List of fictional robots - Definition and Overview

This is a chronological list of robots and androids in literature and cinema.

See also the List of fictional computers

Theatre

• The word "robot" comes from Karel Capek's play, R.U.R. (Rossum's Universal Robots) written 1920; first performed 1921; performed in New York 1922; English edition published 1923. In the play, the word refers to artificially created life forms. [1] (http://www.uwec.edu/academic/curric/jerzdg/RUR/)

Literature

• Maidens made of gold, Bronze giant Talos, in The Iliad by Homer (circa 800 BC)
• The woman forged out of gold in Finnish myth The Kalevala (prehistoric folklore)
• The legend of the Golem, an animated man of clay, mentioned in the Talmud. (16th century)
• A mechanical man powered by steam in Edward S. Ellis' Steam Man of the Prairies (1865)
• A mechanical man run by electricity in Luis Senarens' Frank Reade and his Electric Man (1885)
• The Tin Woodsman and Tik-Tok in L. Frank Baum's Oz books (1900-)
• A robot chess-player in "Moxon's Master" by Ambrose Bierce (1909)
• The "Professor Jameson" series by Neil R. Jones (early 1930s) featured human and alien minds preserved in robot bodies. Reprinted in five Ace paperbacks in the late 1960s: The Planet of the Double Sun, The Sunless World, Space War, Twin Worlds and Doomsday on Ajiat
• The Martian robot in The Lost Machine by John Wyndham (1932)
• Human cyborgs in Revolt of the Pedestrians by David H. Keller (1932)
• Robot surgeon in "Rex" by Harl Vincent (1934)
• Helen O'Loy, from the story of the same title by Lester del Rey (1938)
• Adam Link of I, Robot by Eando Binder (1938)
• Robots discover their "roots" in Robots Return by Robert Moore Williams (1938).
• Robot as murder witness in True Confession by F. Orlin Tremaine (1939)
• Gnut, in Farewell to the Master by Harry Bates (1940) - (Later made into the classic 1954 SF film The Day the Earth Stood Still)

• Robots by Isaac Asimov:
  • Robbie, Speedy, Cutie, and others, from the stories in I, Robot (1940 - 1950) (not to be confused with the Binder short story of the same title)
  • L-76, Z-1, Z-2, Z-3, Emma-2, Brackenridge, Tony, Lenny, Ez-27 and others, from the stories in The Rest of the Robots 1964
  • R. Daneel Olivaw, from The Caves of Steel (1954) and subsequent novels
  • R. Giskard Reventlov, from The Robots of Dawn and subsequent novels
  • Andrew Martin, from The Bicentennial Man (1976) (later made into a film)
  • Norby, in a series of books for children co-written with Janet Asimov
• The Humanoids, from two novels by Jack Williamson,(1949 and 1980)
• Zane Gort, a robot novelist, in the short story The Silver Eggheads by Fritz Leiber , (1959)
• Irona, the robot maid of Richie Rich, the main character in a comic book series. (1961)
• The Iron Man, in the book by Ted Hughes (1968)
• Androids, fully organic in nature -- the products of genetic engineering -- and so human-like that they can only be distinguished by psychological tests; some of them don't even know that they're not human. -- Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep (1968) by Philip K. Dick
• The Electric Grandmother in the short story of the same name, from I Sing the Body Electric by Ray Bradbury ,(1969)
• Doraemon in a manga by Fujiko Fujio (1969)
• The masculinist plot to replace women with perfect looking, obedient robot replicas -- The Stepford Wives (1972) by Ira Levin
• HARLIE in When H.A.R.L.I.E. was One by David Gerrold (1972)
• Marvin the Paranoid Android in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (1978–1981) (originally a radio series, then a book trilogy and a TV series)
• Chip, the robot teenager in the Not Quite Human series (1985-1986), by Seth McEvoy. Later, Disney made the book into two movies.
• Marilyn, named after Marilyn Monroe, in Kazuo Umezu's 1982 manga My name is Shingo
• Two extreme examples of robot morality, one perfectly innocent and one perfectly criminal, in Roderick and Tik-Tok (1980, 1983) by John Sladek
• The Ore Crusher in Roger Zelazny's short story For a Breath I Tarry.
• The Boppers, a race of moon-based robots that achieve independence from humanity, in books Software (1982) and Wetware (1988) by Rudy Rucker.
• Jay-Dub and Dee Model in Ken MacLeod's The Stone Canal. (1996)
• Dorfl, a golem deliberately described in terms reminiscent of an Asimovian robot, in Terry Pratchett's Feet of Clay. (1996)
• Moravecs are sentient descendants of probes sent by humans to the Jovian belt, in Dan Simmons' Ilium, (2003)

