Festus, an automaton.
Automatons are like robots but are more highly developed than ordinary machines. Most are made out of Celestial Bronze with some exceptions. They have intricate circuitry in them which makes them hard to fix.
An automaton statue of William H. Seward.
Abilities
Automatons possess built-in maneuvers, activated by voice command, such as Daedalus' Plan Twenty-Three. However, Charles Beckendorf described them as being dangerous if not fixed or activated the proper way. An example of this is Festus, an automaton dragon that went rogue after Beckendorf died in the 2nd Titanomachy. The dragon caused lots of havoc and was considered to be a massive threat until it was tamed by Leo Valdez. Some abilities that automatons possess include:
- Enhanced Physical Prowess: They have massive strength and endurance, being able to carry many people and withstand normal attacks.
- Enhanced Reflexes: They are fast enough to be able to deflect arrows.
- Flight: Some of them have the ability to fly, such as the Angel Statues and Festus.
- Shapeshifting: Some of them can transform into other forms, such as when Festus folded down into a suitcase.
- Sentience (limited): Some automatons possess limited sentience and perhaps even free will.
Known/Notable Automatons
- Mechanical Spiders (as seen in The Lightning Thief and The Battle of the Labyrinth)
- The Colchis Bulls (as seen in The Sea of Monsters)
- A prototype of Talos (as seen in The Titan's Curse)
- Angel Statues: Chuck and Hank (as seen in The Titan's Curse)
- The body of Quintus and Daedalus' other four automaton bodies (as seen in The Battle of the Labyrinth)
- Many unfinished automatons in the forges (as seen in The Battle of the Labyrinth and possibly The Lost Hero)
- William H. Seward's statue (as seen in The Last Olympian)
- Pompona's statue, Roman goddess of plenty (as seen in The Last Olympian)
- Statue of Hermes (as seen in The Last Olympian)
- The Lion Statues (as seen in The Last Olympian)
- Festus (as seen in The Demigod Files, The Lost Hero, The Blood of Olympus, The Hidden Oracle, The Dark Prophecy, The Burning Maze, and The Tower of Nero)
- Celedon (as seen in Percy Jackson and the Singer of Apollo)
- Dozer, a small wind up device made by Leo, able to control other machines (as seen in The Lost Hero)
- Aurum and Argentum, Reyna's companions (as seen in The Son of Neptune and The Mark of Athena)
- Employees of Macro’s Military Madness (as seen in The Burning Maze)
- Swarm of bees used by Phaedra and Daedra (as seen in Wrath of the Triple Goddess)
Trivia
- Most of the automatons found in Manhattan were created by Daedalus and were used as defense mechanisms.
- When asked why the automatons in New York were there, Annabeth Chase replied that they could be used to attack or defend Olympus depending on the activation sequence (a.k.a Plan Twenty-Three).
- Some are made by Hephaestus, such as several defective automatons from the Junkyard of the Gods.