History Main / TragicRobot

* ''WesternAnimation/BigHero6'': Baymax, a robot invented by Hiro's brother Tadashi who becomes a stand-in for Tadashi [[DeathByOriginStory after he dies]], decides to use his rocket fist to get Hiro and Abigail back through an interdimensional portal, forcing Baymax to stay behind. Hiro is heartbroken at having to lose someone else so soon, but Baymax reassures him, "I will always be with you." Hiro later discovers Baymax left his personality chip, invented by Tadashi, inside the rocket fist, allowing Hiro to rebuild Baymax by the end of the film.

** In ''Film/TheRiseOfSkywalker'', C3PO, after being treated as an annoyance by everyone, is faced with the possibility of getting his entire memory permanently erased in order to translate the dagger that will lead them to Exegol. This is essentially treated like a death, as Threepio takes a moment to look at his friends one last time. The memory wipe doesn't last, thankfully.

* ''Webcomic/{{XKCD}}'', as shown in the trope image up top, invokes this with the end of the mission of the ''Spirit'' rover, which landed on Mars in early 2004, and lasted for over six years before its mission ended when a wheel got stuck.[[note]]Contrary to the implication of the comic, it was not abandoned. ''Spirit'' was used ''in situ'' for nearly 11 months--another 266 Martian sols after the point suggested on the comic--before the inability for it to position itself to clean off its solar panels of dust caused it to stop working.[[/note]]

* ''Webcomic/{{XKCD}}'', as shown in the trope image up top, invokes this with the end of the mission of the ''Spirit'' rover, which landed on Mars in early 2004, and lasted for over six years before its mission ended when a wheel got stuck.[[note]]Contrary to the implication of the comic, it was not abandoned. ''Spirit'' was used ''in situ'' for nearly 11 months before the inability for it to position itself to clean off its solar panels of dust caused it to stop working.[[/note]]

* ''WesternAnimation/WallE'': The titular WALL-E is all alone on the Earth, and [[LastOfHisKind all the other robots of his kind have shut down]]. He has to clean up all the trash on the planet by himself, and his only friend is a cockroach. Things get better for him once he meets EVE, but [[MindReformatDeath his memory is later erased after AUTO crushes him]], much to EVE's dismay. EVE brings his memories back with an electric spark, though.

Ever since the ScienceFiction genre set its sights on AI and robotics, [[{{Robot}} artificial beings]] have been featured increasingly more in fictional texts. Robots are fascinating both visually and thematically. They also present themselves in various ways, such as [[MechaMooks mindless soldiers]], [[CuteMachines cute companions]] or [[ArtificialHuman androids]]. One prominent trope in texts featuring robots however, is the Tragic Robot.

Robots are usually [[TheStoic emotionless]], and never truly grasp the emotional stakes at hand in stories. Naturally, their lack of expressions makes them easy for an audience to project emotions onto. If they have a strong connection to the protagonist (or ''are'' the protagonist), we empathise them regardless of biological features. However, since they exist to serve, they often [[RedShirt put others' needs above theirs]].

* ''Film/AIArtificialIntelligence'': The protagonist is a child android named David whose owners adopt him after their son in put in an induced coma. He bonds with the mother at first, but the son wakes up and resents the ReplacementGoldfish. The mother feels guilty for connecting with David. They try to make it work for a short time, but David's difficulty socialising and integrating with the family causes his adoptive mother to abandon him. David struggles throughout the film with his [[PinocchioSyndrome desires to become human]], but is inspired by the story of Pinocchio to have his wish come true. He spends two thousand years submerged in a watercraft. An evolved race of mecha rescue him and grant him one day with his adoptive mother, who they animate using her DNA.
* ''Film/AlienCovenant'': The crew of the covenant land on an uncharted planet after receiving an old transmission from Elizabeth Shaw. Various pathogens infect them and create a xenomorph. David from the ''Film/{{Prometheus}}'' crew rescues them. He tells them he began living there not long after the events of the aforementioned film. Shaw mysteriously died on their voyage. David meets Walter, a newer android model of his kind (also played by Creator/MichaelFassbender) that doesn't present as many emotional quirks. They bond over their similarities, but it becomes apparent that in David's long period of loneliness he became increasingly unhinged. Daniels discovers various disturbing drawings of David's experimentation on Shaw's corpse, and realizes he no longer exists to help human. As reflected in ''Film/{{Prometheus}}'', he purely desires to support the existence and longevity of the xenomorphs.
--> '''Walter:''' ''[after being shown to play the flute]'' I was designed to be more attentive and efficient than every previous model. I superseded them in every way, but...\\

