History Main / MechanicalLifeforms

* Knight Gundam, Musha Gundam, ''SDGundamForce'', and perhaps most ''SD Gundam'' gag shorts feature chibi robots living alongside humans.

* ''SDGundamForce'', and perhaps most ''SDGundam'' spinoffs as well.

* GeneWolfe's ''[[BookOfTheNewSun The Urth of the New Sun]]'' has an interesting variant: Sidero is clearly some kind of mechanical man, but it turns out that his particular type of robot evolved out of [[spoiler:spacesuits with built-in artificial intelligence.]]

** When the issue crops up, the steam-powered and diesel-powered engines appear to be considered two separate races.

* In IainMBanks' ''[[TheCulture Culture]]'' novels, the Culture rates any lifeform, biological or machine, at a given level of intelligence to be a sapient creature, including the Minds that operate ships and colonies and run the Culture itself, Drones (for whom the word "robot is inadequate) and some spacesuits. And some weapons.

** {{Warlock}}'s people the Technarchs presumably started out getting built by ''somebody,'' but they haven't answered to anybody else in a very, very long time.

[[folder:Film]]

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Cars}}''
** Even all the animals in their world are also vehicles: we have farm and construction equipment standing in for cattle, tiny [[StealthPun VW Beetles]] for insects, toy cars for dogs/cats/rodents, remote control aircraft for birds, and model trains for snakes.

* ''{{Bionicle}}'' features biomechanical beings of a variety of different races [[spoiler: living inside the body of Mata Nui, who in turn is a living HumongousMecha around the size of [[GurrenLagann Chouginga Gurren Lagann]]]].

* ''TheIronGiant''. He can heal himself and he eats metal to live. His "stomach" even starts growling if he goes too long without food.
* In ''WesternAnimation/{{Nine}}'', the sackdolls are mechanical lifeforms imbued with the spirit of their creator.

* ''{{Alternity}}'': The mechalus from TSR's short lived game are an alien race that merged with machines at some point in their history. Essentially, each mechalus is born as a cyborg, pre-implanted with {{Nanotechnology}} from its family line. They were later adapted for the ''TabletopGame/D20Modern'' book ''d20 Future'', under the name "aleerin".

->'''Jack:''' You're a motorcycle, Arcee. Shouldn't you know how to build a motorcycle engine?\\

* The Armada from ''VideoGame/{{Pirate101}}'' consist of clockwork soldiers that were built to help Valencia win the Polarian War. They were highly successful but have since taken over Valencia and have been threatening to take over the entire Spiral. They to not tire, they do not give up, they do not die![[hottip:*:But they break if you hit them hard enough.]]

** * In ''Peace on Earth'' and ''The Invincible'' by Lem self-replicating robots did "evolved away". In ''The Invinsible'', the pinnacle of mechanical evolution is TheSwarm of nano-machines, which is destructive of any other lifeform, organic or mechanical.

* In ''Peace on Earth'' and ''The Invincible'' by Stanisław Lem self-replicating robots did "evolved away".
* ''Striking Steel'' by Lyubov and Yevgeny featured replicating "antipersonnel complexes". One side in the interplanetary war deployed them, but with generations [[GoneHorriblyWrong the sum of the tolerable limits]] falls out of the friend-or-foe compatibility. So the whole planet was quickly [[AfterTheEnd stoneaged]] by mini-robot swarms, each [[MacrossMissileMassacre blasting to crumbles]] anything metallic it "see" moving save close relatives, and assimilating metal that doesn't move. Survivors adapted to such circumstances and developed some... quirks. The protagonist got there alive only because his suit and parachute were radar-invisible, after his shuttle's ECM [[StuffBlowingUp was proven not cool enough]].