Films

• The false Maria, in Metropolis (1927)
• Annihilants, robot soldiers belonging to Ming the Merciless in the Flash Gordon film series (1936).
• The Tin Woodsman in The Wizard of Oz (1939 movie)
• Gort (fictional robot), in The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951) (film version of Farewell to the Master)
• Robby, in Forbidden Planet (1956)
• The all-robot police force in THX-1138 (1971)
• The drones Huey, Duey, and Louie, in Silent Running (1972). Notable as the first movie in which non-anthropomorphic robots were made mobile by manning them with amputees.
• The robots in Sleeper (1973)
• The bomb in Dark Star (1974, by John Carpenter)
• The robotic gunfighters in Westworld (1973)
• Box, in Logan's Run (1976)
• C-3PO, R2-D2 and the droid army, in Star Wars (1977) and subsequent films
• V.I.N.CENT., B.O.B, Maximillian and the androids made out of humans -- The Black Hole (1979)
• Ash in Alien (1979), Bishop in Aliens and Alien³, and Annalee in Alien: Resurrection
• Hector, in Saturn 3 (1980)
• The "replicants" Roy Baty, Pris, Leon Kowalski, Zhora and Rachel Tyrell -- Blade Runner (1982) (the film version of Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?)
• The robot assassin in The Terminator (1984) and sequels
• The little boy Data Analyzing Robot Youth Lifeform in D.A.R.Y.L. (1985)
• Johnny 5 in Short Circuit (1986) and its sequel, Short Circuit 2
• ED-209 in Robocop (1987)
• Cherry 2000 in Cherry 2000 (1987)
• The android Astor, played by Stacey Williams, in Gangster World (1988)
• The evil robotic doubles in Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey (1991)
• The Iron Giant (1999) (film version of The Iron Man)
• "Robot" in Lost in Space , the movie of the TV series (1998 )
• Andrew the robot servant in Bicentennial Man (1999) -- based on a short story by Isaac Asimov
• Vanessa the exploding fembot assassin in Austin Powers The Spy Who Shagged Me (1999)
• AMEE the robot scout in the film Red Planet , who gets stuck in military mode and destroys the human crew of the spaceship. (2000)
• many robots, including David, the lead character, in Artificial Intelligence: AI (2001); based on the "Supertoys" of Brian Aldiss' short story, Supertoys Last All Summer Long[2] (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0312280610/002-6426923-4848018?v=glance).
• The robot butler B166ER, the residents of the machine nation of Zero-One, and the Sentinels from the Matrix series.{1999, 2003 , 2004)
• B-4, data's brother in Star Trek: Nemesis (2003)
• many robots in I, Robot (2004)
• Mechagodzilla in various Godzilla films.
• Mechani-Kong in King Kong Escapes

Television films and series

1960s and earlier

• Rosie the Maid in The Jetsons (1962)
• Robert the Robot, the transparent mechanical spaceship co-pilot in the Fireball XL5 British puppet television series created by Gerry Anderson (1962)
• Various unnamed robots in the series Space Patrol (known as Planet Patrol in the US (1962)
• K-9, Kamelion, the Movellans, and many more, in the British Doctor Who series (1963–1989)
• Astro Boy from Astro Boy the Japanese animated series (1963–1966)
• "Rhoda Miller" in My Living Doll (1964)
• "Robot B-9" in Lost in Space TV series (1965 to 1968)
• Hymie the Robot in the comedy series Get Smart (1965–1970)

1970s

• The Clinkers, Shields and Yarnell (1977-78)
• The Cylons in Battlestar Galactica (1978–1980) (in the novelizations, Cylons were simply humanoid aliens wearing mechanical armor)
• K-9, the talking robotic dog (actually, dogs) from the British television series Doctor Who.
• Peepo, the robot from the children's series Space Academy (1977-1979)
• Questor, The Questor Tapes (1974)
• Twiki and Dr. Theopolis in Buck Rogers in the 25th Century (1979)
• W1k1 or Wiki, the pocket-sized robot from the children's series Jason of Space Command (1979 - 1981) (a seeming spinoff of Space Academy)
• Yo-Yo, aka Geogory Yoyonovitch, Holmes and Yo-Yo (1976)

