Line #53 Main/RobotKid


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4	%% This list of examples has been alphabetized. Please add your example in the proper place. Thanks!
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11	[[quoteright:350:[[Anime/AstroBoy https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/astro_internal.jpeg]]]]
12	[[caption-width-right:350:Cables and gears and [[ReplacementGoldfish inadequacy fears]], that's what little robots are made of.]]
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17	->'''Senbei:''' That is because you are a robot, you don't change.\
18	'''Arale:''' I wanna wanna wanna grow big!
19	-->-- ''Manga/DoctorSlump''
20
21	A robot built to look and/or act like a child. A good number of these are boys, but there are many that are [[RobotGirl girls]].
22
23	Possibly made as part of a RoboFamily, or to be taken care of as a child of a human family (possibly as a ReplacementGoldfish for a lost child of the creator or if the creator can't have biological children). When the kid's mechanic serves as a mentor and emotional caretaker, she's a MotherlyScientist (Fatherly Scientist if he's a man).
24
25	May fall into ReallySevenHundredYearsOld or OlderThanTheyLook unless the robot was very recently built. If they ''were'' built very recently, they might actually be YoungerThanTheyLook instead. In either case, it's common for the robot to feel that NotGrowingUpSucks.[[note]]though they may have it easier if they're a TransformingMecha whose alternate form is an OlderAlterEgo[[/note]] Most {{Astro Clone}}s are Robot Kids.
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27	----
28	!!Examples:
29	[[foldercontrol]]
30
31	[[folder:Anime & Manga]]
32	* ''Manga/AstroBoy'':
33	** Astro. He's one of the ReplacementGoldfish examples, but he also has combat abilities. Astro also has a younger sister and an often AdaptedOut brother.
34	** One episode of the 1980s reboot involved a child robot being voted as president of a country.
35	%* The title character of ''Anime/CybotRobotchi'', a cute (if rather dysfunctional and hyperactive) child robot.
36	* Arale from ''[[Manga/DoctorSlump Dr. Slump]]'' was created by the titular character. Her SpearCounterpart Obotchaman was created by rival Dr. Mashirito in order to fight her, but he turned out to be a very gentle and polite boy and instead ends up befriending her.
37	* ''Anime/DoraemonNobitaAndTheRobotKingdom'' have the gang coming across a robot boy named Poko from the titular kingdom whom they assumed to be a regular civilian child (if somewhat oddly dressed) until [[RoboticReveal Poko's ear fell off revealing circuitry]]. Doreamon and friends then decides to travel to Poko's origins to send him home, leading the gang to a planet where humans and robots co-exist peacefully while their tyranical human queen tries to have robots stripped of emotions.
38	* Pino in ''Anime/ErgoProxy'': An infected Companion Type [=AutoReiv=] with the mind and body of a child.
39	* Teto from ''Anime/HeatGuyJ''. He is designed as a small child, programmed to obey any command without question, and ask if whatever he's done is to the human commander's satisfaction. He was built illegally by an old man who says he was lonely, but then revealed that he is sadistic and cruel; basically, he built Teto as his personal punching bag. Teto is "kidnapped" by Clair, who wants to use him to lure and destroy J. His programming unnerves Clair, because of his training by his abusive father.
40	* The main character of the short anime movie ''Hotori - Tada Saiwai o Koinegau'' is a little robot boy.
41	* Reg from ''Manga/MadeInAbyss'' looks no older than twelve, and he is quite naïve.
42	* Frankenrobo from ''{{Literature/Anpanman}}''. Baikinman made him as a weapon against Anpanman, but he never became evil like Baikinman wanted, and Baikinman now tries to avoid him in any way he can, thanks to the fact that Frankenrobo now thinks of Baikinman as his dad, which leads him to hugging him, thus harming him thanks to Frankenrobo's electric touch. Baikinman later would attempt to create three other robots that started out evil...but thanks to Frankenrobo touching them and restarting them with his electricity when they were being repaired, they became as childish and friendly as their "big brother".
43	[[/folder]]
44
45	[[folder:Asian Animation]]
46	* In ''Animation/HappyHeroes'', the Supermen are RidiculouslyHumanRobots who are revealed to be in 3rd grade in one episode, placing them at around eight years old (mentally, at least).
