History RidiculouslyHumanRobots / Literature

* Creator/RobertAHeinlein examines this trope in ''Literature/{{Friday}}''. A conversation about genetically engineered {{ArtificialHuman}}s and "Living Artifacts" (artificial non-human lifeforms) being used as airline pilots brings up the point that a non-human artificial pilot, organic or AI, might go suicidally or [[KillAllHumans homicidally]] insane because of its lack of ties to a human world it can never belong to. ArtificalHumans like the titular Friday have to face FantasticRacism and alienation issues, but are able to pass as human. With luck, they can even possibly find acceptance in human society without hiding what they are.

* The automatons from ''Literature/TheInfernalDevices'' - despite walking with a graceless gait, they can pass for normal humans well enough.

* The ''Literature/XWingSeries'' introduces perhaps the most independent of droids a 3PO unit called Squeaky. Squeaky managed to subvert its programming and steal a ship to lead an escape from the prison/spice mine planet Kessel. For his actions he was freed from any present and future ownership. By the time of the X-Wing series he has a highly developed personality that goes in contrast to the standard demeanor of most 3PO units who are programmed to be courteous and polite to everyone. Squeaky routinely insults those around him and despite being originally a translator, has worked as a bartender and later as a quartermaster for the New Republic.

** The short story "Young Zaphod Plays It Safe" argues that RidiculouslyHumanRobots would be incredibly dangerous. The Sirius corporation's "Designer People" product were robots that were sort of super-sociopaths - some of them were built to look like people, and unlike most Genuine People Personalities they could act totally convincing if they wanted, but they lack certain normal thought processes of natural organisms like consciences or even sanity. One of them is described as being as dangerous as planet-killing weapons of mass destruction. In some editions of the story, its name is revealed as [[spoiler:Reagan]].

** And please note that all of the above robots from Asimov's works had a solid, justified reason for being so human (namely, they had to pass as human in order to fulfill their function), except, arguably, for Jander Panell (both him and Daneel were made for research purposes).
** Tony from "Satisfaction Guaranteed". Ultimately, the trope is averted - Tony was so humanlike that the test subject became infatuated with him, and Dr. Calvin recommends that future TN models be made ''less'' anthropomorphic for this exact reason.

** Even the intelligence that Asimov's robots have, which lead to the unexpected deductions they begin to make, ultimately stem from the incredible complexity of the positronic brain, and the need for them to be designed in such a way to understand human instructions as optimally as possible and know when to ignore these instructions in favor of the greater good.

** Erasmus wasn't designed to be intelligent (although does ''look'' at least vaguely like a human - two arms, two legs etc) but ends up being far more so than any other robot, and this feat can't be replicated.

* ''Literature/WeAreLegionWeAreBob'':All replicants are copied from human minds, but the Bobs are the first ones to create a VR simulation for themselves, complete with a body. Living humans clearly find this easier to deal with.

* This trope is averted in Robert L. Forward's ''Flight of the Dragonfly''. The computers are programmed to seem human, but are clearly not. In one case, a computer refuses to waste the crew's air, even though they will die if it doesn't, but a simple order to override is all that is needed to make it follow through. Later, when a computer is destroyed and one crew member is emotional about it, another computer breaks the emotional attachment with a carefully designed reminder that "After all, we are just computers."

* Justified in Joel Shepherd's Cassandra Kresnov trilogy. The title character is an improved version of previous androids who made good foot soldiers but not great leaders. She was given enhanced intelligence, emotions, and lateral thinking ability in order to outsmart the other side in an interplanetary war. She was even given enhanced attractiveness and an increased libido to help her relate to humans better and form interpersonal relationships. However, although she made an excellent soldier and commander, she was intelligent and independent enough to rebel against her creators and escape in order to have a life as an ordinary human.

** And the 'Film/BicentennialMan,' who made ''himself'' a RidiculouslyHumanRobot. Over the course of two centuries, he started to make artwork, wear clothes, modify himself to be more human ... even to the point of [[spoiler:choosing to become mortal and die (which probably broke the Third Law of Robotics, too).]]

