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For science...you monster

Which Robot on This Illustrated Timeline Is Your Favorite?

by Rebecca Pahle | 12:10 pm, January 23rd, 2013


OK, so this illustrated timeline of fictional robots [and androids] isn’t perfect. Daleks aren’t technically robots, for one, so as far as Doctor Who is concerned the Cybermen might have been a better inclusion. (But are Cybermen technically robots if they have human brains? Discuss amongst yourselves.)

But I like it. And if there’s an image that includes R2-D2 and C-3PO, the Iron Giant, the Mariabot from Metropolis, Marvin the Paranoid Android, and The Muppets‘ 80s Robot, would you honestly expect me not to share it with you?

The entire (huge) image, by Taryn Wellman, is after the jump.

(via: Paste Magazine)

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  • http://www.facebook.com/kirkdgm Kirk Douglas Guedes Miranda

    Daleks aren’t robots.

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=209200308 Jason Enright

    Well since R. Daneel Olivaw isn’t on the list. I’ll have to say the Iron Giant. Although I do find it strange that none of Asimov’s robots made it to the list.

  • http://twitter.com/fmitchell Frank Mitchell

    Motoko Kusanagi is a cyborg, not a robot. Her brain is human (mostly),

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=209200308 Jason Enright

    Nevermind robbie from I, robot is on there. i was wrong. Still I pick Iron Giant.

  • Anonymous

    There’s a few non-robots here. Like HAL (unless you count Discovery One as his body, but most people would say he’s a ship AI, like countless ship AIs that aren’t on this list). Motoko is a cyborg who got a full-body prosthesis as a child. But in the loosest sense of the word, I suppose they belong here to show how fiction has depicted more varied and interesting kinds of robots over time.

  • Anonymous

    TACHIKOMAS!!!

  • Anonymous

    Favorite missing robots: Maximilian from “The Black Hole”, the robots from “Silent Running” (I cried at the end where the robot is all by itself watering the forest. I was young).

  • Guest

    Shame they didn’t include Sex Robot.

  • http://twitter.com/Steambrew Bruce Townley

    Tossup between Robby from FORBIDDEN PLANET and Bender from FUTURAMA.

  • Anonymous

    A. Merritt’s Metal Emperor’s my favourite, though he isn’t there… darnit.

  • http://wrongsirwrong.blogspot.com/ Magic Xylophone

    I guess if HAL’s a robot, I’ll pick him. Great list! I was gonna complain about the lack of Roy Batty and the gang from Blade Runner, but of course it was under the book’s title. Well played!

  • http://wrongsirwrong.blogspot.com/ Magic Xylophone

    And the T-800 is a Cybanetic Oaganism: living tissue ovah metal endoskeleton.

  • http://wrongsirwrong.blogspot.com/ Magic Xylophone

    One makes alcohol in his belly, one puts alcohol in his belly. I’m sensing a theme here.

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=504383964 Heather Anderson

    Carl, from “Meet The Robinsons”. C’mon!

  • http://twitter.com/anthonysnotes Anthony Dean

    Glad to see Rosie from “The Jetsons” on the list. (Maybe include her boyfriend Mac too?)

  • Anonymous

    I was just thinking about the Golem when I saw the list.
    Where’s Pinocchio?
    And from a philosophical viewpoint Biblical angels should be counted as robots too.

    And where is Cutie Honey!

  • http://wrongsirwrong.blogspot.com/ Magic Xylophone

    I like your thinking, but I’m not sure if Pinocchio counts. He was a conscious piece of wood that just happened to be carved into a humanoid form. The Golem’s animus was programmed by its creators.

  • http://twitter.com/RGM96X Josh Harper

    I’m glad that they not only managed to keep mecha out of the list, they actually included Haro, a robot from a mecha anime. Good job there, folks.

  • DaveO

    No question about it…. Robby the Robot Rulez!

    I also like Gort from “The Day the Earth Stood Still” <- the original movie
    I also like Tobor from the 1960s "8th Man" anime
    and of course who couldn't feel something for Marvin from the original "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy"?

    I'm just sayin'…

    ;)

  • http://www.facebook.com/joaquim.sanmarti Joaquim Sanmartí

    Missing Mazinger-Z series robots, the Marvel Sentinels, but especially the Asimov robots.

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