47	[[/folder]]
48
49	[[folder:Comic Books]]
50	* ''ComicBook/{{Batman}}'': A CreepyChild variant shows up in ''ComicBook/BatmanTheDarkKnightReturns'', where the Joker's bombs are sentient robot brats.
51	* ''ComicBook/TheBeano'' had one, back in the late 30s - early 40s, named Tin Can Tommy, who in later strips gained a robot brother.
52	* ''ComicBook/TheBigGuyAndRustyTheBoyRobot'': Rusty.
53	* ''ComicBook/FallOutToyWorks'': Crybaby is a boy robot in a bear suit pulled straight out of the cover art for Music/FallOutBoy's ''Folie a Deux''. They also don't call him "Crybaby" for nothing.
54	* ''ComicBook/{{The Outsiders\|DCComics}}'': The Nuclear Family has three android children [[ReplacementGoldfish based on Dr. Shanner's own dead children]]: named Biff, Sis and Brat.
55	* ''ComicBook/{{Wolverine}}'': Elsie Dee, created by Donald Pierce of the Hellfire Club to take out Wolverine. However, an assistant of Pierce's made her far more intelligent and sentient than Pierce intended, and she managed to get control of her systems and not blow up.
56	[[/folder]]
57
58	[[folder:Film -- Animated]]
59	* ''WesternAnimation/{{Pinocchio}}'' is something of a fantasy variation in that he's a wooden puppet, not a robot, and was enchanted to be sentient rather than having AI.
60	* In the Canadian-French-Spanish movie ''WesternAnimation/Pinocchio3000'', the titular character is a robot instead of a wooden puppet.
61	* The young Autobot Wheelie is introduced in ''WesternAnimation/TheTransformersTheMovie''. In subsequent episodes of the animated series he would be paired with Daniel in the role of the KidAppealCharacter.
62	[[/folder]]
63
64	[[folder:Film -- Live-Action]]
65	* ''Film/AIArtificialIntelligence'': David was designed to be a robot boy with a child-like mind to give humans who couldn't have children or who didn't have a child license under the strict population control laws of the future someone to care for.
66	* Daryl from ''Film/{{DARYL}}''. "Daryl" (whose name is an acronym for "Data-Analyzing Robot Youth Lifeform") is an experiment in artificial intelligence, created by a government company called TASCOM. Although physically indistinguishable from an ordinary ten-year-old boy, his brain is actually a super-sophisticated microcomputer with several unique capabilities.
67	* ''Film/SpyKids1'': The villain's plan centers around an army of robots who look like the children of important people (and the two main characters). [[spoiler:At the end of the movie, after reprogramming them to think wrong is right, they go around the world helping people in need, while the robot duplicates of the main characters stay with [[HeelFaceTurn Floop]] and become part of his show]].
68	* ''Film/{{Tomorrowland}}'': Audio-Animatronic robots such as [[spoiler:Athena]] show up in adult and kid ages.
69	[[/folder]]
70
71	[[folder:Literature]]
72	* Creator/RobertBloch's "Literature/AlmostHuman": Junior is actually a [[DeceptivelyHumanRobots human-appearing robot]] in the shape of a kid.
73	* ''Literature/NotQuiteHuman'': Junior, a [[DeceptivelyHumanRobots human-appearing robot]] in the shape of a teenager.
74	[[/folder]]
75
76	[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
77	* Another villainous example happens in ''Series/ChoudenshiBioman'', where there's a robot copy of a boy from the Bio Star who was a friend of Peebo, made to lure the team into a trap.
78	* ''{{Series/Extant}}'': Ethan, who is raised to be John and Molly's son.
79	* ''Series/IAmFrankie'' has Frankie, Andrew, Simone, Eliza and Beto. Beto is built like a young child, while the other four are built like teenagers.
80	* ''Series/TheOuterLimits1995'': In "Simon Says", Gideon Banks transfers the memories of his late son Simon, preserved through the Neural Archiving Project (NAP), into a partially constructed robot body. He was unable to build Simon a complete body right away as most of the parts were stolen from his workplace, Concorde Robotics, while the remainder were salvaged from an earlier, unfinished robot body. Gideon treats the robot Simon as if he were his real son, which his niece Zoe finds creepy and off-putting.
81	* Vicki from ''Series/SmallWonder'' is a robot girl built by an engineer, who proceeds to pass her off as his daughter.