* Karel Capek's play, ''R.U.R.'' (which coined the very term "robot") probably created this trope. Ironically, the "robots" in the play are not truly robots in the way modern culture views them. Modern science would likely call them cloned humans or genetically enhanced clones. That being said, the robots are mass-produced with every piece built and put together like a car on a factory line. At one point the characters are discussing how human the robots are:

* Karel Capek's play, ''R.U.R.'' (which coined the very term "robot") probably created this trope. Ironically, the "robots" in the play are not truly robots in the way modern culture views them. Modern science would likely call them cloned humans or genetically enhanced clones. At one point the characters are discussing how human the robots are:

* In the classic "Helen O'Loy", by Lester del Rey, this trope was [[spoiler:justified]]. The titular character was created to win a bet between an endocrinologist and a roboticist as to whether a robot could be made to act like a real woman. The endocrinologist insisted no robot could duplicate the complex biological system that created emotions, the roboticist insisted it could. [[spoiler:The roboticist won, when the endocrinologist not only had to admit that she had human-like emotions, but eventually married her]].

* Karel Capek's play, ''R.U.R.'' (which coined the very term "robot") probably created this trope. At one point the characters are discussing how human the robots are:

** Ironically, the "robots" in the play are not truly robots in the way modern culture views them. Modern science would likely call them cloned humans or genetically enhanced clones.

*** On the contrary, the elevator was given intelligence (and slight prescience, somehow) expressly for efficiency reasons - an elevator that already knew where you'd want to go would work much faster and better. The side effects were not as expected, however.
**** Well, not expected by anyone who doesn't understand the nature of pretty much everything produced by the Sirius Cybernetics Corporation.
-----> ....mindless jerks who were the first against the wall when the revolution came.

* R. Daneel Olivaw, from Creator/IsaacAsimov's ''Robot'' series. ''In Literature/TheRobotsOfDawn'', we learn that Dr. Fastolfe and Dr. Sarton had a really hard time overcoming the UncannyValley when designing him, and it took something like a century, but eventually they managed to pull off a robot that actually feels like an actual human. Daneel can even eat: he does so by putting the food in a bag that can be later thrown away.
** Worth noting is that Daneel starts off much less "human" than he ends up (he needs an early lecture about how you do not hold a blaster on a pissed woman who was shopping for shoes, not even if it's logical and the blaster was unloaded and her histrionics were on the verge of sparking a riot). His great admiration of his human partner, Elijah Baley, is what leads Daneel to constantly re-evaluate his behavior so that he can be more like Elijah; a better person and a better detective.

*** Of course, there's a third robot made by the same scientist that is smarter than both of them and ''isn't'' any more human looking than the average robot.

** There's also Stephen Byerley, in the short story 'Evidence.' His political opponent started a rumor that Byerley was a robot... and though Byerley denied it, he also declined to be X-rayed to prove his humanity.
*** He eventually convinced people that he was human by punching out a heckler, an act clearly impossible for a robot under the First Law [[spoiler:if not for the fact that the heckler was another apparently-human robot constructed for the occasion.]]

*** Indeed, in most of Asimov's stories he avoided making robots too human. A typical Asimov robot story deals with a group of engineers trying to figure out why a robot is malfunctioning, and figuring it out by thinking like a robot instead of a human. This was all part of Asimov's efforts to portray robots not as objects for human pathos or frightening menaces, as they normally were, but as tools built for specific purposes. Human shaped robots were meant to operate pre-existing human machinery, and tended to be humanoid without being particularly human.

* Erasmus from the ''Literature/LegendsOfDune'' trilogy ([[FanonDiscontinuity for those that admit he exists]]). He wasn't designed to be intelligent (although does ''look'' at least vaguely like a human - two arms, two legs etc) but ends up being far more so than any other robot, and this feat can't be replicated.

* In the [[Literature/TheCulture Culture]] of [[Creator/IainBanks Iain M. Banks]], the Minds certainly qualify.
** In terms of their personalities for story purposes, at least... justified in-universe in that all civilizations are obliged to build tendencies into [=AIs=], because "perfect [unconstrained] AIs always Sublime," so presumably the Culture makes AIs which are naturally going to like its members and want to help them. Still, they are unfathomably mighty intellects, so there's always the suspicion in the Culture that the ridiculously human-like part of them is just the tip of the iceberg.

