Giant Robot Month: Skin jobs and Robots that look like me.

As we explore the world of Giant Robots and Robots in general, we must considerer the concept of Robots that have been built to resemble the human form.  The design is always flawed.  In books, television, and film the building of Bots that resemble human beings always leads to trouble.  This particular trouble can come in the form of wacky antics or world domination.  The level will vary but it's always an issue.

The following is a list of prime examples of the Robot designed to look like a human and the problems that it can incur.

A replicant is a fictional bioengineered or biorobotic android in the film Blade Runner (1982). The Nexus series of replicants are virtually identical to an adult human, but have superior strength, agility, and variable intelligence depending on the model. Because of their similarity to humans, a replicant can only be detected by means of the fictional Voight-Kampff test, in which emotional responses are provoked; replicants' responses differ from humans' responses. NEXUS 6 replicants also have a safety mechanism, namely a four year lifespan, to prevent them from developing empathic cognition and therefore immunity to a Voight-Kampff machine. A derogatory term for a replicant is "skin-job."

Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? is a science fiction novel by American writer Philip K. Dick. First published in 1968, the novel is set in a post-apocalyptic San Francisco, where Earth's life has been greatly damaged by nuclear global war. Most animal species are endangered or extinct due to extremeradiation poisoning, so that owning an animal is now a sign ofstatus and empathy, an attitude encouraged towards animals. The book served as the primary basis for the 1982 film Blade Runner.

The main plot follows Rick Deckard, a bounty hunter who is faced with killing ("retiring") six escaped Nexus-6 model androids, while a secondary plot follows John Isidore, a man of sub-par IQ who aids the fugitive androids. In connection with Deckard's mission, the novel explores the issue of what it is to be human. Unlike humans, the androids are claimed to possess no sense of empathy.

My Living Doll is an American science fiction sitcom that aired for 26 episodes on CBS from September 27, 1964 to March 17, 1965. This series was produced by Jack Chertok and was filmed at Desilu studios by Jack Chertok Television, Inc., in association with the CBS Television Network.

The series starred Bob Cummings as Dr. Bob McDonald, a psychiatrist who is given care of Rhoda Miller, a lifelike android(played by Julie Newmar) in the form of a sexy, Amazonianfemale, by her creator, a scientist who did not want her to fall into the hands of the military.

Rhoda's real name is AF 709, and she is a prototype robot that Dr. Carl Miller (Henry Beckman) built for the U.S. Air Force. Through a series of mishaps, the robot ends up in the care of Dr. Miller's friend, Air Force psychiatrist Bob McDonald, when Miller is transferred to Pakistan. Bob is initially reluctant but soon becomes intrigued by the experiment of educating this sophisticated but naive robot. Bob's initial goal is to teach Rhoda how to be a perfect woman, which he defines as one who "does what she's told" and "doesn't talk back". He also strives to keep her identity secret from the world

Small Wonder is an American comedy science fiction sitcomthat aired in first-run syndication from September 7, 1985 to May 20, 1989. The show chronicles the family of a robotics engineer who secretly creates a robot modeled after a human girl, then tries to pass it off as their adopted daughter.

The story lines revolve around V.I.C.I. (an acronym for Voice Input Child Identicant, pronounced "Vicky"), an android in the form of a 10-year-old girl. V.I.C.I. was built by Ted Lawson, an engineer/inventor for United Robotronics, in an effort to assist handicapped children. The robot is taken home by Lawson so that it can mature within a family environment. V.I.C.I.'s features include superhuman strength and speed, an AC outlet under her right arm, a serial port under her left arm, and an access panel in her back. Despite this, the Lawson family initially tries to pass V.I.C.I. off as an orphaned family member whom they eventually legally adopt as their daughter.

Making Mr. Right is a 1987 science fiction/comedy film,directed by Susan Seidelman; starring John Malkovich as Jeff Peters/Ulysses and Ann Magnuson as Frankie Stone.

This film is primarily about the misadventures between an android and a woman.

Jeff Peters (John Malkovich) is an emotionally repressed scientist who cannot stand others because of their intellectual inferiority. He dreams of deep space exploration, which would be difficult because of the lack of human contact for long periods of time. He develops the Ulysses android (which looks exactly like him) for the purpose of space exploration, since an android would not be affected by the isolation.

