Pierre Jacquet-Droz Pierre Jacquet-Droz (1721-1790), was a Swiss watchmaker, famous for his clever inventions known as automatons. These were specially crafted dolls which could perform certain entertaining tasks, such as his "Little Writer" which could sketch over twenty different drawings. These clockwork robots were an amazing engineering achievement for the 18th century. Not only could Droz's automatons make such precise actions like manipulating a quill, but they were also able to be programmed to perform different variations of their designed operation by changing cams. In other words, the doll would be able to write a certain phrase then after changing cams it could draw a completely unique picture. Droz's charming automatons were popular to high class society throughout the 18th and 19th centuries and are still quite impressive inventions today.