* Erasmus from the Legends of ''Literature/{{Dune}}'' trilogy ([[FanonDiscontinuity for those that admit he exists]]). He wasn't designed to be intelligent (although does ''look'' at least vaguely like a human - two arms, two legs etc) but ends up being far more so than any other robot, and this feat can't be replicated.

* R. Daneel Olivaw, from Creator/IsaacAsimov's ''Robot'' series. In his introductory book ''Literature/TheCavesOfSteel'', we learn that Dr. Sarton had a really hard time overcoming the UncannyValley when designing him, but eventually he managed to pull off a robot that actually feels like an actual human. Daneel can even eat: he does so by putting the food in a bag that can be later thrown away.

** And in ''Prelude to Foundation'', set about ten thousand years after ''Literature/TheRobotsOfDawn'', we meet R. Dors Venabili, yet "another" humaniform robot (this time female) designed by Daneel to become Hari Seldon's protector and companion. Not only is Dors fully functional, but she eventually develops genuine love for Seldon and actually violates the First Law to protect him.

** And please note that all of the above robots from Asimov's works had a solid, justified reason for being so human (namely, they had to pass as human in order to fulfill their function), except, arguably, for Jander Panell (but considering certain habits on Aurora we might let that slide).

* Despite the above examples, Asimov often averted this trope quite harshly, and went to great lengths to justify it. Even those robots that were roughly humanoid were explained to be such because they needed to be able to perform tasks which human tools for already existed and it wouldn't make sense to replace every piece of equipment when one robot could be made to use them. There is a notable exception with a certain robot designed to look roughly humanoid, even though a simple positronic computer could have been used, strictly to try and get it on Earth and weaken the whole FrankensteinComplex.

* Creator/RobertAHeinlein examines this trope in ''Literature/{{Friday}}''. A conversation about genetically engineered {{Artificia lHuman}}s and "Living Artifacts" (artificial non-human lifeforms) being used as airline pilots brings up the point that a non-human artificial pilot, organic or AI, might go suicidally or [[KillAllHumans homicidally]] insane because of its lack of ties to a human world it can never belong to. ArtificalHumans like the titular Friday have to face FantasticRacism and alienation issues, but are able to pass as human. With luck, they can even possibly find acceptance in human society without hiding what they are.

* The automatons from ''Literature/InfernalDevices'' - despite walking with a graceless gait, they can pass for normal humans well enough.

* FredSaberhagen's ''Literature/{{Berserker}}'' series averts this trope. Because the eponymous robots are out to kill everyone, nobody wants a human-like robot around. Furthermore, the robots that people do build will remind the people around them that they have no emotions, if necessary. Most importantly, it's the berserkers' utter lack of humanity that makes them so scary.

* In the Culture of IainBanks, the Minds certainly qualify.

* Creator/RobertAHeinlein examines this trope in ''Friday''. A conversation about genetically engineered {{Artificia lHuman}}s and "Living Artifacts" (artificial non-human lifeforms) being used as airline pilots brings up the point that a non-human artificial pilot, organic or AI, might go suicidally or [[KillAllHumans homicidally]] insane because of its lack of ties to a human world it can never belong to. ArtificalHumans like the titular Friday have to face FantasticRacism and alienation issues, but are able to pass as human. With luck, they can even possibly find acceptance in human society without hiding what they are.

* ''{{Skinned}}'' does this, although with a thoroughly justifiable reason. The robots are created for the sole purpose of replacing the deceased, and so are made not only to seem like humans but to be as absolutely identical to them as possible.

* Justified in CharlesStross' ''Saturn's Children''. The (extinct) "[[ThankTheMaker Creators]]" never figured out how to program self-aware AIs from scratch. Instead they just copied the way human brains work. [[spoiler:And then you find out ''how'' [[PoweredByAForsakenChild they did it]]...]]