automaton https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ux2KW20nqHU https://mymodernmet.com/jaquet-droz-automata/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jaquet-Droz_automata https://www.chonday.com/15454/the-writer-automaton/ There's also a 2019 indie horror movie which apparently riffs on the theme, "The Devil's Machine". https://www.imdb.com/title/tt8339704/reviews ----- Forwarded message from Gil May ----- From: Gil May To: reader@gmail.com Date: Sun, 26 Apr 2020 08:25:01 +1000 Subject: Fwd: 240 year old doll from Switzerland... *Brilliantly ingenious * *Subject:* *240 year old doll from Switzerland...* Greetings All, Especially those of you who like to tinker with computers. It amazes me the doll was built 240 years ago when computers as we know them today had not been thought of. A 240 - year - old doll that can write, a clockwork creation by Pierre Jaquet-Droz. Yes, it’s 240 years old. This clip will fascinate just about all the engineers, artists, clock makers, doll makers, computer programmers, want - to- be inventors or basically anyone out there that likes to tinker. This is more than tinkering. When you view this, think computers. Enjoy. It is truly amazing. Remember, this was built in the 1770' http://www.chonday.com/Videos/the-writer-automaton Regards Gil ----- End forwarded message -----