Editing Robot (section)

== Robots in popular culture ==
[[File:RobotsMODO.jpg|thumbnail|Toy robots on display at the [[Museo del Objeto del Objeto]] in Mexico City]]
{{See also|List of fictional robots and androids|Droid (Star Wars)}}

=== Literature ===
{{Main|Robots in literature}}

Robotic characters, [[android (robot)|androids]] (artificial men/women) or [[gynoid]]s (artificial women), and [[cyborg]]s (also "[[bionic]] men/women", or humans with significant mechanical enhancements) have become a staple of science fiction.

The first reference in Western literature to mechanical servants appears in [[Homer]]'s ''[[Iliad]]''. In Book XVIII, [[Hephaestus]], god of fire, creates new armor for the hero Achilles, assisted by robots.<ref name="Iliad">{{cite web| access-date=21 November 2007| url= http://www.arts.cornell.edu/theatrearts/CTA/Program%20Notes/comic%20potential.asp| publisher= Cornell University| title = Comic Potential: Q&A with Director Stephen Cole|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090103103732/http://www.arts.cornell.edu/theatrearts/CTA/Program%20Notes/comic%20potential.asp|archive-date=3 January 2009|url-status=dead}}</ref> According to the [[E. V. Rieu|Rieu]] translation, "Golden maidservants hastened to help their master. They looked like real women and could not only speak and use their limbs but were endowed with intelligence and trained in handwork by the immortal gods." The words "robot" or "android" are not used to describe them, but they are nevertheless mechanical devices human in appearance. "The first use of the word Robot was in Karel Čapek's play R.U.R. (Rossum's Universal Robots) (written in 1920)". Writer Karel Čapek was born in Czechoslovakia (Czech Republic).

Possibly the most prolific author of the twentieth century was [[Isaac Asimov]] (1920–1992)<ref name=FreedProlific>{{cite book|editor-last=Freedman|editor-first=Carl|title=Conversations with Isaac Asimov|year=2005|publisher=Univ. Press of Mississippi|location=Jackson|isbn=978-1-57806-738-1|url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9781578067381|url-access=registration|edition=1.|access-date=4 August 2011|page=vii|quote=... quite possibly the most prolific}}</ref> who published over five-hundred books.<ref name=Oakes500>{{cite book|last=Oakes|first=Elizabeth H.|title=American writers|year=2004|publisher=Facts on File|location=New York|isbn=978-0-8160-5158-8|url=https://archive.org/details/americanwriters0000oake|url-access=registration|quote=most prolific authors asimov.|access-date=4 August 2011|page=[https://archive.org/details/americanwriters0000oake/page/24 24]}}</ref> Asimov is probably best remembered for his science-fiction stories and especially those about robots, where he placed robots and their interaction with society at the center of many of his works.<ref>He wrote "over 460 books as well as thousands of articles and reviews", and was the "third most prolific writer of all time [and] one of the founding fathers of modern science fiction". {{cite book |title=Isaac Asimov: a life of the grand master of science fiction |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EWbMiyS9v98C |isbn=978-0-7867-1518-3 |pages=1–2 |author=White, Michael |year=2005 |publisher=Carroll & Graf |access-date=25 September 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161205023302/https://books.google.com/books?id=EWbMiyS9v98C |archive-date=5 December 2016 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.anu.edu.au/people/Roger.Clarke/SOS/Asimov.html |title=Asimov's Laws of Robotics – Implications for Information Technology |publisher=Australian National University/IEEE |author=R. Clarke |access-date=25 September 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080722022618/https://www.anu.edu.au/people/Roger.Clarke/SOS/Asimov.html |archive-date=22 July 2008 }}</ref> Asimov carefully considered the problem of the ideal set of instructions robots might be given to lower the risk to humans, and arrived at his [[Three Laws of Robotics]]: a robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm; a robot must obey orders given it by human beings, except where such orders would conflict with the First Law; and a robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law.<ref>{{cite web |last=Seiler |first=Edward |author2=Jenkins, John H. |url=http://www.asimovonline.com/asimov_FAQ.html |title=Isaac Asimov FAQ |publisher=Isaac Asimov Home Page |date=27 June 2008 |access-date=24 September 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120716233605/http://www.asimovonline.com/asimov_FAQ.html |archive-date=16 July 2012 |url-status=live }}</ref> These were introduced in his 1942 short story "Runaround", although foreshadowed in a few earlier stories. Later, Asimov added the Zeroth Law: "A robot may not harm humanity, or, by inaction, allow humanity to come to harm"; the rest of the laws are modified sequentially to acknowledge this.

According to the ''Oxford English Dictionary,'' the first passage in Asimov's short story "[[Liar! (short story)|Liar!]]" (1941) that mentions the First Law is the earliest recorded use of the word ''[[robotics]]''. Asimov was not initially aware of this; he assumed the word already existed by analogy with ''mechanics,'' ''hydraulics,'' and other similar terms denoting branches of applied knowledge.<ref>{{cite book|author=White, Michael|title=Isaac Asimov: A Life of the Grand Master of Science Fiction|page=56|year=2005|publisher=Carroll & Graf|isbn=978-0-7867-1518-3}}</ref>

=== Robot competitions ===
{{Main|Robot competition}}
Robots are used in a number of competitive events. [[Robot combat]] competitions have been popularized by television shows such as [[Robot Wars (TV series)|Robot Wars]] and [[BattleBots]], featuring mostly remotely controlled 'robots' that compete against each other directly using various weaponry, there are also amateur robot combat leagues active globally outside of the televised events. [[Micromouse]] events, in which autonomous robots compete to solve mazes or other obstacle courses are also held internationally.

