I remember playing Cfreatures 3 a long time ago, and there were small machines in it, like detectors, guns, a small hovering platform, etc.
One of my fond memories is, creating out of these components a flying platform that automatically moved to Grendels and shot them.
(I bet there were much more grand designs possible)

I tried now finding games that alowed similar mechanics, but have not found much yet. Maybe someone has come across something similar, and can point me in the right direction? Or has an idea for a fitting search term for something like that?

Would be great :-)