82	* A villainous example occurs in ''Series/TaiyouSentaiSunVulcan'', where Black Magma builds a robot version of a man's dead daughter. [[spoiler:The robot eventually disobeys the villains because they'd programmed it to view the man as its father.]] Later, they do it again, this time replacing a living boy with a robot duplicate.
83	[[/folder]]
84
85	%%[[folder:Radio]]
86	%%[[/folder]]
87
88	[[folder:Tabletop Games]]
89	* Kid Robot is a member of the Emerald City Sentinels in ''TabletopGame/MutantsAndMasterminds''. Originally the AI to control a '''Ki'''ntetic '''D'''eflector, the MotherlyScientist who created him agreed to give him a humanoid body when she realised he was self-aware, and is now his legal guardian. He looks like a small brass robot in a t-shirt with a "KD" logo, and has the personality of a cheerful ten-year-old.
90	[[/folder]]
91
92	[[folder:Video Games]]
93	* [[spoiler:Quote (TheHero),]] among others in ''VideoGame/CaveStory''.
94	* In ''VideoGame/DetroitBecomeHuman'' [[spoiler:Alice turns out to be an Android. She was bought by Todd as a ReplacementGoldfish when his wife ran away with their real kid. Interestingly, she manages to fool Kara until she meets another android with the same model later in the story with the justification that Kara knew but chose to delude herself.]]
95	* [[spoiler:Balloon Boy]] in ''VideoGame/FiveNightsAtFreddys2''.
96	* ''VideoGame/{{KOLM}}'': Robbie, who's obviously childlike despite being a moving square. [[spoiler:Turns out he ''is'' a kid, just one who was put in a robot body.]]
97	* In ''VideoGame/Fallout4'', [[spoiler:Shaun, the director of the Institute, built a synth child replica of his past self and wishing the Sole Survivor can give him a second chance to live in Commonwealth, and you can choose to adopt or abandon him in you choose to destroy the Institute. This slightly differs if you choose to side with the Institute instead, as Shaun would insist his parents to live with his synth self as a family]].
98	* The protagonist of ''VideoGame/InnocentLifeAFuturisticHarvestMoon'' is a teenage robot boy called Life.
99	%%* Botley in ''VideoGame/JumpStart3rdGrade''.
100	* Roll from ''VideoGame/MegaManClassic'' and Rock/Mega Man himself (who was originally a [[SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute replacement]] made for an ''Anime/AstroBoy'' game [[WhatCouldHaveBeen that never happened]]). There's also Protoman/Blues, who combines it with AloofBigBrother.
101	* In ''VideoGame/Robot64'', you play as a little robot boy named Beebo, who is on a quest to destroy the sun with ice cream.
102	* MOMO from ''VideoGame/{{Xenosaga}}'', though she's more of an ArtificialHuman than a robot.
103	[[/folder]]
104
105	[[folder:Visual Novels]]
106	* ''VisualNovel/Va11Halla'': Like all DFC-072 models, Dorothy looks like a prepubescent girl. However, she doesn't act like one, instead having [[OlderThanTheyLook the mental maturity of a 24-year-old human]]. [[FriendToAllChildren She does have a soft spot for children, though]], and plans to find some job working with them after retiring from [[{{Sexbot}} prostitution]].
107	* In ''VisualNovel/ZeroTimeDilemma'', [[spoiler:Q (actually Sean) is an android built to look like a boy wearing a helmet. He's modeled after a real child who died after befriending the BigBad in the hospital]].
108	[[/folder]]
109
110	[[folder:Webcomics]]
111	* Warbot in ''Webcomic/WarbotInAccounting'' once builds a small robot in an attempt to get a son. HilarityEnsues.
112	* ''Webcomic/{{Wondermark}}'' has [[http://wondermark.com/617/ S.A.M.I.R, the Helpful Clockwork Boy,]] and [[http://wondermark.com/749/ Hubert,]] who becomes a "real boy". Though neither look particularly childlike, or human.
113	* Mimi the [[http://www.timeslikethis.com/index.php?id=534 Borroabody rental robot]] in ''Webcomic/TimesLikeThis''.
114	[[/folder]]
115
116	[[folder:Western Animation]]
117	* ''WesternAnimation/TheAdventuresOfJimmyNeutronBoyGenius'' has Brobot, created to be a younger brother rather than a son to his creator.
