# Robot partners and sidekicks

**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/robot-partners-and-sidekicks/182638
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [June 18, 2003, 5:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/robot-partners-and-sidekicks/182638 "2003-06-18T05:08:50Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1

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### Author: ![Askia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/96bed5/32.png) [@Askia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askia)
#### Post date: [June 18, 2003, 5:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/robot-partners-and-sidekicks/182638/1 "2003-06-18T05:08:50Z")

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Trying to come up with a comprehensive list from movies, novels, TV, comics, video games, etc. Especially robots normally associated with being partners, teammates and sidekicks of humans. For example:

R2D2 and C-3PO, from Star Wars. (movies)

R. Daneel Olivaw (Isaac Asimov’s Robot novels)

animated Fantastic Four’s Herbie (TV)

Gyro Gearloose’s (Little) Helper (Disney’s Carl Barks comics)

This would tend to DISQUALIFY Buzz Lightyear’s arch-enemy, Emperor Zurg, the Terminator robots and Voltron, etc. Unless you know something I don’t know.

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### Author: ![Necromancer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ac91a4/32.png) [@Necromancer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Necromancer)
#### Post date: [June 18, 2003, 5:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/robot-partners-and-sidekicks/182638/2 "2003-06-18T05:12:24Z")

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There was the robot from the TV series Lost in Space…he was Dr Smith and Will Robinson’s sidekick.

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### Author: ![Necromancer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ac91a4/32.png) [@Necromancer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Necromancer)
#### Post date: [June 18, 2003, 5:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/robot-partners-and-sidekicks/182638/3 "2003-06-18T05:15:52Z")

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How about Rosie, the maid from the Jetsons? Do cartoons count?

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### Author: ![scr4](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/59ef9b/32.png) [@scr4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scr4)
#### Post date: [June 18, 2003, 5:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/robot-partners-and-sidekicks/182638/4 "2003-06-18T05:30:27Z")

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Data (Star Trek)  
Kryten (Red Dwarf)  
Marvin (Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy)  
V.I.N.C.E.N.T. & B.O.B. (The Black Hole)

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### Author: ![NDP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ndp/32/55_2.png) [@NDP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NDP)
#### Post date: [June 18, 2003, 6:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/robot-partners-and-sidekicks/182638/5 "2003-06-18T06:09:44Z")

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Bender from the late and lamented “Futurama.”

Crow T. Robot and Tom Servo from MST3K.

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### Author: ![Vlad\_Dracul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/50afbb/32.png) [@Vlad\_Dracul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Vlad_Dracul)
#### Post date: [June 18, 2003, 6:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/robot-partners-and-sidekicks/182638/6 "2003-06-18T06:50:32Z")

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Twikie, Dr. Theopolis, and Kryton from “Buck Rogers in the 25th Century”

K.I.T.T from “Knight Rider”  
(okay, so he was a robot shaped like a Trans Am… does that disqualify him?)

```
The Robot from "Forbidden Planet"

```

(The one everybody calls “Robbie”)

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### Author: ![Vlad\_Dracul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/50afbb/32.png) [@Vlad\_Dracul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Vlad_Dracul)
#### Post date: [June 18, 2003, 6:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/robot-partners-and-sidekicks/182638/7 "2003-06-18T06:52:24Z")

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There was a robot agent who occasionally appeared on “Get Smart”… I think his name was Hugo, or Hugh, or something like that.

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### Author: ![Necromancer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ac91a4/32.png) [@Necromancer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Necromancer)
#### Post date: [June 18, 2003, 7:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/robot-partners-and-sidekicks/182638/8 "2003-06-18T07:00:54Z")

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Robby The Robot is my all time fave robot.  
The robot agent in the TV series Get Smart was Hymie  
There was Johnny 5 from Short Circuit  
Robin Williams played a robot called Andrew in Bicentennial Man  
Princess Vespa from Spaceballs had a droid called Dot Matrix  
There was also Robocop, but he was the main character in those movies, not the sidekick

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### Author: ![Linus\_Van\_Pelt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ebca7d/32.png) [@Linus\_Van\_Pelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Linus_Van_Pelt)
#### Post date: [June 18, 2003, 7:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/robot-partners-and-sidekicks/182638/9 "2003-06-18T07:29:46Z")

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> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Vlad Dracul \*  
> \*\*There was a robot agent who occasionally appeared on “Get Smart”… I think his name was Hugo, or Hugh, or something like that. \*\*

Hymie - you missed it by _that_ much! Hymie was a bad robot that was turned to the forces of goodness. And he was exceptionally fond of Max.

There was Sheen from Anthony’s Adept books.

K9 from Dr. Who. And along the same lines, but much less cool, Muffet from Battlestar Galactica.

That’s all I can think of off the top of my head.

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### Author: ![TeaRoses](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c37758/32.png) [@TeaRoses](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TeaRoses)
#### Post date: [June 18, 2003, 9:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/robot-partners-and-sidekicks/182638/10 "2003-06-18T09:39:06Z")

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[dumb anime fact] In Ah! My Goddess! Skuld has a sidekick she made named Banpei. (I’m referring to the comic here, though he also shows up in the Adventures of the Mini-Goddesses anime) [/dumb anime fact]

Does anybody else remember Quark? That had Andy the Android, though I had to do a Google search to remember that.

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### Author: ![DreadCthulhu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/db5fbb/32.png) [@DreadCthulhu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DreadCthulhu)
#### Post date: [June 18, 2003, 10:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/robot-partners-and-sidekicks/182638/11 "2003-06-18T10:08:46Z")

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Lots of anime series have robot sidekicks/partners/love interest, mostly being very difficult to tell them from the human characters.

