July 21st, 2010
The concept of robots or mechanical men have been around for quite a while now. The Mechanical Turk may have been one of the first fake robots out there. Over the last hundred years, however, a whole robot culture has formed. From pop culture to classic science fiction literature, here is a quick look at my pick for the top five robots of all time.
R2D2: Astromech Droid
Ah, good old Artoo. Who can’t love this whirring and beeping robot? Since his first scene in the original Star Wars movie to the action figures of the 1980s to the modern interactive robot toy versions of R2D2, this little blue and white guy has come a long way over the years. I still chuckle when I think of him zapping Yoda. There’s something quite soothing about the whirs and beeps this little guy makes as well. If I had a spaceship, I’d love to have this astromech. He was special in many ways.
Daleks: Exterrrrr-minate
What I loved about these robots from Doctor Who is that they were originally made with toilet plungers as part of the props! Also, there was the fact that in the very early shows, they were easily stopped by stairs or any other obstacle. This was written away in later years (with flying Daleks that were kinda menacing actually), but those early Daleks are a hoot. Their voices are cool as well. Thinking about what’s inside them, however, is kinda sad. Also, they may actually be cyborgs rather than true robots. Okay, I change my mind. K9 is my replacement robot. Smile.
Johnny 5: Number Five is Alive!
This robot was sorta dorky, but in a good way. Maybe I like him so much because Ally Sheedy was in the movie and I had (have) a crush for her. Nah, that can’t be it. Johnny 5 had a great sense of humor – if that’s possible for a robot. (Quick side thought of the movie Bicentennial with Robin Williams playing a super smart robot with a sense of humor – a special robot.) Anyway, the hang gliding was a bit much, perhaps, but Johnny 5 will always have a special place in my heart.
Googlebot: a Spider by Any other Name
While not technically a ‘robot’ in the physical sense, this bot or ’spider’ is used by Google to crawls the entire Internet, creating an index of all the content. As you can imagine, this is quite a task, but Google handles it really well. This is thanks in no small part to their in-house robot that is affectionately known as Googlebot. For most who run websites, the appearance of Googlebot is a good thing. Most others don’t even know this robot is hard at work indexing their favorite web content. I know, however, which is why I’m listing it here and giving it a nod.
Mars Exploration Rover Spirit
This is a real life robot! And it is on Mars! That is just incredible. (And makes me wonder why we can send a robot to Mars but why we still depend on gasoline and fossil fuel to get around on Earth. Hmmm.) Anyway, this is one of the best robots in my mind. It went through a lot on the red planet, but this little guy prevailed. It doesn’t have artificial intelligence, so some may argue that it shouldn’t be included on this robot list, but I’m the writer and I’m listing it here. If you disagree, you can do your own robot dance.
Do the Roboto
There you have it – my picks for top five robots of all time. What are your favorite robots and why? Leave a comment below and let us know!
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