1980s

• Metal Mickey first appeared on British television in the ITV London Weekend Television children's magazine show The Saturday Banana in 1979 and then in his own show from 1980 to 1983
• KITT (Knight Industries Two Thousand), a non-humanoid robot in the form of a car (and its prototype, KARR [Knight Automated Roving Robot]), from Knight Rider (1982–1986)
• The Transformers of various Transformers television series (1984–2003)
• Voltron Defender of the Universe (1984-1986}
• Vicki (Voice Imput Child Indenticant) the little girl robot in Small Wonder (1985)
• Data, Lore, Lal (Data's daughter) and Juliana Tainer in the series Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987)
• Tom Servo, Crow T. Robot, Gypsy and Cambot from Mystery Science Theater 3000 (1988)
• The Skutters, Kryten, the Simulants and many others from Red Dwarf (1988)

1990s

• Sgt. Eve Edison, robot police officer in Mann & Machine (1992)
• Alpha 5 from Mighty Morphin Power Rangers (1993 - 1996)
• Alpha 6 from Power Rangers Turbo to Power Rangers Lost Galaxy
• 790, the sarcastic and perverse bodyless robot head of Lexx
• XR, the indestructible, self healing sidekick robot in Buzz Lightyear of Star Command (also XL, the proto-version of XR)
• Buffybot and Ted in the series Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997)
• Bender the Robot in the animated series Futurama (1999)

2000s

• Chii, the Persocom in the Japanese anime series Chobits (2002)
• Robot Jones from Whatever Happened to Robot Jones? (2002)
• The Tachikoma spider tanks from Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
• Thunderclese from The Brak Show (2001–2003)
• Gir from Invader Zim (2001)
• XJ-9 (aka Jenny) from My Life as a Teenage Robot (2003)
• R. Dorothy Wayneright in Big O (anime) (2003)
• The Mobile Doll systems onboard Virgos and other mobile suits in Mobile Suit Gundam Wing.
• B4 in the movie Star Trek: Nemesis (2002)

Comic books

• The ABC Warriors from the comic 2000AD.
• The original Human Torch in Marvel Comics, ( 1938)
• The Superman duplicates, Brainiac and Kelex in Superman, (1958)
• Doctor Doom's Doombots and H.E.R.B.I.E. in Fantastic Four (1961)
• Ultron, the Vision, Jocasta and Alkhema in The Avengers (1963)
• The Sentinels in X-Men (1963)
• The Red Tornado, Amazo and Tomorrow Woman and Hourman III in JLA (1968)
• ARPA-01 (female type) and VIC-02 (male type) virtual intercourse companions in Sexy Losers' Scientific Erotican plot thread (2003)

Computer and video games

• Ping-chan, the PlayStation 2 accessory robot-girl from MegaTokyo
• Megaman, X, and various other robots/Reploids from the videogame series Mega Man and Megaman X
• Metal Sonic, the evil robotic clone of Sonic from the Sonic the Hedgehog video game series
• Floyd, the lovable sidekick robot from the Infocom text adventure Planetfall.
• HMX-12 Multi, the robot maid from To Heart.

Unsorted works

• Project 2501 in Ghost in the Shell Japanese manga TV anime 1991 describes AI surveillance of population.
• Transmetropolitan features AIs who abuse virtual hallucinogens
• Various Star Trek "characters", notably Data.
• Deep Thought in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
• Harry Harrison / Marvin Minsky: The Turing Option (novel)
• The Mind's I edited by Daniel C. Dennett and Douglas Hofstadter
• Personoids Stanislaw Lem's novels/books
• Arthur from The Journeyman Project video game series
• SHODAN in System Shock
• WOPR in WarGames
• Solace in the Callahan's Place stories of Spider Robinson
• IQ-9 of Star Blazers, originally called Analyzer in Space Battleship Yamato.
• Haro, mascot character of U.C.Gundam.
• Sy Borg from Frank Zappa's Joe's Garage.

Related articles

• Archive of fictional things
• Artificial intelligence
• Science fiction
• List of fictional computers
• Cyborgs in fiction

External link

• Robot Hall of Fame at CMU (http://www.robothalloffame.org/index.html) – With fictional inductees HAL-9000 and R2-D2