This is discussion archived from a time before the current discussion method was installed.
From YKTTW Working Title: Just A Machine
Is it just me or do almost none of the examples match the explanation? the explanation seems to be saying "this is when the writer has humanoid robots in a story, but they're just non-sentient machines" whilst the examples are nearly all "characters in a story show prejudice against sentient robots".
There's a pretty big difference between the two.
Earnest: That's because the trope covers both instances of real non-sapience and when characters just think the robots aren't sapient due to prejudice.
