On the appearance of robots/androids

In real life, a robot’s shape is determined by its job. Most robots don’t need to look at all like humans, and so don’t. But for some jobs, it’s advantageous for a robot to at least somewhat resemble a human, and for a few, it’s advantageous to look as much like a human as possible.

And that also seems to hold in a lot of fiction. C-3PO looked human-ish, because his job was to interact with humans. R2-D2’s job was to interact with starships, and so he was basically just a mobile housing for a bunch of different tools.

About the only really useful reason for a robot to be constructed on the human model would be to allow it to use human tools without having to adapt everything. So instead of having to have a construction bot with accessories for sawing, drilling, hammering, etc., you just send it to the same toolbox any remaining meatspace workers are using.

A robot looking so accurately human is even more weird than Trudeau trying too hard in India.

Here’s a typical scene:
Place: Jupiter’s satellite Europa.
Time: An indefinite moment in the future.
General circumstances: Mankind is busy harvesting the Solar System’s resources to maintain and develop the human hive on and surrounding planet Earth.
Specific situation: The mines on Jupiter’s satellite Europa make one of the most thriving project, with a grid of extraction stations across the satellite’s entire surface. The personnel operating every station consist of both human beings and robots. Robots are androids so that they can easily make use of any utensils designed for human use, from desks and vehicles to drilling equipment and weapons.
Issue: Automated ice extraction at station E 0211 grinds to a halt. Androids Beta 38 and Gamma 07 are sent to the site, where they handle the problem successfully in a matter of minutes. Human beings could deal with the problem successfully too, but it would take them hours. Androids do not need to breathe, are immune to cosmic radiation and wield tools with amazing force and precision.
Android Beta 38: The human personnel call her Betty. She is the latest model of female-like Beta androids. She has big breasts and large hips. Her head is endowed with beautiful long hair, large eyes, and sensual lips. Her work suit is so tight that you can distinguish her genitalia.
Android Gamma 07: The human personnel call him Guy. He is an older male-like Gamma android – strong and reliable though. He has wide shoulders, defined chest, muscular arms and a narrow waist. His head is endowed with a strong jaw and wide cheekbones. His work suit is so tight that you can distinguish his genitalia.

A more realistic way to describe future androids would be to give them a unisex look, with a generic face covered with the appearance of goggles and gas masks, which is the standard protective gear for human beings traveling and/or working outside Earth. An android torso would actually have the slight appearance of a triangular prism due to the low autonomy jet equipment incorporated so that they can fly for short distances when necessary. Due to their sophisticated build, androids may show both great flexibility and enormous rigidity since every part or limb of their body could go from zero to maximum degrees of freedom. The head and limbs should be retractable and, so, the standard version may be that of an android with six limbs, which could retract two limbs and assume a bipedal stance when interacting with humans (or making use of their equipment) and move as fast as a cheetah for long distances on all six when rapid locomotion is necessary. Each limb would be endowed with more than just four fingers and one thumb, all individually retractable as well. The outer layer could be a protective case that may look like some kind of suit but there should be no genitalia or illusion of them.

Other realistic approaches may differ from mine considerably, but you get the idea.

That doesn’t sound fuckable at all.

If one really thought of it, one would realize the androids given as an example in my typical scene are not either.

But maybe R3-D2 was built by the Gleebnobs of Twigglebek 5 in the Panplop Nebula and looked like a Gleebnob because he originally interacted with Gleebnob, thus was a Gleboid.

The word through the robot grapevine is that humans will fuck anything and everything, are constantly trying to do so, and the only reason there aren’t more robot rape counsellors is that a little high voltage, a poke with a plasma torch, or simply a bit of a broken spine is usually enough to hold them off.

As a “protocol droid”, C3PO was designed to be a pedantic tool (both literally and the insulting kind). He was even built with a modular design to allow easier repair due to his high likelihood of being torn limb from limb or blasted into pieces.

Exactly.

And I’m convinced the typical robot of the future will not resemble a human being except for certain types designed for entertainment purposes. Not the kind of android that would make the protagonist of a typical bestseller.

The androids in your scene don’t sound like they were built for the job of fixing ice mining equipment. Beta and Gamma sound like someone pulled them out of the space-lounge where they work serving drinks and tending bar. Which may make sense depending on how adaptable androids are and how they are used.

I would agree that an industrial or military android would look like what you described. Something more utilitarian that would more closely resemble an autonomous mannequin or cartoon character. Designed to appear friendly or neutral, but not attempting to mimic a human. Like the robots from the iRobot film. For a military android, they would probably even avoid creating something skeletal like the T-800 endoskeletons in Terminator. Sure, they are intimidating to the enemy. But a 6 foot titanium skeleton would also be off-putting to the soldiers who have to work with it.

So I would argue that the main purpose of an android that passes for human is to interact with humans. I’m thinking like Bishop in Aliens. Someone who sort of tags along as a walking encyclopedia and technical advisor.

You could make 1000 smartphones for one Bishop. A new model of Google Glass would be even better. Encyclopedias don’t need to walk.

Can 1000 smartphones crawl a few hundred metres through a small duct, patch into a computer terminal, and remotely pilot a shuttle down to the surface of a planet, all while dodging xenomorphs?

A proper one could plug into any outlet within reach in five seconds and do all that. That wouldn’t be good for a movie, but it’s much better design. :cool:

It’s pretty much of a guarantee that any robot designed for a movie is either impossible or worthless in real life. That’s true from Robby to the T-1000.

the web comic strip questionable content deals with all these issues (in between the human storylines) especially after the singularity …so much so that the creator posted this …http://jephjacques.com/post/14655843351/un-hearing-on-ai-rights