# Was Inspector Gadget a robot, or cyborg? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 9, 2008, 5:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-inspector-gadget-a-robot-or-cyborg/476356 "2008-12-09T05:09:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![bouv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bc8723/32.png) [@bouv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bouv)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2008, 5:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-inspector-gadget-a-robot-or-cyborg/476356/1 "2008-12-09T05:09:47Z")
Seeing a Robot Sketch reminded me that I never really knew (and was it ever explained?) if Inspector Gadget is a full-fledged robot, or just a cyborg? I mean…he’s Penny’s uncle, so in theory he might be just a cyborg, but he seems _too_ robotic to have any fleshy parts left. ---
**Author:** ![Jolly\_Roger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/91b2a8/32.png) [@Jolly\_Roger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jolly_Roger)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2008, 5:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-inspector-gadget-a-robot-or-cyborg/476356/2 "2008-12-09T05:14:01Z")
I don’t think they ever explained his origins, except for the movie. ---
**Author:** ![Speaker\_for\_the\_Dead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c77e96/32.png) [@Speaker\_for\_the\_Dead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Speaker_for_the_Dead)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2008, 5:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-inspector-gadget-a-robot-or-cyborg/476356/3 "2008-12-09T05:14:17Z")
I always assumed cyborg. As in, he was once a person, but has been robotised. Like Robocop! ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2008, 5:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-inspector-gadget-a-robot-or-cyborg/476356/4 "2008-12-09T05:14:48Z")
So long as there is some flesh remaining, sci fi seems to hold that it is a cyborg. And yes, so far as I am aware, Gadget was a human who had been upgraded, not a robot. > **[Inspector Gadget](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inspector_gadget)** > > Inspector Gadget is a media franchise that began in 1983 with the DIC Entertainment animated television series Inspector Gadget. Since the original series, there have been many spin-offs based on the show, including additional animated series, video games, and films. > The franchise follows the adventures of a powerful but dimwitted cyborg police inspector named Gadget as he investigates the criminal schemes of Dr. Claw and his organization, M.A.D., and fruitlessly attempts to stop him. However, n... ---
**Author:** ![mobo85](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b19c9b/32.png) [@mobo85](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mobo85)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2008, 5:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-inspector-gadget-a-robot-or-cyborg/476356/5 "2008-12-09T05:15:29Z")
He has to be a cyborg- who would willingly build a robot that stupid? ---
**Author:** ![Speaker\_for\_the\_Dead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c77e96/32.png) [@Speaker\_for\_the\_Dead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Speaker_for_the_Dead)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2008, 5:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-inspector-gadget-a-robot-or-cyborg/476356/6 "2008-12-09T05:25:56Z")
> [@mobo85](#): > > He has to be a cyborg- who would willingly build a robot that stupid? It was the 80s. Maybe the processing power just wasn’t there. ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2008, 12:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-inspector-gadget-a-robot-or-cyborg/476356/7 "2008-12-09T12:24:50Z")
> [@mobo85](#): > > He has to be a cyborg- who would willingly build a robot that stupid? IBM, using software farmed out to Microsoft. ---
**Author:** ![Number](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/number/32/242_2.png) [@Number](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Number)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2008, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-inspector-gadget-a-robot-or-cyborg/476356/8 "2008-12-09T17:52:41Z")
One of the [lesser offerings](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YgfCL7lzvAE) from Megadeth’s Countdown to Extinction album holds the key to this conundrum. I’m convinced that it was written with Gadget in mind. > [@Dave Mustaine](#): > > Maybe not a mutant > Maybe a man > > Part bionic and organic > Not a cyborg Simple, no? ---
**Author:** ![fiddlesticks](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fiddlesticks/32/18129_2.png) [@fiddlesticks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fiddlesticks)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2008, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-inspector-gadget-a-robot-or-cyborg/476356/9 "2008-12-09T18:35:22Z")
I remember when I was a kid, a friend of mine who liked spinning tales swore up and down that there was an episode of Inspector Gadget where they showed his “origin story”. But yeah, the original cartoon was silent on the matter. ---
**Author:** ![fusoya](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ecccb3/32.png) [@fusoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fusoya)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2008, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-inspector-gadget-a-robot-or-cyborg/476356/10 "2008-12-09T21:47:31Z")
Insepctor Gadget still had a human face. I don’t think there was any evidence that he was anything OTHER than a human who got upgraded, a la Robocop or Darth Vader. I actually went to see that movie in theaters, simply cuz Cheri Oteri (my celebrity crush at the time, was in it). I vaguely recall it starting with Matthew Broderick as a regular human detective, who got into some kind of accident and then received the robotic upgrades. I also remember being offended at them constantly showing Dr Claw’s face. ---
**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:** [December 9, 2008, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-inspector-gadget-a-robot-or-cyborg/476356/11 "2008-12-09T22:42:06Z")
Well, Gadget ate & drank. And slept. So, Cyborg. Also, in an early episode, the scientist who rebuilt him, Dr Von Slickstein, appears for the first & only time, & is described as “the father of modern Bionics”.