An android is a robot made to resemble a human, usually both in appearance and behavior.
The word derives from the Greek andr-, “meaning "man, male", and the suffix -eides, used to mean "of the species; alike" (from eidos "species").
The word droid, a robot in the Star Wars universe, is derived from this meaning. Thus far, androids have remained within the domain of science fiction, frequently in film and television. However, some humanoid robots now exist.
Android projects
As of September 2006 a handful of android projects have been successfully completed. The Intelligent Robotics Lab directed by Hiroshi Ishiguro at Osaka University and Kokoro Co., Ltd. have demonstrated the Actroid at Expo 2005 in Aichi Prefecture, Japan. The Korea Institute for Industrial Technology (KITECH) has begun demonstrating EveR-1, an android interpersonal communications model capable of emulating human emotion via facial "musculature", and capable of rudimentary conversation having a ~400 word vocabulary. EveR-1's name derives from the Biblical Eve, plus the letter "r" for robot. This android is not bipedal, but is capable of motion from her torso up.
The Intelligent Mechatronics Lab directed by Kobayashi at The Science University of Tokyo has developed an android head called Saya, which was exhibited at Robodex 2002 in Yokohama, Japan. There are several other initiatives around the world involving humanoid research and development at this time, which will hopefully introduce a broader spectrum of realized technology in the near future.
Hanson Robotics, Inc. of Texas and KAIST Research Institute of Korea produced an android portrait of Albert Einstein, using Hanson's facial android technology mounted on KAIST's life-size walking bipedal robot body. This Einstein android, also called "Albert Hubo", thus represents the first full body walking android in history (see video at [1]). Hanson Robotics, the FedEx Institute of Technology [2], and the University of Texas at Arlington also developed the android portrait of sci-fi author Philip K Dick (creator of Blade Runner), with full conversational capabilities that incorporated thousands of pages of the author's (see video at: [3]). In 2005, the PKD android won a first place AI award from AAAI.
Usage and distinctions
Unlike the terms robot (a "mechanical" being) and cyborg (a being that is partly organic and partly mechanical), the word android has been used in literature and other media to denote several different kinds of artificially constructed beings:
• a robot that closely resembles a human
• a cyborg that closely resembles a human
• An artificially created, yet primarily organic, being that closely resembles a human. Also referred to in many series (mostly anime) as Bio Android
Although human morphology is not necessarily the ideal form for working robots, the fascination in developing robots that can mimic it can be found historically in the assimilation of two concepts: simulacra (devices that exhibit likeness) and automata (devices that have independence).
The term android was first used by the French author Auguste Villiers de l'Isle-Adam (1838-1889) in his work Tomorrow's Eve, featuring an artificial human-like robot named Hadaly. As said by the officer in the story, "In this age of Realien advancement, who knows what, goes on in the mind of those responsible for these mechanical dolls."
Although Karel Čapek's robots in R.U.R. (Rossum's Universal Robots) (1921)—the play that introduced the word "robot" to the world—were organic artificial humans, the word robot has come to primarily refer to mechanical humans, animals, and other beings. The term android can mean either one of these; while a cyborg ("cybernetic organism" or "bionic man") would be a creature that is a combination of organic and mechanical parts.
In the semantic sense, the word "android" is a misnomer. The intended meaning is "an artificial human being like being" while the literal translation is "like a male being." The word Andros has definite meaning of "male human being" in Greek, while the word man can mean either "male human being" or "human being in general." The gender-neutral word for human being in Greek is anthropos, and the correct word for an artificial human being-like automaton would be anthropoid.
Ambiguity
Historically, science fiction authors have used "android" in a greater diversity of ways than the terms "robot" and "cyborg". In some fiction works, the primary difference between a robot and android is only skin-deep, with androids being made to look almost exactly like humans on the outside, but with internal mechanics exactly the same as that of robots.
In other stories, authors have defined android to indicate a wholly organic, yet artificial, creation. Other definitions of android fall somewhere in between.
