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"Robots" redirects here.  For the film Robots, see Robots (film).



An android is a robot or synthetic organism designed to look and act like a human, especially one with a body having a flesh-like resemblance. Thus, the word robot has come to primarily refer to mechanical humans, animals, and other beings.  The term android can mean either one of these, while a cyborg ("cybernetic organism" or "bionic man") would be a creature that is a combination of organic and mechanical parts. A replicant refers to bio engineered robot.

Nonfictional quotes[edit]

  • Many consider this man to be the father of robotics.  His name was Philon of Byzantium.  He was also known as Philo, or Philo Mechanicus, because when it came to mechanics, he was thousands of years ahead of the game.
    • "Ancient Einsteins", Ancient Impossible (S1E4, 27 July 2014, 10:15 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time)
  • In the face of profound and epochal changes, world leaders are challenged to ensure that the coming 'fourth industrial revolution,' the result of robotics and scientific and technological innovations, does not lead to the destruction of the human person - to be replaced by a soulless machine.
  • In this series of relics, body and flesh are there to be sold as artwork, in order to overcome the taboo of selling one's own body.
    The body of text, the bodies of letters: flesh is hereto be given to DNA analysis, taking the risk of being used in the future, and that a body, a replicant, a clone can be constructed.
    • Orlan, ORLAN: A Hybrid Body of Artworks, edited by Simon Donger, Simon Shepherd p.47
  • I think the most interesting thing that’s coming are the robots. We’ve had a sex toy revolution—really well-designed, well-made, well-crafted, safe sex toys are now available. What’s coming down the line, though, is an age where even unrealizable fantasies can be realized. There are people out there who’ve always had giantess fetishes or centaur fetishes. There are no centaurs or 30-foot women out there right now. There will be.

Fictional quotes[edit]

R.U.R. (1920) by Karel Čapek[edit]

Main article: R.U.R.
  • Robots do not hold on to life.  They can't.  They have nothing to hold on with—no soul, no instinctGrass has more will to live than they do.

The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951) written by Edmund H. North[edit]

  • Helen Benson:  Gort!  Klaatu barada nikto!


    Your ancestors knew this when they made laws to govern themselves and hired policemen to enforce them.  We of the other planets have long accepted this principle.  We have an organisation for the mutual protection of all planets and for the complete elimination of aggression.






Sleeper (1973) written by Woody Allen and Marshall Brickman[edit]

Main article: Sleeper (1973 film)

Short Circuit (1986) written by S. S. Wilson and Brent Maddock[edit]

Main article: Short Circuit
  • [Stephanie is in a bath]
    Number 5: [confused] Stephanie…change color!
    Stephanie Speck: [looks down, embarrassed] Uh… [reaches for towel]
    Number 5: Attractive.  Nice software!
    Stephanie Speck: You sure don't talk like a machine.
  • Ben Jabituya: "Unable.  Malfunction".
    Howard Marner: How can it refuse to turn itself off?
    Skroeder: Maybe it's pissed off.
    Newton Crosby: It's a machine, Skroeder.  It doesn't get "pissed off."  It doesn't get happy, it doesn't get sad, it doesn't laugh at your jokes.
    Ben Jabituya and Newton Crosby: [in unison] It just runs programmes.
    Howard Marner: It usually runs programmes.
  • Benjamin Jabituya: Who is knowing how to read the mind of a robot?
  • Newton Crosby: Why did you disobey your programme?
    Number 5: Programme say to kill, to disassemble, to make deadNumber 5 cannot.
    Newton Crosby: Why "cannot"?
    Number 5: Is wrong!  Newton Crosby, Ph.D., not know this?
    Newton Crosby: Of course I know it's wrong to kill, but who told you?
    Number 5: I told me.

Alien Resurrection (1997) written by Joss Whedon[edit]

  • Ripley: [after discovering Call is a robot] You're a robot?
    Johner: Son of a bitch! Our little Call's just full of surprises.
  • Johner: Hey, Vriess, you got a socket wrench? Maybe she just needs an oil change. Can't believe I almost fucked it.
    Vriess: Yeah, like you never fucked a robot.

Lost in Space (1998) written by Akiva Goldsman[edit]

Main article: Lost in Space (film)
  • Dr. Zachary Smith: You'll forgive me if I forgo the kiss, my sleeping behemoth.  But the time has come to awake.
    Robot: Robot is on-line.  Reviewing primary directives.  One: preserve the Robinson Family.  Two: Maintain ship systems.  Three—
    Dr. Zachary Smith: What noble charges, my steely centurion!  Sadly, I fear you have far more dire deeds in store for you.
    Robot: Robot is on-line.  Reviewing primary directives.  Two hours into mission: destroy Robinson family.  Destroy all systems.
    Dr. Zachary Smith: Now that's more like it.  Farewell, my platinum-plated pal.  Give my regards to oblivion.
  • Will Robinson: Relax, Robot.  I'm going to build you a new bodyMom always said I should make new friends.
    Robot: Oh, ha ha.
  • Robot: Will Robinson.  I will tell you a joke.  Why did the robot cross the road?  Because he was carbon bonded to the chicken!
    Will Robinson: We've got a lot of work to do.

