74
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Accepted
Has Star Trek ever had any battle droid-like entities?
Offhand I can think of at least two examples, both of which killed their creators
The Pralor (shown) and Cravic Automated Personnel Units from VOY: Prototype.
3947: When it was anticipated that ...
- 718k
72
votes
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Animated movie about a giant metal robot that comes to Earth and befriends a boy
The Iron Giant sounds like it fits
Set during the Cold War in 1957, the film is about a young boy named Hogarth Hughes, who discovers a giant metallic robot who fell from space. With the help of ...
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69
votes
How did Isaac Asimov come up with the 3 laws of robotics?
The Three Laws developed gradually. It started with Robbie, aka Strange Playfellow, Asimov's first robot story, which he wrote in 1939. Asimov thought of robots as “industrial products […] built with ...
- 11k
58
votes
Accepted
A short tale of a robot male house servant which the lady owner falls in love with
It's possible the story you are looking for is called "Satisfaction Guaranteed".
It is one of Asimovs robot stories and, as you mention, features a woman with a male humanoid robot assigned ...
- 12k
49
votes
Accepted
Origin of Robot noises
If you go back to much older robots in movies and TV shows, there really isn't so much beeping as whirring. The classic Robbie the Robot was a prime example of this, with a large glass head that you ...
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49
votes
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Sci-fi movie about robots killing sad people
Doctor Who Season 10 episode 2 "Smile"
The Doctor brings Bill to a future human colony, where cute EmojiBots work as willing servants and make sure everybody's happy, but if they're not happy, they'...
- 2,677
45
votes
Accepted
Was it accurate (history-wise) for Koenig to know about robots?
The play "R. U. R." (Rossum's Universal Robots) was translated to English in 1922, and performed in the the U.S. in several major cities in the 1920s introducing the word "robot" ...
- 60.5k
44
votes
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Series of stories about a technologically-advanced society with nude masters but clothed slaves
The sounds very like the Apprentice Adept series by Piers Anthony except that in those books the serfs (serfs not slaves) have to go naked not the masters.
Apart from this it all checks out. The ...
- 117k
39
votes
Accepted
Old short about robots searching for the "Great Enemy" that wiped out mankind
"To Avenge Man" aka "Vengeance Is Mine", a novelette by Lester del Rey, also the (unaccepted) answer to this old question; first published in Galaxy Magazine, December 1964 (...
- 171k
36
votes
Short story about robots exploring another planet whose inhabitants thought the robots were inferior
I suspect this is "Victory Unintentional" a classic short story by Isaac Asimov. (Scan available on archive.org)
3 robots are sent to explore Jupiter and meet the potentially hostile inhabitants. ...
- 143k
35
votes
Accepted
Crew of soldiers learn that robots have been faking the war in an effort to save humanity
Seeing as I can't find an accepted answer for this, I'm going to copy my existing answer.
This is "The Defenders" by Philip K. Dick, first published in Galaxy Science Fiction, January 1953.
...
- 143k
33
votes
Short story about a mother choosing to save her robot son over her human son during a fire
This is the short story "Kid Brother" by Isaac Asimov which you may have read in the collection Gold.
A (slightly questionable) version of the story can be found here and it was pointed out ...
- 1,486
32
votes
Accepted
Looking for SF short story about robot executioner
"Two-handed Engine", a novelette by Henry Kuttner and C. L. Moore; first published in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, August 1955, available at the Internet Archive.
Expository ...
- 171k
30
votes
What is the earliest sci-fi story about humour and AI?
Good likelihood there's an earlier one, but The Moon is a Harsh Mistress (1966) by Robert A. Heinlein had a major character in the form of Mike — aka MYCROFT, the central computer of Luna City, which (...
- 23.7k
30
votes
Movie about robotic child seeking to wake his mother
This the 2001 Spielberg film A.I. Artificial Intelligence, the story of the life of David, an artificial boy created to be a companion to childless couples.
Quoting from the plot summary on Wikipedia:
...
