# Fictional Robot/Android...Love interests? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 20, 2003, 10:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-robot-android-love-interests/183126 "2003-06-20T10:02:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2003, 10:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-robot-android-love-interests/183126/1 "2003-06-20T10:02:50Z")
I hope this won’t “steal the thunder” too much, but I’ve been inspired by the [Robot partners and sidekicks](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=191620) thread to ask a question of my own, on a related topic. That is to say, how many Robot or Android characters in fiction have been a **love interest** for another character? Bonus points if the story has a “happy ending,” and I suppose robot/robot couples could count, too. Ranchoth (I suppose “_fictional_ android love interests” is a little redundant, isn’t it?) ---
**Author:** ![MacSpon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/34f0e0/32.png) [@MacSpon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MacSpon)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2003, 10:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-robot-android-love-interests/183126/2 "2003-06-20T10:08:25Z")
Hmm, there’re quite a few in various anime/manga. El Hazard / Ifurita Chobits / Chi Most of the cast of Saber Marionette J And so on … ---
**Author:** ![Blake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a9a28c/32.png) [@Blake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blake)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2003, 10:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-robot-android-love-interests/183126/3 "2003-06-20T10:13:15Z")
Bicentennial Man obviously. There were at least two ‘synthetics’ as love interets in the Aliens book series. Both ‘The Vision’ and the original ‘Human Torch’ in the Marvel comics universe sre androids and have had human love interests. ---
**Author:** ![One\_And\_Only\_Wanderers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/838e76/32.png) [@One\_And\_Only\_Wanderers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/One_And_Only_Wanderers)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2003, 10:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-robot-android-love-interests/183126/4 "2003-06-20T10:39:31Z")
Piers Anthony’s Apprentice Adept series has the mani character involved with a Robot. There is an eventual happy ending but i wouldn’t want to spoil it for anyone who hasn’t read them. This series is one of Anthony’s best along with Incarnations. ---
**Author:** ![Mr\_Tambo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/76d3ee/32.png) [@Mr\_Tambo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr_Tambo)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2003, 10:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-robot-android-love-interests/183126/5 "2003-06-20T10:52:37Z")
_Blade Runner_ ---
**Author:** ![eburacum45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eburacum45/32/8690_2.png) [@eburacum45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eburacum45)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2003, 11:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-robot-android-love-interests/183126/6 "2003-06-20T11:06:41Z")
For the sake of completeness I should probably mention Data and Tasha Yar. * * * SF worldbuilding at [http://www.orionsarm.com/main.html](http://www.orionsarm.com/main.html) ---
**Author:** ![TeaRoses](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c37758/32.png) [@TeaRoses](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TeaRoses)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2003, 11:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-robot-android-love-interests/183126/7 "2003-06-20T11:34:21Z")
Someone in the other thread mentioned Tanith Lee’s The Silver Metal Lover. I really recommend this book. It has a really sad ending though Wasn’t there a movie called Heartbeeps about a robot couple? I didn’t see it though. ---
**Author:** ![Sock\_Munkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/aeb1de/32.png) [@Sock\_Munkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sock_Munkey)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2003, 11:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-robot-android-love-interests/183126/8 "2003-06-20T11:56:24Z")
There are many low budget sci-fi style porn movies with sexbots of some kind. ---
**Author:** ![eburacum45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eburacum45/32/8690_2.png) [@eburacum45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eburacum45)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2003, 12:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-robot-android-love-interests/183126/9 "2003-06-20T12:25:18Z")
Maria and Freder out of _Metropolis_ sort of (if you can understand the plot of this film, well done) * * * SF worldbuilding at [http://www.orionsarm.com/main.html](http://www.orionsarm.com/main.html) ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2003, 12:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-robot-android-love-interests/183126/10 "2003-06-20T12:32:39Z")
In _Saturn 5_, Farrah Fawcett got an unwelcome admirer… ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2003, 12:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-robot-android-love-interests/183126/11 "2003-06-20T12:34:06Z")
The movie about the robot couple was **Heartbeeps** with Andy Kauffman and Bernadette Peters. There also was the orgasmatron in **Sleeper**. Isaac Asimov implied in “The Robots of Dawn” that sexual relations between humans and robots was occurring (the male robots were fully equipped for it), but I don’t believe he showed anything happening. And, of course, there’s always Lester del Ray’s, “Helen O’Loy,” one of the first uses of the concept. Joe Haldeman’s “More Than the Sum of His Parts” has cyborg sex (and doesn’t end well), but the cyborg is mostly human\*. There was an SF anthology awhile back called (IIRC) “The Ultimate,” where authors were asked to write the ultimate story of the type of story they were famous for (e.g., Asimov writing a robot story). There were two about robotic sex, one by Harlan Ellison. \*The story is jokingly referred to as "Tom Swift and his Electric Penis. ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2003, 12:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-robot-android-love-interests/183126/12 "2003-06-20T12:38:11Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by MacSpon \* > \*\*Hmm, there’re quite a few in various anime/manga. > > El Hazard / Ifurita > Chobits / Chi > Most of the cast of Saber Marionette J > And so on … \*\* Naomi Armitage (Armitage III) Although R. Dorothy Wayneright (Big O) is a sidekick rather than love interest, she does at least once cause Roger some discomfort by bringing up the hypothetical. I’d take SMJ out of the contention due to how in that scenario it’s virtually imposible for it to NOT happen. (same for **Sock Munkey** ’s examples) ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2003, 1:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-robot-android-love-interests/183126/13 "2003-06-20T13:15:30Z")
Red Dwarf (book, not TV series) opened with cabdriver Lister taking Rimmer to a house of ill repute staffed by androids. ---
**Author:** ![Caffeine.addict](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f475e1/32.png) [@Caffeine.addict](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Caffeine.addict)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2003, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-robot-android-love-interests/183126/14 "2003-06-20T16:03:57Z")
> [@](#): > > Isaac Asimov implied in “The Robots of Dawn” that sexual relations between humans and robots was occurring (the male robots were fully equipped for it), but I don’t believe he showed anything happening. He didn’t actually write a sex scene about it, but it more than implied. Gladia said that she considered Jander her husband. There is a scene where she describes what it was like to Baley. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2003, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-robot-android-love-interests/183126/15 "2003-06-20T16:28:29Z")
Louise Baltimore, the main character in John Varley’s _Millenium_, has an android lover named Sherman. ---
**Author:** ![Askia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/96bed5/32.png) [@Askia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askia)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2003, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-robot-android-love-interests/183126/16 "2003-06-20T17:10:15Z")
_Sob_ My thread inspired another thread? (tearing up) Clearly everyone here has forgotten about Austin Power’s [Fembots.](http://www.geocities.com/Hollywood/Set/6172/photos/fembot2.jpg) Even [Vanessa Kensington](http://www.geocities.com/Hollywood/Set/6172/photos/vanessa12a.jpg) turned out to be one. ---
**Author:** ![cher3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/da6949/32.png) [@cher3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cher3)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2003, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-robot-android-love-interests/183126/17 "2003-06-20T17:22:40Z")
Marge Piercy’s _He, She, and It_ is about a human/android love affair. ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2003, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-robot-android-love-interests/183126/18 "2003-06-20T17:25:42Z")
Westworld. I, Mudd. Space: Above and Beyond. ---
**Author:** ![DreadCthulhu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/db5fbb/32.png) [@DreadCthulhu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DreadCthulhu)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2003, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-robot-android-love-interests/183126/19 "2003-06-20T19:51:38Z")
Another Anime - Hand Maid May, involving the various androids (including May herself) and this forgetable college guy. Also, I believe Mahoromatic Maid also involves a guy and a combat android turned maid (I am just about to start watching the series tomorrow.), as another example of the robot-maid fanservice anime subgenre. Also, I hate to admit I know this, but DragonBallZ has Kirrillian (the short bald dude) and Android 18 hook up. ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2003, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-robot-android-love-interests/183126/20 "2003-06-20T20:15:52Z")
The very first robot, in Carel Capek’s play **RUR** , was a female love-bot. These were the first uses to which fictional android/robots were ever intended. Clearly, “Robot Wives” have concerned lonely men since long before Abe Simpson’s buddy, the Freezer Geezer, put the concern to words a few years ago. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-robot-android-love-interests/183126.md?page=2)