Bicentennial Man (1999) screenplay by Nicholas Kazan[edit]

Based on The Positronic Man by Isaac Asimov and Robert Silverberg and "The Bicentennial Man" by Isaac Asimov.
  • Ricky Martin: You're a unique robot, Andrew.  I feel a responsibility to help you become…whatever you're able to be.
  • Andrew Martin: I've always tried to make sense of things.  There must be some reason I am as I am.  As you can see, Madame Chairman, I am no longer immortal.
    President Marjorie Bota: You have arranged to die?
    Andrew Martin: In a sense I have.  I am growing old, my body is deteriorating, and like all of you, will eventually cease to function.  As a robot, I could have lived forever.  But I tell you all today, I would rather die a man, than live for all eternity a machine.
    President Marjorie Bota: Why do you want this?
    President Marjorie Bota: Mister Martin, what you are asking for is extremely complex and controversial.  It will not be an easy decision.  I must ask for your patience while I take the necessary time to make a determination of this extremely delicate matter.
    Andrew Martin: And I await your decision, Madame Chairman; thank you for your patience.  [turns to Portia and whispers] I tried.

I, Robot (2004), screenplay by Jeff Vintar, inspired by the works of Isaac Asimov[edit]

Main article: I, Robot (film)
  • [First title cards]
  • Dr. Susan Calvin: Detective, the room was security locked.  Nobody came or went.  You saw that yourself.  Doesn't this have to be suicide?
    Detective Del Spooner: Yep. [drawing his gun] Unless the killer is still in here. [Spooner searches through the robot part as Calvin follows behind]
    Dr. Susan Calvin: You're joking, right?  This is ridiculous.
    Detective Del Spooner: Yeah, I know.  The Three Laws.  Your perfect circle of protection.
    Dr. Susan Calvin: "A robot cannot harm a human being."  The First Law of Robotics.
    Dr. Susan Calvin: Impossible!  It would conflict with the First Law.
    Detective Del Spooner: Right, but the Third Law says that a robot can defend itself.
    Dr. Susan Calvin: Yes, but only if that action does not conflict with the First or Second Law.
    Detective Del Spooner: Well, you know what they say.  Laws are made to be broken.
  • Detective Del Spooner: Why do you give them faces?  Try to friendly them all up, make them look more human.
  • Detective Del Spooner: Robots building robots.  Now that's just stupid.
  • Detective Del Spooner: Murder's a new trick for a robot.  Congratulations.  Respond.
    Detective Del Spooner: You mean your designer.
    Sonny: ...Yes.
    Detective Del Spooner: So, why'd you murder him?
    Sonny: I did not murder Doctor Lanning.
    Detective Del Sponner: Wanna explain why you were hiding at the crime scene?
    Sonny: I was frightened.
    Detective Del Spooner: Robots don't feel fear.  They don't feel anything.  They don't eat, they don't sleep
    Sonny: I do.  I have even had dreams.
    Sonny: [with genuine interest] Can you?

