This list of fictional robots and androids is chronological, and categorised by medium. It includes all depictions of robots, androids and gynoids in literature, television, and cinema; however, robots that have appeared in more than one form of media are not necessarily listed in each of those media. This list is intended for all fictional computers which are described as existing in a humanlike or mobile form. It shows how the concept has developed in the human imagination through history.
Robots and androids have frequently been depicted or described in works of fiction. The word "robot" itself comes from a work of fiction, Karel Čapek's play, R.U.R. (Rossum's Universal Robots), written in 1920 and first performed in 1921.
Theatre
Coppélia, a life-size dancing doll in the ballet of the same name, choreographed by Marius Petipa with music by Léo Delibes (1870) The word robot comes from Karel Čapek's play, R.U.R. (Rossum's Universal Robots), written in 1920 in Czech and first performed in 1921. It was performed in New York 1922 and an English edition was published in 1923. In the play, the word refers to artificially created life forms. Named robots in the play are Marius, Sulla, Radius, Primus, Helena, and Damon. The play introduced and popularized the term "robot". Čapek's robots are biological machines that are assembled, as opposed to grown or born. Oliver and Claire, retired humanoid helper-bots, the main characters in the musical Maybe Happy Ending (2024).
Literature
18th century and earlier The woman forged out of gold in Finnish myth The Kalevala (prehistoric folklore) From 600 BC onward, legends of talking bronze and clay statues coming to life have been a regular occurrence in the works of classical authors such as Homer, Plato, Pindar, Tacitus, and Pliny. In Book 18 of the Iliad, Hephaestus the god of all mechanical arts, was assisted by two moving female statues made from gold – "living young damsels, filled with minds and wisdoms". Another legend has Hephaestus being commanded by Zeus to create the first woman, Pandora, out of clay. The myth of Pygmalion, king of Cyprus, tells of a lonely man who sculpted his ideal woman, Galatea, from ivory, and promptly fell in love with her after the goddess Aphrodite brought her to life. The 5th-century BCE Chinese text, the Liezi, contains a description of a humanoid machine which can sing and dance like a human. The automaton is presented to King Mu of Zhou by its inventor, but it offends the king by winking at court ladies and trying to flirt with them, so the inventor disassembles it to show the court that it is a machine. The king sees that it has artificial analogues of human organs, which are made of leather, wood, glue, and paint, and each fulfill necessary functions for its operation. Talos, bronze giant Talos in Apollonius of Rhodes' Argonautica, 3rd century BC. Brazen heads, attributed to numerous scholars involved in the introduction of Arabian science to medieval Europe, particularly Roger Bacon (13th century). Talus in The Faerie Queene, a 1590 poem by Edmund Spenser, wherein an "iron man" mechanically helps Arthegall dispense justice. Golem – The legend of the Golem, an animated man of clay, is mentioned in the Talmud. (16th century).
19th century and later