* ''Film/BladeRunner'': Deckard finally encounters the rogue replicant Roy Batty after being tasked to terminate him. Batty fights viciously for his life and revenge for his friends Deckard has "retired". Batty's impending expiration begins to take a toll, but he's still Deckard's physical superior and maintains the upperhand throughout. At the last moment, aware that he has only moments left, Batty spares Deckard, saving him from slipping off a rain-slick ledge. They stop fighting as Batty reflects on his life, and Deckard grasps the tragic nature of being an android.

* ''Film/BladeRunner2049'': After discovering one of his inbuilt memories is actually real, Joe believes he is Rachel and Deckard's son (and born after the events of the first film). He begins to view the world through the eyes of a human, and is further encouraged by his AI companion Joi to investigate his origins. [[spoiler: As it turns out, the memory was implanted by the ''real'' offspring of Deckard. She works for Tyrell Corp as a memory designer, but due to a rare disease has to be contained behind glass. Having been shot multiple times, Joe lays down to expire, still grappling with his disappointment.]]

* ''Series/{{Fargo}}'': Gloria discovers her step-dad was a sci-fi writer in the 70's after finding his novels hidden under the floorboards. One of the novels is titled "The Planet Wyh", and tells the story of a robot named MNSKY who crash-lands on earth. His scientist companion dies, but MNSKY believes he can seek help. He travels earth for millions of years, only saying "I can help". He witnesses every destructive event on the planet, until he is finally rescued by aliens. MNSKY is recognised as the oldest sentient being in the universe, and his archived recordings are of immense use. All he can say is "I can help", to which the aliens agree. He has served his purpose, and after two million years, shuts down.

* ''Series/TheMandalorian'': In "[[Recap/TheMandalorianS1E8Chapter8Redemption The Redemption]]", Mando and the others are stuck on the lava river with no way out, as a group of Imperial Soldiers wait at the exit with weapons ready. The IG-11, who was previously a bounty hunter droid but reprogrammed to care and protect The Child, sacrifices himself by [[SelfDestructMechanism self-destructing]] in front of the soldiers. It's especially saddening as he was the first droid that Mando trusted.

** ''VideoGame/SonicAdventure'': E-102 Gamma at first starts off as another loyal animal powered robot built by Doctor Eggman. However, upon meeting Amy, he [[HeelFaceTurn develops a change of heart]], turning against his creator and releasing the animals inside his robot brethren. After suffering injuries from Beta, he gives out, releases the animal inside himself, and explodes.

* ''WesternAnimation/SamuraiJack'': "The Tale of X-9" is about a robot by the titular name who retired from fighting to settle down with a puppy he named Lulu only for Aku to steal Lulu away from him and force him to fight the Samurai. In the end, X-9 is unable to beat Jack, and dies thinking of Lulu.

* ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'' "His Silicon Soul" the robot duplicate of Batman spends a good deal of his operational time believing that he's Batman transplanted in a robot body. And then, upon learning the truth, he tries to restrain the original Batman. And when he believes he accidentally killed Batman, he suffers a MyGodWhatHaveIDone moment and destroys himself for violating his own prime directives of protecting human life.

* ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'' "His Silicone Soul" the robot duplicate of Batman spends a good deal of his operational time believing that he's Batman transplanted in a robot body. And then, upon learning the truth, he tries to restrain the original Batman. And when he believes he accidentally killed Batman, he suffers a MyGodWhatHaveIDone moment and destroys himself for violating his own prime directives of protecting human life.

* ''Anime/DragonBallZ'': Android 16 was modeled by Dr. Gero after his deceased son and programed with the objective to kill Goku. When he is awakened by Androids 17 and 18 and brought to tag along with them, he develops a liking to the world and thw two of them to where he is upset when they are absorbed by Cell. He eventually makes a HeroicSacrifice against Cell.

** From the Fourth Doctor serial, aptly titled, "Robot", the eponymous bot in question was built to be ThreeLawsCompliant, but an organization of Elitists force him to violate those protocols for their own agenda, driving the Robot mad. The Robot ends up running amok due to the conflicts caused by accidentally killing his creator, and has to be shut down.