The character Data, from the television series Star Trek: the Next Generation, is described as an android. Data became intoxicated in an early episode ("The Naked Now") and is later referred to having "bioplast sheeting" for skin ("The Most Toys"), perhaps suggesting that he was initially intended by the writers to be at least partially organic. Otherwise, Data was shown to be mechanical throughout and this often became a central plot theme.
The Replicants from the movie Blade Runner were bioengineered organic beings. While they were not referred to as either robots or androids in the movie, the screenplay was originally based on a novel by Philip K. Dick called do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? In this novel, the beings in question are specifically referred to as "androids" or, more familiarly, "andys" and exist primarily to replace a depleted human population in the aftermath of a nuclear war. The feature that most obviously distinguishes them from humans is their lack of empathy - otherwise, they are virtually indistinguishable from their organic counterparts (indeed, at one point a character observes that a psychotic human could be confused with an android).
In the video game Beneath a Steel Sky, genetically engineered androids similar to Blade Runner's Replicants are a central plot theme. However, despite their organic makeup, their behavior is programmed by computer.
The robots of Čapek's R.U.R. were organic in nature. Today, an author writing a similar story might very well be inclined to call them androids.
The character Ash in the movie Alien, another artificial organic being, is often referred to as an android (though not in the dialogue of the movie itself). Similarly, the character Bishop in Aliens and Alien³ is a more advanced android commonly called a Synthetic, but prefers to be called an "artificial person". Much later in the series timeline, the character Call in Alien Resurrection is ashamed of being an android. Interesting to note is that the internal workings of the androids in the Alien universe seem almost human like. They have a white liquid, analogous for blood, probably for hydrolic movement. They also seem to have "guts" as seen in Aliens.
C-3PO and R2-D2 from the Star Wars movies are referred to as droids. While C-3PO could reasonably be called an android because he is humanoid in appearance, the squat cylinder R2-D2 is only humanoid in behavior.
In the movie A.I., the robotic characters are called mechas, but the film is loosely based on a short story written by Brian Aldiss called "Supertoys Last All Summer Long", in which the central character David is called an android (by which Aldiss seemed to be referring to an organic creation).
In the anime/manga Chobits, Androids are known as "Persocoms", essentially computers in a man-made body. The series does not go into their internal composition, but it is assumed to be artificial with a very realistic outside. One of the key points of this series was a special type of persocom named "Chobit", a persocom that had free will and the ability to fall in love and have emotions.
The Cylon race in the re-imagined Battlestar Galactica series includes twelve android models that are virtually indistinguishable from human beings, even possessing blood, tears, internal organs, and functioning reproductive systems.
The character Kryten from the television show, Red Dwarf, is described as being a "Mechanoid" as well as an android. This is a melding of the words "Mechanical" and "Humanoid". According to the episode "DNA", his brain is part-organic, and his DNA can therefore be altered. He is also capable of breaking his programming and obtaining emotions, though this proves to be difficult as displayed in the episode, "Camille".
Androids in fiction
• One of the earliest android characters is Otho from the Captain Future stories of Edmond Hamilton. Otho's construction is never discussed but he is much more human-like than his companion Grag, a mechanical robot.
• Isaac Asimov's robot stories are mostly about androids; many are collected in I, Robot (1950). They promulgated a set of rules of ethics for androids and robots (see Three Laws of Robotics) that greatly influenced other writers and thinkers in their treatment of the subject. Most of Asimov's robots appear too artificial to be mistaken for human beings, with the notable exceptions of R. Jander Panell, R. Daneel Olivaw and Andrew Martin.
• Perhaps the most famous android is Data, played by actor Brent Spiner, of the series Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987–1994) and several spin-off motion pictures; this character was largely inspired by another android character created by Gene Roddenberry for The Questor Tapes. Data's immediate 'family' – brothers Lore and B-4 et al., daughter Lal, and 'mother' Dr. Juliana Tainer – were also androids (and the fembots are properly, though rarely, referred to as gynoids) from the same creator, Dr. Noonien Soong.
• Earlier in Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979), the Ilia probe – a precisely duplicated biomechanical drone of Lieutenant Ilia, with some of her emotions intact – was dispatched by V'ger to gather information about the crew of the starship Enterprise.