118	* ''WesternAnimation/AdventuresOfSonicTheHedgehog'': Robotnik Junior from his namesake episode was created by Dr. Robotnik to be his son and help him get rid of Sonic. However, as a result of treating Junior better than his previous creations, Scratch and Grounder, the latter two try to get rid of Junior, resulting in Sonic having to save Junior, which itself leads to Junior [[TurnedAgainstTheirMasters turning against Robotnik]].
119	* Bobert in ''WesternAnimation/TheAmazingWorldOfGumball'', a robot from the Bobert Store who attends Elmore Junior High along with all the human-like objects and [[FunnyAnimal animals]]. Why he goes to school [[MundaneFantastic is not explained or questioned.]]
120	* ''WesternAnimation/BigGuyAndRustyTheBoyRobot''. Rusty was not built as a family robot, though, unless all family robots fire energy beams from their hands and can fly around. Rusty, originally meant to replace the outdated Big Guy (who is actually a HumongousMecha with a pilot inside, despite what the public believes). However, Rusty's childish demeanor and inexperience relegate him to the post of a sidekick, while the Big Guy still takes care of the big problems. Rusty even has a mother in his inventor, Dr. Slate.
121	* ''WesternAnimation/DuckTales2017'': B.O.Y.D., created by tech billionaire Mark Beaks to get himself into a rich kid's birthday party. [[spoiler:By the end of the episode, he's reprogrammed to be said rich kid's adoptive brother.]]
122	* ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'':
123	** Tinny Tim, the little robot orphan with the British accent.
124	** Also [[spoiler:Bender's son]] in the DVD movie ''Beast With a Billion Backs''.
125	** Bender himself reverts to a kid robot in an episode where the crew starts rapidly aging backwards (even though a flashback showed him being assembled in his present form in a previous episode...).
126	** Ben from "The Bots and Bees", who eventually goes off to bending school at the end of the episode upon reaching the robot version of young adulthood.
127	* ''WesternAnimation/{{Jellystone}}'' [[AdaptationalSpeciesChange opts to change]] [[WesternAnimation/TheRuffAndReddyShow Ruff and Reddy]] into this, for no apparent reason. In one episode, they fight each other and accidentally wreck themselves; inside Ruff's back is a computer that gives access to a virtual reality game run by [[WesternAnimation/TheFlintstones the Great Gazoo]], who eggs on Augie and Yakky to keep playing the game, not telling them they're destroying Jellystone in the process.
128	* Rock and Roll in ''WesternAnimation/MegaManRubySpears'' are teenagers, in contrast to their younger game versions.
129	* Jenny of ''WesternAnimation/MyLifeAsATeenageRobot'', though as the name would imply she's a teenager rather than a young child. She also has "siblings"--earlier prototypes made by her "mother"--that are based on younger kids, however. There is also the fact that while Jenny is designed to look like a teenager, she is chronologically 5 years old -- a fact that forced her to transfer to kindergarten in one episode.
130	* The title character of the cartoon ''WesternAnimation/RobotBoy'' is a doll-like robot with the mind of an 11 year old Japanese exchange student. There's also Robotgirl and Protoboy, who fit this trope as well. They all drop the childlike appearance whenever they engage their larger and more threatening {{super mode}}s, however.
131	* ''Franchise/{{Transformers}}'':
132	** Wheelie, the young Autobot they find fending for himself with a slingshot on Quintessa in ''WesternAnimation/TheTransformersTheMovie''. In subsequent episodes of the cartoon he would be paired with Daniel to make a Cute Kid and Robot pair.
133	** ''WesternAnimation/BeastWars'' introduced the concept of "protoforms", which are apparently what passes for an infant phase among Transformers. They look like a mannequin made of flowing, silvery metal and become fully "grown" after getting the proper coding.
134	** [[spoiler:Sari Sumdac]] for the first two seasons of ''WesternAnimation/TransformersAnimated'' is the [[spoiler:RobotGirl]] variant. It's harder to tell because those seasons the 'bot in question is in its alt-mode, [[spoiler:a human.]]
135	* Robot Jones of ''WesternAnimation/WhateverHappenedToRobotJones'' He originally had a robot voice but [[TheOtherDarrin this was replaced]] with a boy's voice later.
136	[[/folder]]
137
138	[[folder:Real Life]]
139	* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bCK64zsZNNs CB2.]]
140	* [[http://www.robotcub.org Robot Cub,]] a robot 3-year-old designed to study cognition.
141	[[/folder]]

Context Main / RobotKid