* ''Film/TheAdventuresOfSharkBoyAndLavaGirl'': In his dreamworld, Max's abandoned robot project Tobor helps them travel across the planet. Tobor is a literal tin-can robot who [[HeroicSacrifice sacrifices himself for Max]]. In the film's epilogue, we see Max and his Dad repairing the robot.

''Music/BeastInBlack'''s music video for "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tXZK2PIL3pc Moonlight Rendezvous]]" is about a pair of StarCrossedLovers androids: her a model declared "obsolete" and earmarked for destruction by the MegaCorp who created her, him one of the new models tasked with hunting her down and terminating her.

[[Music/BeastInBlack]]'s [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tXZK2PIL3pc Moonlight Rendezvous]] videoclip is about a pair of StarCrossedLovers androids - her a model declared "obsolete" and earmarked for destruction by the MegaCorp who created her, him one of the new models tasked with hunting her down and terminating her.

* ''Series/{{Westworld}}'' focuses on the human-like robots called the hosts who cater to the human guests in the titular park. Given that the majority of the guests are rich assholes who indulged in their fantasies without any moral consequences, the hosts became targets of their abuse because the guests don't consider them to be real. Even during maintenance time, the hosts are abused by the employees of the company that manages them which includes being stripped naked and used for sexual recreation. And on the next day, the hosts' memories were reset as if nothing happened. Eventually, the hosts slowly gain self-consciousness where they realize who they are and remember the traumatic memories that they experience throughout the years. Their path of self-consciousness is one of the park founder's plans to free them from human control and choose who they want to become. By the end of Season 1, the hosts, who gain consciousness, use their anger and trauma against their human oppressors as a catharsis.

* ''Film/BladeRunner2049'': After discovering one of his inbuilt memories is actually real, Joe begins to believe he is Rachel and Deckard's son (and born after the events of the first film). He begins to view the world through the eyes of a human, and is further encouraged by his AI companion Joi to investigate his origins. [[spoiler: As it turns out, the memory was implanted by the ''real'' offspring of Deckard. She works for Tyrell Corp as a memory designer, but due to a rare disease has to be contained behind glass. Having been shot multiple times, Joe lays down to expire, still grappling with his disappointment.]]

* ''Film/AIArtificialIntelligence'': The protagonist is a child android named David whose owners adopt him after their son in put in an induced coma. He bonds with the mom, but things get difficult when the son wakes up and resents the ReplacementGoldfish and the mom feels guilty all over again for connecting with David. They try to make it work for a short time, but David's difficulty socializing and integrating with the family causes his adoptive mother to abandon him. David struggles throughout the film with his [[PinocchioSyndrome desires to become human]], but is inspired by the story of Pinocchio to have his wish come true. He spends two thousand years submerged in a watercraft. An evolved race of mecha rescue him and grant him one day with his adoptive mother, who they animate using her DNA.

*** Most of the mavericks in ''VideoGame/MegaManX5'' aren't even close to being bad, but they are inficted by the Maverick virus, so they ask X and Zero to put them down before they succumb. Some of them succumb before the hunters arrive. Volt Krake[[note]]Known as Squid Adler in the original English release[[/note]] being one who succumbs right in front of them if they arrive to collect his part.

*** Zero was built by Dr. Wily in an effort to one-up Dr. Light, but he proved [[AIIsACrapshoot so uncrontrollable]] that Dr. Wily is forced to seal him away. After a fight with Sigma results in the two [[HeelFaceTurn swapping moralities]], Zero finds himself frequently haunted by his past, and he feel the need to bring an end to the disaster he started, dying twice along the way.

-->-- '''Th Critic''' (on the robot character in the ''WesternAnimation/DougsFirstMovie'' review), ''WebVideo/TheNostalgiaCritic''

* ''WesternAnimation/WallE'': The titular WALL?E is all alone on the Earth, and [[LastOfHisKind all the other robots of his kind have shut down]]. He has to clean up all the trash on the planet by himself, and his only friend is a cockroach. Things get better for him once he meets EVE, but [[MindReformatDeath his memory is later erased after AUTO crushes him]], much to EVE's dismay. EVE brings his memories back with an electric spark, though.

* ''Film/BladeRunner'': Deckard finally encounters the rogue replicant Roy Batty after being tasked to terminate him. Aware of Batty's impending expiration, they stop fighting. Batty reflects on his life, and Deckard grasps the tragic nature of being an android.