* The Engines in ''{{Engine Sentai Go-Onger}}'' are mechanical lifeforms from a parallel universe.
** And the Guardian Beasts in ''KyoryuSentaiZyuranger'' are actually ancient gods that for some reason look like HumongousMecha with cockpits and everything.
** The Power Animals of HyakujuuSentaiGaoranger are (not entirely) mechanical lifeform ''nature spirits''. Their bodies are formed from the Earth itself. They just look like robots because they use metals for their skins.
** ''SeijuuSentaiGingaman''. And the Franchise/PowerRangers counterparts of Gingaman and Gaoranger, [[Series/PowerRangersLostGalaxy Lost Galaxy]] and [[Series/PowerRangersWildForce Wild Force]], keep these qualities (Zyuranger's counterpart, the first season of ''Series/MightyMorphinPowerRangers'', on the other hand, turned the gods into "magical" giant robots with some degree of sentience - how much was never really explored, though they act on their own at times, and one episode had the Sabertooth Tiger Zord showing Trini the way to something needed to break the MonsterOfTheWeek's spell. Just one more area where MMPR kept the line between the tech and magic components of the same powers and equipment vague.)

* ''Code Of The Lifemaker'' has a whole robot ecosystem. An autonomous alien mining colony [[GoneHorriblyWrong Goes Horribly Wrong]], developing into an elaborate ecosystem on Saturn's moon Titan. There are power-generator trees, mechanical animals up to and including intelligent, civilized forms (humans call them Taloids, they call themselves "robeings") and factories as "farms" and birthing places, as well as electricity-based food. Being on Titan, there are hydrocarbon seas and an assortment of organic compounds, which the Taloids/robeings use to make tools and vehicles. They also have a form of civilization, with remarkable resemblances to late medieval Europe and particularly late medieval Italy (a [[CrystalDragonJesus Catholic-like church]], feuding city states, a scientist ostracized for suggesting that the world is round, and one state with a ruler famous for supporting the arts and sciences) that has recently undergone a scientific revolution, invented the gun, and is about to get hit with a major religious upheaval on account of FirstContact.

->''"Many millions of years ago, life existed... But not life as we know it today. Intelligent robots that could think and feel inhabited the cities..."''
-->-- '''Victor Carolli''', ''Opening Narration from the first episode of TheTransformers''

* In the book ''All Tomorrows'' by Nemo Ramjet, a species of genetically engineered humans known as Ruin Haunters "evolves" itself into robots known as Gravital as their planet's sun begins to expand. They have no real definite shape and have human-level intelligence and personalities (having evolved from an organic human species). Although explained as not being "evil" they "simply did not acknowledge the life of their organic cousins", and [[OmnicidalManiac began wiping out all life in the galaxy]]. They ruled with an [[IncrediblyLamePun iron]] tentacle for 50 ''million'' years. Eventually they wage war with [[NinjaPirateZombieRobot insect-like human space-gods]] and are defeated. Afterwards, they simply become "normal" citizens of the New Empire but are [[FantasticRacism usually discriminated]] due to the "sins of their fathers".

* In the book ''All Tomorrows'' by Nemo Ramjet, a species of genetically engineered humans known as Ruin Haunters "evolves" itself into robots known as Gravital as their planet's sun begins to expand. They have no real definite shape and have human-level intelligence and personalities(having evolved from an organic human species). Although explained as not being "evil" they "simply did not acknowledge the life of their organic cousins", and [[OmnicidalManiac began wiping out all life in the galaxy]]. They ruled with an [[IncrediblyLamePun iron]] tentacle for 50 ''million'' years. Eventually they wage war with [[NinjaPirateZombieRobot insect-like human space-gods]] and are defeated. Afterwards, they simply become "normal" citizens of the New Empire but are [[FantasticRacism usually discriminated]] due to the "sins of their fathers".

* In the book ''All Tomorrows'' by Nemo Ramjet, a species of genetically engineered humans known as Ruin Haunters "evolves" itself into robots known as Gravital as their planet's sun begins to expand. They have no real definite shape and have human-level intelligence and personalities(having evolved from an organic human species). Although explained as not being "evil" they "simply did not acknowledge the life of their organic cousins", and [[OmnicidalManiac began wiping out all life in the galaxy]]. They ruled with an [[Pun iron]] tentacle for 50 ''million'' years.

*** No. Data doesn't count. He was created by Cybernetics Expert Noonien Soong, who is ''very'' human.