History Main / MechanicalLifeforms

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The origin of such creatures is traditionally left unexplained -- they were never built by another race (that anyone knows of), and if they were, it would be treated as a ''very'' shocking revelation, as audience previously accepted their mechanical nature as-is. In the event that their creators arrive to claim them, expect them to react just the same as humans would (i.e. much anger, denial, violence, and maybe a speech or two about free will). However, with the growing popularity of ScienceFiction concepts like BrainUploading and TheSingularity, there has been a trend of portraying mechanical lifeforms as formerly organic races that roboticized themselves either as the next {{Evolutionary Level|s}} or simply to survive [[ApocalypseHow some world-ending catastrophy]] that affected them in the past.

* ''Code Of The Lifemaker'' by Creator/JamesPHogan 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" -- or a [[TranslationConvention word translated as "robeings"]], since they actually communicate via ultrasound bursts[[note]]You'd think it'd be radio, but the ultrasound was originally designed by the original aliens to serve as a local backup for when radio was impossible; part of Going Horribly Wrong was that the factories couldn't figure out how to make proper radios anymore; the few "robeings" who have vestigial radio capability are treated as prophets, since they receive transmissions but can't make head or tail of them[[/note]]) 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,[[note]]Really a more justifiable position on Titan than for medieval humans on Earth--Titan's atmosphere is opaque to visible light and most other electromagnetic radiation as well--so all the astronomical evidence for the sphericity of the world is gone. The way the horizon works is still a clue, of course, but not conclusive evidence. And as this book was published wellbefore the Huygens probe showed Titan's surface to be mostly land surrounding hydrocarbon seas, one can forgive Hogan for assuming the world would be more like Earth--mostly (hydrocarbon) seas surrounding land.[[/note]] 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.

* ''Code Of The Lifemaker'' by Creator/JamesPHogan 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" -- or a [[TranslationConvention word translated as "robeings"]], since they actually communicate via ultrasound bursts[[note]]You'd think it'd be radio, but the ultrasound was originally designed by the original aliens to serve as a local backup for when radio was impossible; part of Going Horribly Wrong was that the factories couldn't figure out how to make proper radios anymore; the few "robeings" who have vestigial radio capability are treated as prophets, since they receive transmissions but can't make head or tail of them[[/note]]) 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,[[note]]Really a more justifiable position on Titan than for medieval humans on Earth--Titan's atmosphere is almost completely opaque to pretty much all forms of electromagnetic radiation--from radio to visible light to gamma rays--so all the astronomical evidence for the sphericity of the world is gone. The way the horizon works is still a clue, of course, but not conclusive evidence. And as this book was published wellbefore the Huygens probe showed Titan's surface to be mostly land surrounding hydrocarbon seas, one can forgive Hogan for assuming the world would be more like Earth--mostly (hydrocarbon) seas surrounding land.[[/note]] 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.

* ''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" -- or a [[TranslationConvention word translated as "robeings"]], since they actually communicate via ultrasound bursts[[note]]You'd think it'd be radio, but the ultrasound was originally designed by the original aliens to serve as a local backup for when radio was impossible; part of Going Horribly Wrong was that the factories couldn't figure out how to make proper radios anymore; the few "robeings" who have vestigial radio capability are treated as prophets, since they receive transmissions but can't make head or tail of them[[/note]]) 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.

* A few sequences from various ''[[Animation/TheMindsEye Mind's Eye]]'' videos feature robots and robotic animals, from singing parrots to dinosaurs.

* ''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. Plants are still organic, though. [[note]]However, things become ''confusing'' when fans start to think about it too hard: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bAJcaW5oJfA [[/note]]

** Robots in general are not treated much differently than other people. They're even capable of sexual reproduction.

* ''VideoGame/{{Warframe}}'': Orb Vallis, an area on Venus being terraformed by the [[MegaCorp Corpus]], has many of these. Most famous are the servofish that swim in the coolant; there are servofish for taking coolant samples, for mapping the underground rivers, for killing organic animals, and for repairing the other servofish. There are also spider-like Raknoids that are used as cheap scouts and security drones.