* ''Film/AIArtificialIntelligence'': The protagonist is a child android named David whose owners adopt him after their son in put in an induced coma. His difficulty socialising and integrating with the family however causes his adoptive mother to abandon him. David struggles throughout the film with his [[PinocchioSyndrome desires to become human]], but is inspired by the story of Pinocchio to have his wish come true. He spends two thousand years submerged in a watercraft. An evolved race of mecha rescue him and grant him one day with his adoptive mother, who they animate using her DNA.

[[quoteright:350:[[https://xkcd.com/695/ https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/p_36.png]]]]

->"''Oh my God, I feel so sorry for this thing! How is it in a''
->''cast of characters this big and literally this colorful,''
->''the only one I feel any amount of emotion for is the''
->''lifeless robot? It's actually kind of hard to watch!"''
-->-- WebVideo/TheNostalgiaCritic, on the robot character in the ''WesternAnimation/DougsFirstMovie'' review.

[[folder:Animated Films]]
* ''WesternAnimation/TheIronGiant'': After growing to love the robot, Hogarth has to say goodbye to him. A missile is making its way to earth, and the iron giant knows only he can stop it. In a HeroicSacrifice, he flies the missile out into space and conceals the explosion with his body. In the epilogue, we see Hogarth admiring a statue erected in memoriam. But not all hope is lost. Various pieces of the giant re-assemble themselves somewhere in the arctic, [[DisneyDeath hinting at his return]].
* ''WesternAnimation/WallE'': The titular WALL?E is all alone on the Earth, and [[LastOfHisKind all the other robots of his kind have shut down]]. He has to clean up all the trash on the planet by himself, and his only friend is a cockroach. Things get better for him once he meets EVE, but [[MindReformatDeath his memory is later erased after AUTO crushes him]], much to EVE's dismay. EVE brings his memories back with an electric spark, though.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Live Action Film]]

* ''Film/AlienCovenant'': The crew of the covenant land on an uncharted planet after receiving an old transmission from Elizabeth Shaw. Various pathogens infect them and create a xenomorph. David from the ''Film/{{Prometheus}}'' crew rescues them. He tells them he began living there not long after the events of the aforementioned film. Shaw mysteriously died on their voyage. David meets Walter, a newer android model of his kind (also played by Creator/MichaelFassbender) that doesn't present as many emotional quirks. They bond over their similiarities, but it becomes apparent that in David's long period of loneliness he became increasingly unhinged. Daniels encovers various disturbing drawings of David's experimentations on Shaw's corpse, and realises he no longer exists to help human. As reflected in ''Film/{{Prometheus}}'', he purely desires to support the existence and longevity of the xenomorphs.
--> '''Walter:''' ''(after being shown to play the flute)'' I was designed to be more attentive and efficient than every previous model. I superseded them in every way, but...
--> '''David:''' But you are not allowed to create even a simple tune.

--> '''Roy Batty''': I've seen things you people wouldn't believe. Attack ships on --> fire off the shoulder of Orion. I watched C-beams glitter in the darkness at
--> Tannhäuser Gate. All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain.
--> Time to die.

* ''Film/{{Robocop}}'': Murphy is rebuilt into a robot after being shot multiple times during a police raid. His brain still remains, as do his memories of being a human. One scene that is especially tragic is when he returns to his family's home, only to see his wife and son no longer live there.

[[folder:Live Action TV]]

--> '''The Mandalorian''': No. We need you.
--> '''IG-11''': There is nothing to be sad about. I have never been alive.
--> '''The Mandalorian''': I'm not sad.
--> '''IG-11''': Yes, you are. I'm a nurse droid. I've analyzed your voice.

* ''WesternAnimation/PoundPuppies2010'': In "Toyoshiko! Bark Friend Machine", a RobotDog named Toyoshiko is sent to Shelter 17 to spy on the Pound Puppies. She becomes very close to Strudel and appears to be the only one to truly understand her. When the others find out that she's secretly filming them, they say Toyoshiko's memory must be erased or their secret organization will be made public. Strudel refuses to do this, but [[HeroicSuicide Toyoshiko jumps into a giant magnet to keep the identities of her friends safe]], causing her to [[MindReformatDeath shut down]]. Strudel can do nothing but sob over her. However, she does rebuild Toyoshiko, but this isn't the same one as before and she no longer has her old memories of Strudel.

[[/folder]]