GregHowley.com

Name That Robot

July 25, 2006 -

The Geek Test was pretty fun, so I figure I'll do a couple quiz-type things from time to time. As long as I can think up something fun. To this end, ladies and gentleman, I bring you Name That Robot.

I'll be posting four pictures of fictitious robots, two cartoon and two physical. (I hesitate to call them real) You try to figure out who they are, and I'll post the answers in the comments. Enjoy!

Name these robots
Comments on Name That Robot
 
Comment Tue, July 25 - 1:47 PM by Greg
Answers

1- 7-Zark-7 from Battle of the Planets
2- Twiki from Buck Rogers
3- Maximillian from The Black Hole
4- Tranzor Z
 
Comment Tue, July 25 - 6:59 PM by Magus2
1- Gatchaman is really much better, my son and I watch it. (No robot though)
2- Be-de-be-de-beep.
3- My favorite of these four.
4- Originally "Mazinger Z" (1972) brought to U.S. as "Tranzor Z" (1984). If you liked that catch the OVA "Mazinkaiser" (2002) if you can.
 
Comment Tue, July 25 - 10:06 PM by pmd
That list was way too easy for me...

Try this list, there are only a few I would consider easy.



Bonus 1


Bonus 2


Bonus 3


The Answers
 
Comment Tue, July 25 - 10:38 PM by Greg
I knew 1,2,3,6, and 7, and Bonus 3 looked WAY familiar.
 
Comment Wed, July 26 - 9:18 AM by Brandon
Technically, that first list has 5 robots as Twiki was carrying Dr. Theopolis. Now, I know that the good doctor is technically an intelligent computer, but I'd call him a robot, just one with ambulatory issues.
 
Comment Wed, July 26 - 7:12 PM by pmd
I understand where Brandon is going with this. I still belong to the old camp that says a robot needs to be capable of locomotion and/or manipulate the environment somehow. So, the HAL 9000 from 2010 would be a robot since he can pilot the Discovery but SAL 9000 (the nearly identical computer sitting in Dr. Chandra's lab) would not.

Through misuse, the term robot is becoming a word to describe a machine that emulates human behavior or a machine that performs mundane and repetitive tasks instead of a human.
 
Comment Wed, July 26 - 9:08 PM by tagger
Sorry, PMD, but having read R.U.R. before ANY of you were born, I am prepared to argue that a pop-up toaster qualifies as a "robot."
 
Comment Wed, July 26 - 11:58 PM by pmd
I stand corrected... but I don't like it.
 
Comment Thu, July 27 - 9:42 AM by Brandon
Well, Dr. Theo somehow managed to convince Twiki to carry him around, so I think he's manipulated his environment quite well. ;)

Bidi-bidi-bidi.
 
Comment Thu, July 27 - 6:28 PM by tagger
Apropos Brandon's comment, as I recall Twiki was specifically designed to transport non-mobile brains such as Theo.

That focus changed later on, but if you watch the B.R. series pilot, I think that may have been specifically said somewhere.

As for PMDs sulk, no offense was intended. Aircraft autopilots were often referred as "robots," as were any mechanisms capable of being "programmed," mechanically, electrically or otherwise, to perform specific tasks. Keep in mind that the meaning of the original Czech word from which the term "robot" was taken is understood to signify menial labor (drudgery).

Over the years, the term "android" seems to have shifted meaning to cover constructs more biological in nature (eg. Lt. Cdr. Data).
 
Comment Thu, July 27 - 7:56 PM by pmd
It's more a joke than a sulk. As far as robots like Twiki go, they were made to work in space mines... but they wait tables pretty well too.