- 143k
29
votes
Book about a girl on a snow planet who programmed the robots she owns and turns out to be a princess
Stitching Snow (2014) by R.C. Lewis features a young woman, Essie, using coding on her seven robots for the mine on a cold planet, and she fights (even in the opening scene) for money.
A ship crashes ...
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28
votes
Accepted
Robot that calculates injuries done to others by tiny fractions
"Going Postal" by Terry Pratchett, said by a golem to a fraud and confidence trickster Moist Von Lipwig who prides himself on never using violence to perpetrate his crimes.
Relevant quote:
“Do you ...
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28
votes
Accepted
Book about accidental robot civilization
This is probably the Code of the Lifemaker series by James P. Hogan.
Long ago, an alien "searcher" ship flew too close to a star gone nova.
Though heavily damaged, the ship landed on Titan, ...
- 17k
26
votes
Accepted
Who is this robot from the Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction?
This robot is named "the last man" by the artist, Mel Hunter, as noted in the December 1959 issue:
Mel Hunter's cover this month is the third in his series for F&SF concerning the ...
- 143k
25
votes
How did Isaac Asimov come up with the 3 laws of robotics?
In this issue of Compute! magazine Asimov discusses the Three Laws as something that is "obvious from the start, and that everyone knows subliminally"; he credits himself not so much with ...
- 1,234
24
votes
Accepted
Identify science fiction novel about ancient machines destroying all sentient planets
Others (dmckee and can-ned food) have already pointed out that the story you're looking for is from Fred Saberhagen's Berserker series. There are many stories in this series. I believe you're asking ...
- 171k
24
votes
Has Star Trek ever had any battle droid-like entities?
The Doomsday Machine
From Star Trek TOS S02E06 - The Doomsday Machine
The Doomsday Machine was a "miles long" planet destroying machine created by an unknown civilization.
SPOCK: She [the ...
- 5,498
24
votes
Accepted
Old robot movie with robots in cages being hurt at a carnival show
This is A.I. Artificial Intelligence.
The scene with the robots in cages is below.
- 718k
23
votes
Accepted
A short story telling about some adults receiving motherly care from a robot
I Sing the Body Electric by Ray Bradbury.
In the story the mother of a family tragically dies. The father finds a newly opened store that sells custom made robot grandmothers/caregivers.
The two sons ...
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23
votes
Accepted
Early 2000s movie about robot that invades the world
Possibly Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow (2004)
It's got giant robots with a diesel punk look to them, and the end has a rocket full of animals.
- 3,189
23
votes
Accepted
Trying to find short sci-fi story about robot surgeon trying to become human
The story is indeed called "Rex" (1934) by Harl Vincent. It was first published in Astounding, June 1934 (Internet Archive link).
He was originally a surgeon of robots, but yes, a surgeon:
...
- 143k
22
votes
Accepted
Identify a short story about post-apocalyptic household robots
Story identified: There Will Come Soft Rains by Ray Bradbury
The story begins by introducing the reader to a computer-controlled house that cooks, cleans, and takes care of virtually every need ...
- 5,718
22
votes
Short story in which the main character buys a robot psychotherapist to get rid of the obsessive desire to kill
"Bad Medicine" by Robert Sheckley available at the link. ISFDB page here originally published in Galaxy 1956
Homicidal customer seeking therapy machine
"That, sir, is the Rex ...
- 60.5k
21
votes
1980s or 1990s animated film featuring robots or mechs, an abandoned city with skyscrapers, and a desert-like setting with a cliff
Could it be Robot Carnival?
The one segment, Nightmare, has various robots walking through a city:
There is at one point a round chicken-like robot in the segment. Another section of the movie (A ...
- 579
20
votes
Accepted
Robotic parts on a beach that assemble
This is the 1968 book The Iron Man by Ted Hughes.
The story starts with
a gigantic metal robot who appears out of nowhere, crashing onto the
beach and shattering into many parts.
The part you'...
- 7,237
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible