# Is Andrew Martin the first robot that obsessed with body modifications. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 21, 2009, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-andrew-martin-the-first-robot-that-obsessed-with-body-modifications/514600 "2009-10-21T13:47:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Harmonious\_Discord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/74df32/32.png) [@Harmonious\_Discord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonious_Discord)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2009, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-andrew-martin-the-first-robot-that-obsessed-with-body-modifications/514600/1 "2009-10-21T13:47:55Z")
In Bicentennial man by Isaac Asimov the robot Andrew Martin obsesses about modifying it’s body to be what it is not. Is this the first robot that does this or are there examples in older stories of a robot that obsessed on changing it’s self. I do not want to include computers that upgrade themselves into ones of larger capacity. Let’s stick to robots that decide the body needs an upgrade. A secondary topic for this thread can be robots that upgraded found in any media before 1980. I put this limit as I don’t want a thread full of the robot deluge that hit the world as computers did take a large part in modern society. Bicentennial Man was published in February 1976 the Bicentennial of the U.S.A… ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2009, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-andrew-martin-the-first-robot-that-obsessed-with-body-modifications/514600/2 "2009-10-21T13:59:45Z")
> [@Harmonious\_Discord](#): > > In Bicentennial man by Isaac Asimov the robot Andrew Martin obsesses about modifying it’s body to be what it is not. Is this the first robot that does this or are there examples in older stories of a robot that obsessed on changing it’s self. I do not want to include computers that upgrade themselves into ones of larger capacity. Let’s stick to robots that decide the body needs an upgrade. The comic-book villain Ultron seems to fit. (In fact, just calling him “Ultron” sort of misses the point; even back in the '60s he was upgrading from “Ultron-5” to “Ultron-6” and so on.) ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2009, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-andrew-martin-the-first-robot-that-obsessed-with-body-modifications/514600/3 "2009-10-21T14:02:21Z")
Joe the narcissistic Robot in Henry Kuttner’s _The Proud Robot_ and subsequent tales (1943) upgrades himself by adding features that his alcoholic inventor, Gallegher, didn’t give him. I’m not sure, but I think Adam Link (1939-1942) had some upgrades. ---
**Author:** ![Harmonious\_Discord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/74df32/32.png) [@Harmonious\_Discord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonious_Discord)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2009, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-andrew-martin-the-first-robot-that-obsessed-with-body-modifications/514600/4 "2009-10-21T14:11:53Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > Joe the narcissistic Robot in Henry Kuttner’s _The Proud Robot_ and subsequent tales (1943) upgrades himself by adding features that his alcoholic inventor, Gallegher, didn’t give him. I liked that story when I read it. By the time he figures out what he invented it’s obsolete. ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2009, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-andrew-martin-the-first-robot-that-obsessed-with-body-modifications/514600/5 "2009-10-21T14:24:11Z")
I’m going to nominate L. Frank Baum’s The Tin Man (first appeared in 1900). I’m not sure if he qualifies as a “robot” as we know the term, but I think it’s close enough for government work. ---
**Author:** ![Harmonious\_Discord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/74df32/32.png) [@Harmonious\_Discord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonious_Discord)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2009, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-andrew-martin-the-first-robot-that-obsessed-with-body-modifications/514600/6 "2009-10-21T14:32:08Z")
Terms from early fiction were just being formed and don’t always fit today’s terms. We can be loose in the definition of robot for this thread. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2009, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-andrew-martin-the-first-robot-that-obsessed-with-body-modifications/514600/7 "2009-10-21T15:43:56Z")
Pinocchio. (Collodi published in [1883](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pinocchio)) ---
**Author:** ![Harmonious\_Discord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/74df32/32.png) [@Harmonious\_Discord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonious_Discord)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2009, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-andrew-martin-the-first-robot-that-obsessed-with-body-modifications/514600/8 "2009-10-21T15:54:57Z")
Pinocchio doesn’t fit. It’s a case of magic not mechanics. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2009, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-andrew-martin-the-first-robot-that-obsessed-with-body-modifications/514600/9 "2009-10-21T16:17:02Z")
And the Tin Man is all about the gears? ---
**Author:** ![Harmonious\_Discord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/74df32/32.png) [@Harmonious\_Discord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonious_Discord)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2009, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-andrew-martin-the-first-robot-that-obsessed-with-body-modifications/514600/10 "2009-10-21T16:59:19Z")
> [@jayjay](#): > > And the Tin Man is all about the gears? The Tin Man stretches the point, because he technically was a cyborg. As he lost biological parts he replaced them with tin parts. A fairy enabled magic puppet is not a robot. There is also Tik-Tok a purely mechanical soldier in Oz but he is not obsessed with modifying his body. ---
**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:** [October 21, 2009, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-andrew-martin-the-first-robot-that-obsessed-with-body-modifications/514600/11 "2009-10-21T17:27:45Z")
I’d argue the Tin Man doesn’t count because he didn’t start as a robot. He started as a man and was trying to regain his humanity. There’s “Helen O’Loy” that was written by Lester del Rey in 1938. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2009, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-andrew-martin-the-first-robot-that-obsessed-with-body-modifications/514600/12 "2009-10-21T18:14:45Z")
> [@Harmonious\_Discord](#): > > The Tin Man stretches the point, because he technically was a cyborg. As he lost biological parts he replaced them with tin parts. A fairy enabled magic puppet is not a robot. If you go by the later (but still Baum) Oz mythology, the Tin Man was a fairy-enabled magic creature also. Under my clarified understanding of your rules for this thread, I’d definitely rule out both of them. ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2009, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-andrew-martin-the-first-robot-that-obsessed-with-body-modifications/514600/13 "2009-10-21T18:48:17Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > Joe the narcissistic Robot in Henry Kuttner’s _The Proud Robot_ and subsequent tales (1943) upgrades himself by adding features that his alcoholic inventor, Gallegher, didn’t give him. > . I take it a watermelon came as standard feature from the get go though. ---
**Author:** ![Harmonious\_Discord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/74df32/32.png) [@Harmonious\_Discord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonious_Discord)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2009, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-andrew-martin-the-first-robot-that-obsessed-with-body-modifications/514600/14 "2009-10-21T19:02:39Z")
> [@jayjay](#): > > If you go by the later (but still Baum) Oz mythology, the Tin Man was a fairy-enabled magic creature also. Under my clarified understanding of your rules for this thread, I’d definitely rule out both of them. It’s a cyborg not a robot as I already stated. I’m looking for robots that keep trying to modify themselves.