• In the TV series Gene Roddenberry's Andromeda (2000–2005), the gynoid Rommie is an extension of the starship's AI operating system, represented by an avatar of Rommie.
• Androids (Jinzou Ningen in Japanese; meaning 'artificial human') are also a race in Dragon Ball, Dragon Ball Z, and Dragon Ball GT. The androids' names were only numbers (such as Android #13 or Android #20). They were created by Dr. Gero, Dr. Muu, and the Red Ribbon Army. Some are entirely artificial and some are created from humans and can be considered cyborgs.
• Jinzo Ningen Kikaider was the first manga and tokusatsu series to feature an android protagonist.
• The series Xenosaga borrows Villiers' original term Realian when referring to a race of beings created by Vector Corporation. Two playable characters are androids (MOMO and KOS-MOS). One is referred to as a Realian while the second is simply an android.
• In their respective series by Capcom, Mega Man was initially called a "humanoid", which was then simplified to robot. X, a later version, is said to be more advanced, more independent of thought, and closer to an android. Other beings, based off his design, are called Reploids.
• In the episode of Doctor Who, Bad Wolf, with deadly versions of 20th century gameshows, there is an android host of The Weakest Link called the "Anne Droid" (a pun on the name of Anne Robinson, the current host).
• Arnold Schwarzenegger plays the role of an android named "the Terminator" in The Terminator series.
Many more examples may be found in this list of fictional robots
Bio androids
In fiction, one prominent android variation is the Bio android, which is constructed of protein based components as opposed to electronic and mechanical parts. Bio androids are all composed of synthetic flesh, though their exact composition varies from work to work.
• Cell in the anime series, Dragon Ball Z, is created using the DNA of several powerful fighters and grown in a lab by Doctor Gero, who also built several other highly advanced, but more traditional androids. Cell's status as a bio android is both questionable and unique as he is grown like a clone rather than built.
• Melfina in the anime series, Outlaw Star, is a bio android built using synthetic flesh and the knowledge from an extinct civilization. Her primary purpose is to be both the navigation system to find and the key to activate the Galactic Leyline, the finding of which is the ultimate goal of the protagonists. However, she displays other traits which align her more closely with other organic beings.
• The title character in the anime, Armitage III is an android comprising of both mechanical and cybernetic components. It is revealed that she, as well as the other similar androids can even reproduce with humans. In this same movie a 4th type is developed which is completely organic.
• The humanoid Cylons in the Sci-Fi Channel remake series of Battlestar Galactica are built using organic components so that they appear to be identical to humans, even when an autopsy is performed. However, they all share an almost telepathic bond and are mass produced in specific body types. In addition, their minds are transmitted back to their bases upon destruction of their bodies so that they can be reborn. At least one Cylon so far has produced a hybrid child with a human being.
• In the anime Cashaan Robot Hunter, the Nidroids are cybernetic organisms designed to live in symbiosis with nature. They later replace traditional androids and robots as the main enemies of mankind.
• In the adult comedy anime Buttobi CPU, the main character Akira is tricked into buying Mimi/Pixie, a bio android girl, in place of a computer.
• In the anime Neon Genesis Evangelion, the Evas are a combination of cybernetic and biological parts cloned from extra-terrestrial beings, and could therefore be considered either cyborgs or bio androids, depending on strictness of definition. They are effectively bio androids in the form of mech-suits. In addition, the character Rei Ayanami is revealed to be one of many bio androids based off of the same technology as the Evas.
• In the manga and anime Appleseed, there is an entire population of bio androids who look after humans. They have to switch into new bodies every so often because they lack cellular division, a fact that also prevents them from reproducing. In the end, however, the factory that assembles their new bodies is destroyed, and they are given the ability to reproduce and thus remain in one body.
• In the anime series, Ghost in the Shell 2nd Gig, Proto was one of the men who worked on the Tachkomas. Near the end of the series, when Proto's brain is fried while he attempts to hack into a government network, it is revealed that he is in fact a bio android prototype.
• The Realians in the Xenosaga game series could be considered bio-androids, though there exist both carbon-based and metallic variations.
