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"I think we're still on that topic, still trying to figure out what computers are, how they change us, why we use them."
- Neal Stephenson
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| Robotess | ||
| A female robot. |
As far as I know, this is the first use of this uncommon word, designating a female robot.
| Alquist. (Awakes) "Laughter? Laughter, human beings." (Getting up) "Who has returned? Who are you?"
Primus. "The Robot Primus." Alquist. (To Helena) "What? A Robot? Who are you?" Helena. "The Robotess Helena." (Shies away L.) Alquist. "What? You are timid, shy? (Starts to touch her) Let me see you, Robotess." Primus. Sir, do not frighten her. (Steps forward.) |
| Technovelgy from R.U.R.,
by Karel Capek. Published by Not Available in 1920 Additional resources -
|
Today, many writers use gynoid to describe a feminine gendered robot; see the entry for gynoid from Divine Endurance (1984) by Gwyneth Jones.
Fans of early cinema might also remember the female robot from Fritz Lang's 1927 classic Metropolis.
(Female robot from Fritz Lang's Metropolis)
The term fembot is also used; this term first appeared in 1976 in The Bionic Woman, an American television series.
Compare to the manufactured wife from A Wife Manufactured to Order (1895) by Alice W. Fuller, the psychophonic nurse from The Psychophonic Nurse (1928) by David H. Keller, the teleoperated robot surrogate from The Robot and the Lady (1938) by Manly Wade Wellman, the mechanical bride from The Mechanical Bride (1954) by Fritz Leiber, the maid-robot from The Midas Plague (1954) by Frederik Pohl, the Nanny from Nanny (1955) by Philip K. Dick and robotrix from Flow My Tears The Policeman Said (1974) by Philip K. Dick.
(From 'Imagination' July, 1953)
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'The observation vehicle was of that peculiar variety used in conveying a large number of people across rough terrain.'
'The real border was defended by... a swarm of quasi-independent aerostats.'
'I ... set my automatic astronomical instruments to searching for a habitable planet.'
'...haven't you a section of the factory where only robot labor is employed?'
'... oblongs were all over the floor and surfaces.'