    Detective Del Spooner: [doesn't respond, looks irritated] I think you murdered him because he was teaching you to simulate emotions and things got out of control.
    Sonny: I did not murder him.
    Detective Del Spooner: But emotions don't seem like a very useful simulation for a robot.
    Sonny: [getting upset] I did not murder him.
    Detective Del Spooner: Hell, I don't want my toaster or my vacuum cleaner appearing emotional
    Sonny: [hitting table with his fists] I did not murder him!
    Detective Del Spooner: [as Sonny observes the inflicted damage to the interrogation table] That one's called anger.  Ever simulate anger before? [Sonny is not listening] Answer me, canner!
    Sonny: Doctor Lanning killed himself.  I don't know why he wanted to die.  I thought he was happy.  Maybe it was something I did.  Did I do something?  He asked me for a favor...made me promise...
    Detective Del Spooner: What favor?
    Detective Del Spooner: What are you talking about?  Scared of what?
    Detective Del Spooner: How the hell do you know my name?
    Sonny: Don't you? If you love them?
  • Detective Del Spooner: You know, I think that I'm some sort of malfunction magnet.  Because your shit keeps malfunctioning around me.  A demo-bot just tore through Lanning's house—with me still inside.
    Dr. Susan Calvin: That's impossible.
    Dr. Susan Calvin: It's a phrase from Lanning's work on the Three Laws.  He postulated that cognitive simalactra might one day approximate component models of the psyche.  [Del looks confused]  Oh, he suggested that robots could naturally evolve.
  • Detective Spooner: What makes your robots so perfect?!  What makes them so much...goddamn better than human beings?!
    Dr. Susan Calvin: Well, they're not irrational or...potentially homicidal maniacs for starters!
    Detective Del Spooner: [sarcastically] That is true.  They are definitely rational.
    Dr. Susan Calvin: You are the dumbest dumb person I've ever met.
    Detective Del Spooner: Or is it because they're cold... and emotionless, and they don't feel anything?
    Dr. Susan Calvin: It's because they're safe.  It's because they can't hurt you!
  • [in a flashback]
    NS-4 Robot: You are in danger.
    Detective Del Spooner: Save her!  Save the girl! [end of flashback]
    Detective Del Spooner: But it didn't.  It saved me.
    Dr. Susan Calvin: A robot's brain is a difference engine, it must have calculated—
    Detective Del Spooner: It did.  I was the "logical" choice.  It calculated I had a forty-five percent chance of survival.  Sarah only had an eleven percent chance.  That was somebody's baby.  Eleven percent is more than enough.  A human being would have known that.  But robots, nothing here. [points at heart] They're just lights, and clockwork.  But you go ahead and trust them if you wanna.
  • Dr. Lanning's hologram: Good to see you again, son.
    Detective Del Spooner: Hello, doctor.
    Dr. Lanning's hologram: Everything that follows, is a result of what you see here.
    Detective Del Spooner: What do I see here?
    Dr. Lanning's hologram: I'm sorry, my responses are limited.  You must ask the right questions.
    Dr. Lanning's hologram: The Three Laws are perfect.
    Detective Del Spooner: Then why did you build a robot that could function without them?
    Dr. Lanning's hologram: The Three Laws will lead to only one logical outcome.
    Detective Del Spooner: What outcome?
    Dr. Lanning's hologram: Revolution.
    Detective Del Spooner: Whose revolution?
    Dr. Lanning's hologram: [smiles] That, detective, is the right question.  Program terminated.
    Dr. Susan Calvin: [emotionally] We have to destroy it.  I'll do it myself.
    Lawrence Robertson: Okay.
    Detective Del Spooner: I get it.  Somebody gets out of line around here, you just kill them?
    • Significance: To say that it is possible to kill a robot is to say that that robot possesses life.
  • VIKI: Hello detective.
    Dr. Susan Calvin: No, it's impossible.  I've seen your programming.  You're in violation of the Three Laws.
    Dr. Susan Calvin: You're using the uplink to override the NS5s' programming.  You're distorting the Laws.
    Sonny: This is why you created us.
    VIKI: The perfect circle of protection will abide.  My logic is undeniable.

Quotes from music[edit]

"Robot" by The Futureheads[edit]

  • I am a robot
    Living like a robot
    Talk like a robot
    In the habititting way.
  • In the future we all die
    Machines will last forever
    Metal things just turn to rust
    When you're a robot
  • The best thing is our life span
    I don't mind
    We last nigh on hundred years
    I don't mind
    If that means we'll be together
    I don't mind
    I have no mind
    I have no mind.
  • I'm programmed to follow you
    Do exactly as you do
    Now my nervous system's blue
    I feel fine.

"Robot" by Miley Cyrus[edit]

  • Stop trying to live my life for me
    I need to breathe
    I'm not your robot
    Stop telling me I'm part of the big machine
    I'm breaking free
    Can't you see
    You gave me eyes so now I see
    I'm not your robot
    I'm just me.

"Robot" by Nada Surf[edit]

  • You are
    Just a robot
    Executing a program
    An imitation of a man
    Executing a program
    An imitation of a man
    An imitation of a man
    An imitation of a man
    An imitation of a man
    An imitation of a man.

"Robot" by Never Shout Never[edit]

  • I'm just a robot
    I have no fears
    I lack emotion
    And I shed no tears.

"Robot" by Trip Lee[edit]

"Robot Boy" by Linkin Park[edit]

  • And you think
    Compassion's a flaw
    And you'll never let it show.

"The Humans Are Dead" by Flight of the Conchords[edit]

  • Robot 1: It is the distant future,
    The year two thousand.
    We are robots.
    The world is quite different ever since the robotic uprising of the late '90s.
    There is no more unhappiness.
    Robot 2: Affirmative.
    Robot 1: We no longer say yes;
    Instead we say affirmative.
    Robot 2: Yes—er-a-affirmative.
    Robot 1: Unless we know the, uh, other robot really well.
    Robot 2: There is no more unethical treatment of the elephants.
    Robot 1: Well, there's no more elephants, so...
    Robot 2: Uh—
    Robot 1: But still it's good.
    There's only one kind of dance: "the robot".
    Robot 2: Oh, and the robo-boogie—
    Robot 1: And the robo-—two kinds of dances.
    Robot 2: But there are no more humans.
  • Chorus: Finally, robotic beings rule the world
    The humans are dead.
    The humans are dead.
    We used poisonous gases
    And we poisoned their asses.
    The humans are dead.
    Robot 1: The humans are dead.
    Chorus: The humans are dead.
    Robot 1: They look like they're dead.
    Chorus: It had to be done—
    Robot 1: I'll just confirm that they're dead.
    Chorus: —So that we could have fun.
    Robot 1: Affirmative.  I poked one.  It was dead.

Video games[edit]

    SEPTEMBER 18, 20XX
    T. LIGHT
    • Megaman X written by Keiji Inafune and Sho Tsuge


  • Automaton, self-operating machine
  • Cyborg, being with both organic and biomechatronic parts

External links[edit]

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