Saber Marionette J had a whole bunch of them - Lime, Cherry, Bloodberry, ect.

Chobits had all those personacons - like Chi or Sumumo.

there are a gaggle of very human like robots in Hand Maid May - like May the 1/6 human size robot maid.

Mahoromatic Maids had a combat robot/ turned maid as a main character.

Bubblegum Crisis had the 33-s series sexoroids, which are very human-like, in addition to many combat boomers…

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### Author: ![jinty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/dbc845/32.png) [@jinty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jinty)
#### Post date: [June 18, 2003, 12:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/robot-partners-and-sidekicks/182638/12 "2003-06-18T12:05:55Z")

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Does the Tin Man from the Wizard of Oz count? 😃

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### Author: ![BMalion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e274bd/32.png) [@BMalion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BMalion)
#### Post date: [June 18, 2003, 12:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/robot-partners-and-sidekicks/182638/13 "2003-06-18T12:12:44Z")

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**Future Cop** starring Ernest Borgnine as the cop on the beat and whatshisname as the Robot policeman partner.

**Holmes and Yo-Yo** starring somebody and somebody else as a _funny_ cop and robot-cop partner.

Say what you like about the original **Star Trek** but at least it didn’t have a stupid robot crewman taking over the Enterprise every third episode.\*

\*Just that one time I believe…

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### 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 18, 2003, 12:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/robot-partners-and-sidekicks/182638/14 "2003-06-18T12:37:05Z")

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If you mention “Holmes and Yoyo,” you need to mention its source: **Brillo** by Harlan Ellison and Ben Bova

In Tanith Lee’s **The Silver Metal Lover** , the robot was a lot more than just a sidekick.

Zen, Orac, and Slave from **Blake’s 7**. Especially Orac, for his comment, “I am shutting down. I have much to do. You have engaged my circuits on your petty affairs for far too long.”

Kryten from **Red Dwarf** , of course.

Box from **Star Cops**

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### 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 18, 2003, 12:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/robot-partners-and-sidekicks/182638/15 "2003-06-18T12:39:04Z")

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From the anime _Big O_ Roger Smith, the Negotiator, has a female android associate named R. Dorothy Wainwright.

Superman has the Superman robots.

Think “Gigantor”. 😃

The Transformers are robots who have had human sidekicks, as is also true of Astro Boy.

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### Author: ![Armilla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e19b73/32.png) [@Armilla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Armilla)
#### Post date: [June 18, 2003, 12:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/robot-partners-and-sidekicks/182638/16 "2003-06-18T12:54:12Z")

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> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by RealityChuck \*  
> Box from **Star Cops** \*\*

Whoa. TV vertigo - I haven’t seen those for years. I feel a sudden urge to dig out the videos tonight.

How about A. Bettik from Dan Simmons **Hyperion Cantos** books?

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### Author: ![Askia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/96bed5/32.png) [@Askia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askia)
#### Post date: [June 18, 2003, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/robot-partners-and-sidekicks/182638/17 "2003-06-18T14:00:19Z")

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Quickly and briefly back to comics:

The Vision, in Marvel’s Avengers. Former husband of the Scarlet Witch.

L-Ron, from the 90s Giffen-era Justice League

Tomorrow Woman: one issue appearance in the new JLA.

The Brain, leader of the Brotherhood of Evil, Doom Patrol’s arch-enemies. Also Robotman from Doom Patrol.

Ilsa the Robot, from DC’s Tommy Tomorrow.

Marvel’s Machine Man

DC’s The Metal Men: Lead, Iron, Mercury, Platinum, Gold and Tin.  
(Wait! They weren’t exactly sidekicks, were they? But they were teammates, and teamed-up with other heroes, and Platinum and Will Magus had this weird ‘love’ thing going, so…)

Robot Man, from the syndicated comic strip.

I know I’m missing some…

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### Author: ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)
#### Post date: [June 18, 2003, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/robot-partners-and-sidekicks/182638/18 "2003-06-18T14:38:43Z")

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> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Askia \*  
> \*\*Quickly and briefly back to comics:  
> I know I’m missing some… \*\*

The lovely **Ilda** from the Star Hawkins stories in _Strange Adventures_.

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### Author: ![El\_Elvis\_Rojo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/898d66/32.png) [@El\_Elvis\_Rojo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Elvis_Rojo)
#### Post date: [June 18, 2003, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/robot-partners-and-sidekicks/182638/19 "2003-06-18T15:11:46Z")

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I don’t remember any of the character’s names, but there’s always that cop’s robotic partner from **Man and Machine**.

Widget from **Excalibur** comics.

The androids from the **Alien** movies (most notably, Bishop).

Robo-Buffy from **Buffy the Vampire Slayer**

Albert from **Wolverine** comics (he was a robotic Wolverine, and his little android friend LCD.

Warlock/Douglock from **The New Mutants** and **X-Men** comics.

I forget his name, but there was a cyborg brother in the cartoon **Gargoyles**.

There was the android chick from **Jason X** 🙂

You come to find out the protagonist in **American Cyborg** is an android/cyborg.

Then there’s also **Cyborg** , with Van Dame. He’s not the cyborg, but the woman he’s protecting is.

80% of the characters from **Nemesis** (not the Star Trek movie, the 80’s sci-fi flick).

The Terminator.

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<div class="post-metadata">

### Author: ![Askia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/96bed5/32.png) [@Askia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askia)
#### Post date: [June 18, 2003, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/robot-partners-and-sidekicks/182638/20 "2003-06-18T16:16:51Z")

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In **Blade Runner** , was Harrison Ford’s character a replicant?

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