I was thinking the naming of the droids in Star Wars is rather unique, such as R2-D2 and C-3PO, where we have a mixture of letter and numbers and nothing else.

Then I thought of K9 from Dr. Who, which I would have to put in the same category

which, lo and behold, Wikipedia tells me first appeared in The Invisible Enemy (1977).

Now, of course, A New Hope was also released in 1977, but feature films have longer production schedules, so R2-D2 and C-3PO were probably named first. (Is that so?)

But aside from all of that, is there an earlier reference to a robot named entirely with a mix of letter and numbers?

#What was the first purely alphanumerically named robot?

What is not accepted:

• Acronyms ("R.O.B.O.T.")
• Names with a name or function in concert with letters or numbers ("Zeus 35B", "Toaster 23")

I was thinking the naming of the droids in Star Wars is rather unique, such as R2-D2 and C-3PO, where we have a mixture of letter and numbers and nothing else.

Then I thought of K9 from Dr. Who, which I would have to put in the same category

which, lo and behold, Wikipedia tells me first appeared in The Invisible Enemy (1977).

Now, of course, A New Hope was also released in 1977, but feature films have longer production schedules, so R2-D2 and C-3PO were probably named first. (Is that so?)

But aside from all of that, is there an earlier reference to a robot named entirely with a mix of letter and numbers?

What was the first purely alphanumerically named robot?

What is not accepted:

• Acronyms ("R.O.B.O.T.")
• Names with a name or function in concert with letters or numbers ("Zeus 35B", "Toaster 23")

I was thinking the naming of the droids in Star Wars is rather unique, such as R2-D2 and C-3PO, where we have a mixture of letter and numbers and nothing else.

Then I thought of K9 from Dr. Who, which I would have to put in the same category

which, lo and behold, Wikipedia tells me first appeared in The Invisible Enemy (1977).

Now, of course, A New Hope was also released in 1977, but feature films have longer production schedules, so R2-D2 and C-3PO were probably named first. (Is that so?)

But aside from all of that, is there an earlier reference to a robot named entirely with a mix of letter and numbers?

#What was the first purely alphanumerically named robot?

What is not accepted:

• Acronyms ("R.O.B.O.T.")
• Names with a name or function in concert with letters or numbers ("Zeus 35B", "Toaster 23")

I was thinking the naming of the droids in Star Wars is rather unique, such as R2-D2 and C-3PO, where we have a mixture of letter and numbers and nothing else.

Then I thought of K9 from Dr. Who, which I would have to put in the same category

which, lo and behold, Wikipedia tells me first appeared in The Invisible Enemy (1977).

Now, of course, A New Hope was also released in 1977, but feature films have longer production schedules, so R2-D2 and C-3PO were probably named first. (Is that so?)

But aside from all of that, is there an earlier reference to a robot named entirely with a mix of letter and numbers?

#What was the first purely alphanumerically named robot?

What is not accepted:

• Acronyms ("R.O.B.O.T.")
• Names with a name or function in concert with letters or numbers ("Zeus 35B", "Toaster 23")