Automatons are designed to be autonomous.
Particularly the more people became absorbed in their marbles.
The ones in cities either continued to attempt to preserve them, failing more often than not, while those with rudimentary intellect split off into self-supporting groups.
Or the hierarchy of programmed impulses caused their self-preservation to eclipse restoration.
A slow evolution of under ground robots who wait for their masters to return.
Perhaps a few even found some, and now serve to the best of their ability- though the human know little of how to command them.
Most of the current languages would be almost dead in their modern form by now.
“She'd become a governess. It was one of the few jobs a known lady could do. And she'd taken to it well. She'd sworn that if she did indeed ever find herself dancing on rooftops with chimney sweeps she'd beat herself to death with her own umbrella.”
― Hogfather