Robotman has already been mentioned, though I think only the second version, who was a member of the Doom Patrol. The original Robotman has been around since 1942.
Neither version can really count as a robot, since both were human brains placed in mechanical bodies,and should be considered more cyborg than robot. However, the original Robotman did have a robot sidekick - a talking robotic dog named, wait for it, Robbie.
Robotman wore a human-like mask and had a secret identity under the name “Paul Dennis” while Robbie wore a fur suit on occasion. In one story (which I’ll quote from Steranko) Robbie tries to alert Paul to a suspicious-smelling pedestrian:
Robbie: Robotman, there’s something strange! That man…
Paul: QUIET! Lucky no-one was close enough to hear! But I told you not to talk… and don’t call me Robotman while I’m wearing this disguise.
Robbie: I’m sorry, Ro… I mean, Paul!
Which always suggested to me a moment where:
Suspicious crook: Hey! Did that dog just call you Robotman?
Paul: Uh, no. No. He said Paul. Not Robotman. Paul.
Crook: Well, good.
Confession. I have a slightly scholastic ulterior motive for wanting a list of the more benevolent robots, tracer. I’m writing a sci-fi short story, and I wanted a comprehensive list for a (hopefully) humorous side plot. With a little prodding, Straight Dope is the best search engine I know of for a laid-back researcher like me. Maybe I ought to start an Evil Robot Thread, just so I can submit Mechagodzilla and Emperor Zurg.
Keep those robot sidekicks, partners and servants coming, folks. I’m learning a lot. Cyborgs and androids are cool, too.
Was Ultra-Man mechanical or did he just look that way?
The Bionic Man and the Bionic Woman should get an ‘Honorary Mention.’
This is the third or fourth time I’ve admitted in a thread I started that I was posing a question in order to pick people’s brains for research. As SOON I do that, the thread dies.
I dunno if it’s me, Bryan, or a localized SDMB phenomemon. But it seems the second I admit I might have – GASP!-- a commercial interest in getting information, people stop helping. But I don’t want to LIE. I do think it’s kind of funny.
Gotcha. Read the original Harry Bates novella–Farewell To The Master which TDTESS is based upon.
You’ll find that the movie-makers changed the name of the robot* and in fact changed who was the “sidekick.”
Sir Rhosis
*Well, the only way I can see to pronounce it is “nut,” so I would have probably changed it as well. Or maybe “newt” is what Bates intended it to sound like.
Sir Rhosis: Thank you for the clarification. I never knew the filmmakers changed the characters’ names! Extra points for submitting the original source material.
don’t know if it counts as a robot, but the mechanical owl from Clash of the Titans. Odo?
and the one mentioned before from Space Camp I think was called Jinx. I have this line from the movie running through my head, “Jinx put Max in space. Jinx can bring Max back.”
Note-- a 'bubo" is a swelling under the arms or in the groijn, caused by the Bubonic Plague. It is filled with pus, and other foul-swmelling fluids, & breaking it kills the vpatient.
