Android

An android is an artificially created robotic being that resembles a human being usually both in appearance and behavior. The word derives from Greek Andr- 'man, human' and the suffix -eides used to mean 'of the species, kind, alike' (from eidos 'species').

Related Topics:
Human - Greek

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The word droid, a robot in the Star Wars universe, is derived from this meaning.

Related Topics:
Droid - Star Wars

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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 man-made, autonomous creations:

Related Topics:
Robot - Cyborg

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• 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

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).

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The term android was first used by the French author Mathias 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."

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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. 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.

Related Topics:
Karel Čapek - R.U.R. (Rossum's Universal Robots) - 1921 - Cyborg

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