[[Robot competition]]s are also often used within educational settings to introduce the concept of robotics to children such as the [[FIRST Robotics Competition]] in the US.

=== Films ===
{{Category see also|Films about robots}}

Robots appear in many films. Most of the robots in cinema are fictional. Two of the most famous are [[R2-D2]] and [[C-3PO]] from the ''[[Star Wars]]'' franchise.

=== Sex robots ===
{{Main|Sex robot}}
The concept of humanoid [[sex robot]]s has drawn public attention and elicited debate regarding their supposed benefits and potential effects on society. Opponents argue that the introduction of such devices would be socially harmful, and demeaning to women and children,<ref name="bbc-sexrobots">{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-34118482|title=Intelligent machines: Call for a ban on robots designed as sex toys|date=15 September 2015|newspaper=BBC News|access-date=21 June 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180630212424/https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-34118482|archive-date=30 June 2018|url-status=live}}</ref> while proponents cite their potential therapeutical benefits, particularly in aiding people with [[dementia]] or [[Depression (mood)|depression]].<ref>{{cite conference|last1=Abdollahi|first1=Hojjat|last2=Mollahosseini|first2=Ali|last3=Lane|first3=Josh T.|last4=Mahoor|first4=Mohammad H.|date=November 2017|title=A pilot study on using an intelligent life-like robot as a companion for elderly individuals with dementia and depression|conference=2017 IEEE-RAS 17th International Conference on Humanoid Robotics (Humanoids)|pages=541–546|arxiv=1712.02881|bibcode=2017arXiv171202881A|doi=10.1109/humanoids.2017.8246925|isbn=978-1-5386-4678-6|s2cid=1962455}}</ref>

=== Problems depicted in popular culture ===
[[File:L'uomo meccanico 1.png|thumb|Italian movie ''[[The Mechanical Man]]'' (1921), the first film to have shown a battle between robots]]

Fears and concerns about robots have been repeatedly expressed in a wide range of books and films. A common theme is the development of a master race of conscious and highly intelligent robots, motivated to take over or destroy the human race. ''[[Frankenstein]]'' (1818), often called the first science fiction novel, has become synonymous with the theme of a robot or android advancing beyond its creator.

Other works with similar themes include ''[[The Mechanical Man]]'', ''[[The Terminator]]'', ''[[Runaway (1984 film)|Runaway]]'', ''[[RoboCop]]'', the [[Replicator (Stargate)|Replicators in ''Stargate'']], the [[Cylon (Battlestar Galactica)|Cylons]] in ''[[Battlestar Galactica (2004 TV series)|Battlestar Galactica]]'', the [[Cybermen]] and [[Dalek]]s in ''[[Doctor Who]]'', ''[[The Matrix]]'', ''[[Enthiran]]'' and ''[[I, Robot (film)|I, Robot]]''. Some fictional robots are programmed to kill and destroy; others gain superhuman intelligence and abilities by upgrading their own software and hardware. Examples of popular media where the robot becomes evil are ''[[2001: A Space Odyssey]]'', ''[[Red Planet (film)|Red Planet]]'' and ''[[Enthiran]]''.

The 2017 game ''[[Horizon Zero Dawn]]'' explores themes of robotics in warfare, [[robot ethics]], and the [[AI control problem]], as well as the positive or negative impact such technologies could have on the environment.

Another common theme is the reaction, sometimes called the "[[uncanny valley]]", of unease and even revulsion at the sight of robots that mimic humans too closely.<ref name="uncanny">{{cite conference |url=http://www.macdorman.com/kfm/writings/pubs/Ho2007EmotionUncanny.pdf |first=C. C. |last=Ho |author2=MacDorman, K. F. |author3=Pramono, Z. A. D. |year=2008 |title=Human emotion and the uncanny valley: A GLM, MDS, and ISOMAP analysis of robot video ratings |access-date=24 September 2008 |conference= 2008 3rd ACM/IEEE International Conference on Human-Robot Interaction (HRI) |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080911135038/http://www.macdorman.com/kfm/writings/pubs/Ho2007EmotionUncanny.pdf |archive-date=11 September 2008 |url-status=live }}</ref>

More recently, fictional representations of artificially intelligent robots in films such as ''[[A.I. Artificial Intelligence]]'' and ''[[Ex Machina (film)|Ex Machina]]'' and the 2016 TV adaptation of ''[[Westworld (TV Series)|Westworld]]'' have engaged audience sympathy for the robots themselves.

[[File:Theatre Guild, R U R, Act 3.jpg|thumb|Final scene of [[R.U.R.]], Act&nbsp;II]]

Emancipation or revolution as a theme in relation to robots was already present in the term coining play of [[R.U.R.]].
The [[Star Wars]] universe for example has several instances of droid revolts.
The [[Dune series]] on the other hand has the premise of humans revolting against ''thinking machines'' and finding human-biological alternatives to them.