Frankie Stone (Ann Magnuson) is hired to do public relations for the project. As a part of her job, she must get to know the android better, in order to "humanize" him for the benefit of the project's sponsors in Congress. However, in his interaction with her, the android develops emotions and develops better social skills than the scientist himself. At one point he impersonates Jeff in order to leave the laboratory, and stows away in Frankie's car. After escaping he encounters human society at a shopping mall, buys a tuxedo, goes on a date with a woman who thinks he is Jeff, reducing her to an emotional wreck, and then loses his head (literally) over Frankie's best friend Trish (Glenne Headly) who has taken refuge in Frankie's apartment after walking out on her husband who is a star on the popular daytime soap opera New Jersey.

Frankie also develops feelings for the android and befriends Jeff on a lesser level. Frankie's mother, (Polly Bergen) learns from Frankie's ex-boyfriend's (Steve) mother that Frankie has a doctor boyfriend (Jeff) and expects Frankie to bring him to the wedding of Frankie's sister. Frankie persuades Jeff to come, but Ulysses again absconds from the lab and gate-crashes the wedding. Trish's jealous TV-star husband crashes the wedding and gets into a fight with Ulysses. Ulysses short-circuits and crashes into the swimming pool, turning the occasion into a public relations disaster. Frankie is fired from her job and forbidden contact with Ulysses or anyone on the project. She attempts to say goodbye on launch day by using her connections with a former client and boyfriend (Steve), a candidate for Congress, but she only sees Ulysses during his farewell speech, in which he bemoans the tendency of humans and their tragic emotional relationships.

Eventually, it becomes clear that Ulysses' final speech was actually made by Jeff, who has realized he cannot deal with people. Due to his lack of social skills, Jeff realizes that the lack of human contact will not be a hardship for him. Jeff decided to go into space while the android takes his place on Earth so Ulysses and Frankie (who by now are deeply in love) can be together.

Terminator (character concept)

A Series 800 terminator, a robot-only "Hunter Killer" version of the Model 101 android played by Arnold Schwarzenegger.

In the Terminator film series, a terminator is an autonomous robot, typically humanoid, originally conceived as a virtually indestructible soldier,infiltrator and assassin.

James Cameron introduced the first terminator character in the 1984 filmThe Terminator, featuring a single android simply called "The Terminator", portrayed by Arnold Schwarzenegger. When later Terminator films introduced additional models, some sources retroactively gave Schwarzenegger's character a model number, leading to multiple conflicting names.

The Robot Who Looked Like Me is a collection of science fiction short stories by Robert Sheckley. It was first published in 1978 by Sphere Books. As with much of Sheckley's work in general, many of the stories are satirical and express the writer's criticism of modern American society.

as we explore

It includes the following stories (magazines in which the stories originally appeared given in parentheses):

1. "The Robot Who Looked Like Me" (Cosmopolitan, 1973) A man builds a robot version of himself to free-up extra spare time.
2. "Slaves of Time" (Nova 4, 1974)
3. "Voices" (Playboy, Oct 1973)
4. "A Supplicant in Space" (Galaxy, Nov 1973, as "A Suppliant in Space".)
5. "Zirn Left Unguarded, The Jenghik Palace in Flames, Jon Westerly Dead" (Nova 2, 1972) A status report from a military outpost in space.
6. "Sneak Previews" (Penthouse, Aug 1977)
7. "Welcome to the Standard Nightmare" (Nova 3, 1973)
8. "End City" (Galaxy, May 1974, with a different ending.)
9. "The Never-Ending Western Movie" (Science Fiction Discoveries, 1976) A day in the life of a television star who has been featured in a western for the last 20+ years.
10. "What is Life?" (Playboy, Dec 1976) A traveler in Nepal is asked the title question by a Voice from the mountain
11. "I See a Man Sitting on a Chair, and the Chair is Biting His Leg" (The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, Jan 1968; co-authored with Harlan Ellison, although Ellison is not credited in the book edition) Concerns a man who is chased through a futuristic Las Vegas-like city by inordinate objects with an unnatural affection for him.
12. "Is That What People Do?" (Anticipations, 1978) A man finds a pair of binoculars and uses them to observe people in nearby highrise buildings.
13. "Silversmith Wishes" (Playboy, May 1977)