Would it be at all possible for the Dwemer to create sentient automatons through the use of black soul gems? If so, would the automaton take on the personality of the captured soul?

The Soul Gems in Dwemer automatons don't seem to actually convey any soul or presence to the machine its self. Instead, they are power conduits, when when active heat the oil in the boiler, driving the steam-work.

The actual behavior of the Automaton its self is likely the product of other enchantments worked into its form during construction.

I've never personally seen any evidence that the Automatons are capable of higher order functioning, be it from bound souls or other enchantments.

I reckon it would work.

Dwemer Spiders and Spheres use petty - great soul gems. Centurions use grand soul gems. So theoretically, it should be possible. A shame they aren't around anymore to experiment with that... If only the Altmer were to pick up on ancient Dwemeri lore and experiment on automatons themselves...

*speculation time!*

Or... if a certain Crystal deity lends the secrets of his http://www.imperial-library.info/sites/default/files/beast_shivering_minionorder.png to the loyal mortals who may or may not follow him... Maybe the Knights of Order are automatons that are fueled by the souls of captured madmen of the Isles. Speculation of course... but they look like robots, they sound like robots, and they are constantly referred to as soulless husks...

I mean http://images3.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20130129001824/elderscrolls/images/1/19/Retaking_the_Fringe.png If that doesn't look like friggin Tron, then I will gouge out my own decayed-long-rotten eyes and eat them! Add to that Big Jygg's wizadry with calculus and mathematics, and it seems pretty "crystal clear." hehehe

I thought the Knights of Order were Daedra, so wold they really be souls bound in armor?

Dyus claims that the Knights of Order are different from Daedra.

Hevnoraak is kinda crazy... But a good kind of crazy. And i think he may be on to something... At least with the Knights of Order.

We're talking about sentient machines through soul-binding. So what is the difference in binding a Et'ada Soul to a suit of armour and binding a Daedric Soul to a body of Ice? The Knights of Order may well be divine machines, powered by souls overtaken by the Prince of Order.

Still, as far as the Dwemer machines go... they don't actually run off souls, and any soul in the gem doesn't seem to affect them in the least. The Soul Gem is more of a heating element than anything.

Well, they having a soul gem for heating doesn't exclude a secondary black soul gem for other purposes. I think they could do it, but don't like the idea of too much conscience in their machines.

Actually, having seen both Trons, I don't think it looks like it. But I could be biased towards the idea of eye-gouging and eating.

That thing is far more advanced then anything the Dwemer have built. Well... with the exceptionally exception of Numidium. But other than Numidium, nothing the Dwemer has, comes close to that.[at least, seen in-game] Perhaps, this is something the Dwemer were trying to achieve with http://uesp.net/wiki/Lore:Aetherium

Might be a matter of opinion there. While the Dwemer never really made anything super duper flashy, they were certainly functional at least. Making artificial earthquakes, manipulating the weather, Aetherium, trying to read a Elder Scroll without adverse affects, planetariums and what not, that doesn't look too technical in comparison. They are trying to revert the Isles back to its former sphere of course.

Would it be at all possible or lore friendly for the Dwemer to build an android super-soldier of sorts? http://cloud-2.steampowered.com/ugc/542975173126229148/31738B9B8A99A81AD96F575960B285FE21B9CD04/

The Steam Centurion's seemed to fill in that role for the most part. Beyond that, they seemed to keep to using spheres and actual Dwemer soldiers (For all their love of Tonal architecture, they still were famous warriors to the Nords). I'm not sure about the super solider bit, but I don't see anything stopping them from creating humanesque animunculi.

As to the OP, I've never actually seen or heard of a soul acting through the gem they're trapped in, aside from maybe Prince A'tor. Even our friend who stuffed himself inside Azura's star needed outside assistance to keep chugging along, so I'm reluctant to consider the notion that the the Automaton's could achieve sentience through soul gems alone. They'd probably have to be designed by the Dwemer specifically for such a function in the first place.

A soul svcking vampiric Dwemer Animmunculi?