* In the ''VideoGame/GalaxyAngelII'' trilogy, one of the members of the Rune Angel Wing is Nano-Nano Pudding, who is a living colony of {{Nanomachines}} capable of taking the form of a human young girl. She was found by Vanilla H, one of the heroines of the original ''VideoGame/GalaxyAngel'' trilogy, who adopted and raised her as a daughter. [[In the final installment of the GAII trilogy, it's revealed that Nano-Nano, as well as other nanomachine colonies like her, were coded with some human DNA, and they could only be awakened by their donors, or someone related to them, so the reason why Vanilla could wake her up was because one of her ancestors had donated their DNA to Nano]].

* Many [[ExtraOreDinary Steel-type]] ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'' belong to this trope. (Magnemite and evo's, for example)

** ''TabletopGame/{{Eberron}}'''s warforged are sentient artificial humanoids who were mass-produced by humans to fight in the Last War. Their bodies are a combination of metal, stone and wood, though feats can upgrade the material to Mithril or Adamantium for better armor. After the war, they must now try to fit into society and find a new purpose to their lives. They do not eat, drink or breath, and are immune to a variety of debilitating effects. They are also immortal and voluntarily suffer from TheFogOfAges to avoid going insane from an overload of memories.

* ''Franchise/{{Digimon}}'': The "Metal Empire" Digimon include cyborgs and guys wearing metal armor; nevertheless, their numbers primarily consist of full-on robots, from the gear-like Hagurumon to the draconic HumongousMecha Machinedramon.

** Most of the Titan (who were themselves made out of metal) constructs fall into this category, including the Earthens (who would become the Dwarves as a result of the Curse of Flesh) and the Vrykul (who would also become flesh because of th Curse and are the ancestors to the humans).

-->'''Klaatu''':...We created a race of robots, and gave them absolute power over us."

*** According to Wiki/{{Wikipedia}}, the reptilian Cylons are completely gone extinct after the robot Cylons TurnedAgainstTheirMasters, thus every cylon you see on screen is a robot and not a reptile nor even a reptile-cyborg.

* In the book ''All Tomorrows'' by Nemo Ramjet, a species of genetically engineered humans known as Ruin Haunters "evolves" itself into robots known as [[http://www.sivatherium.narod.ru/library/Ramjet/07_en.htm Gravital]] as their planet's sun begins to expand. They have no real definite shape and have human-level intelligence, individual personalities and opinions (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 against]] due to the "sins of their fathers".

* An odd borderline example presents itself in the S'pht race of ''VideoGame/{{Marathon}}'', which are apparently non-sentient creatures bonded with a special BlackBox upon birth which grants them sentience (courtesy of the [[SufficientlyAdvancedAliens legendary Jjaro]]). They think absolutely nothing of it until the first time they examine a normal sentient lifeform, they are completely flabbergasted and horrified by the very idea that their "birthing operation" may be what grants them sentience.

** One of [[ComicBook/NextWave Aaron Stack the Machine Man's]] earliest foes was Ten-For, an agent of a race of robotic conquerors called the Autocrons.

* Basically everyone in ''VideoGame/{{Primordia}}'' is a robot of one sort or another, what with humans having gone extinct.

* ''FanFic/ABridgeOnceBroken'' answers a resounding "yes!" to the ambiguity of whether the Mechasms are these. [[spoiler: But they're still built, not born.]]
* When the Cybertronians make themselves known in ''FanFic/CodePrime'', everyone at first thinks that they’re sufficiently advanced Knightmare Frames. Once people get to know them, they realize that the Cybertronians are really not so different from humans. The Black Knights in particular realize this when the Ark becomes infested with Scraplets, and the Autobots express fear at the sight of them.

* In the ''Fanfic/PonyPOVSeries'', it's mentioned that there's a world where all organic life went extinct, but sapient robots still survived. Strife, the AnthropomorphicPersonification of Natural Selection and Survival of the Fittest, petitioned [[TopGod Fauna Luster]] to consider robotic life to qualify as life and was granted.

* In ''WesternAnimation/ShadowRaiders,'' Tekla comes from Planet Tech. If she is typical, all the planet's inhabitants are made of a sort of living circuitry. Unfortunately, like the Lithonians mentioned above, Planet Tech is eaten by the Beast Planet, leaving her the [[LastOfHisKind Last Of Her Kind.]]