10. The Maschinenmensch, aka Maria (Metropolis)
Created: 1927
Creators: Thea von Harbou (novel), Fritz Lang (film)
Creator (fictional): C. A. Rotwang
Actor: Brigitte Helm
A machine-man made in the image of a beautiful schoolteacher, the robot of Fritz Lang’s monumental film became an icon for a dystopic vision of the future (which in the Germany of 1927 might not have been pessimistic enough).
9. ASIMO
Created: 2000
Creator: Honda
Honda wasn’t kidding when they named this astronaut looking creation “Advanced Step in Innovative MObility.” Pronounced “ah she mow,” this is the robot we all wanted as a kid. See him in action in this British Honda commercial.
8. GLaDOS (Portal)
Created: 2007
Creator: Erik Wolpaw, Kim Swift
Voice: Ellen McLain
Everyone’s favorite passive-aggressive robotic tormentor, GLaDOS was the primary antagonist in Valve’s brilliant 2007 puzzle game Portal. The game may have stood strong on its clever physics puzzles and tightly paced gameplay, but it was GLaDOS who stole the show. And thoguh she may have been destroyed in the game’s grand finale, her lovely robotic voice made an encore appearance and sang to us over the credits, “I’m still alive.” Since Portal 2 comes out in but a few months, we’re assuming she was telling the truth.—Kirk Hamilton
7. HAL 9000
Created: 1968
Creator: Arthur C. Clarke
Voice: Douglas Rain
We debated whether HAL belonged on this list. He’s a computer program with artificial intelligence, but his only physical representation is a camera eye, though he does control the Discovery. But he was one of the inaugural inductees in the Robot Hall of Fame, so that kind of settles it.
6. The Final Five (Battlestar Galactica)
Created: 2004
Creators: Ronald D. Moore and Glen A. Larson
Actors: Well, that’d be giving it away now wouldn’t it.
How to pick a Cylon? Athena? Boomer? Leoben? We’re going to go with the reveal of the final five, particularly…well, you know who. The Cylon’s relationship with humanity grows more complex as disagreement arises within their ranks. And BSG’s “skinjobs” were so real and nuanced, even they didn’t know they were robots.
5. Sojourner (Mars Rover)
Created: 1996
Controllers: The Jet Propulsion Laboratory at California Institute of Technology
