History Main / StarfishRobots

** The Bouncer, a boss in ''SonicChaos''. The best description for this is a constantly-jumping round vaguely bird-like thing that spits out trios of hopping seagull robots.

* ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaBreathOfTheWild'' features the Guardians, ancient {{Magitek}} machines originally constructed by the Sheikah to help their descendants battle [[BigBad Ganon]], only for them to be possessed by Ganon and turned against Hyrule in the Great Calamity. The standard Stalker model has six segmented tentacle-like limbs and a central rotating laser turret, while a flying variant has several helicopter-like blades and an odd number of eyes. A smaller cousin of the Stalker found exclusively in [[MiniDungeon Shrines]] can have up to three arms for carrying weapons and shields.

* [[http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Vuffi_Raa Vuffi Raa]] from L. Neil Smith's ''[[Franchise/StarWarsExpandedUniverse Star Wars]]'' trilogy ''The Lando Calrissian Adventures'' is a perfect example of this trope, [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin actually being shaped like a starfish.]]

* Almost all robots in the VideoGame/{{Descent}} series fall under this trope. The reason for this is that Descent's robots are "genuine" robots in a man-against-machine plot about mining- and industrial- robots gone mad as oposed to the censored humans in most fiction (like the [[BannedInChina German versions]] of VideoGame/HalfLife1 or RedAlert). It would be shorter to count the few human properties of the Descent robots than telling that is nonhuman in them.

** The final boss of ''VideoGame/{{Descent}} 3'' is a somewhat squid-like HumongousMecha, [[http://descent.koolbear.com/past/descent3net/robots/hellion_bot.htm as seen here]].

* Many of the droids from ''Franchise/StarWars''. While many come in varieties more akin to the humanoid [[https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/5/5c/C-3PO_droid.png C-3PO]], others look like the strange "[[TinCanRobot trash bin on wheels]]" [[https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/3/39/R2-D2_Droid.png R2-D2]], while others have such surreal designs that it's difficult to compare them to any real life object. For example, [[http://vignette2.wikia.nocookie.net/starwars/images/6/68/BB8-Fathead.png/revision/latest BB-8]] from ''Film/TheForceAwakens'' is a rolling ball with a free-moving dome on top. InUniverse, some of the non-humanoid droids that make up the Separatist military are designed after [[StarfishAlien the races that created them]] (the [[https://vignette3.wikia.nocookie.net/starwars/images/9/9d/Droideka-SWE.png/revision/latest?cb=20160910210418 Destroyer Droid]] and [[SchrodingersCanon possibly]] the [[https://vignette3.wikia.nocookie.net/starwars/images/f/f4/Vulture_droid_walk.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20090310163219 Vulture Droid's ground mode]]) or some other bizarre creatures from their manufacturers' homeworlds (such as the Techno Union's [[https://vignette3.wikia.nocookie.net/starwars/images/1/1a/Octuptarra_droid.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20060703083253 Octuptarra droids]]).

* 2-Tor, the robot that accompanies you in the ''Star Challenge'' books. It has a height of around a meter and looks quite similar to BB-8 of ''Film/TheForceAwakens'' fame[[note]]These books were written in TheEighties, much before BB-8 was ever conceived[[/note]], but it hovers instead of rolling, has a neck, and two big eyes not just one.

** SCR-GP and SCR-HD in ''[[SonicRiders Sonic Riders: Zero Gravity]]'' are xenomorph-looking robots that can tuck into a wheel shape to travel at speeds comparable to Sonic.

* The Beetleworx from ''EpicMickey'', especially the Spinners and Tankers. Spinners have tick-like bodies and a wheel at the bottom; if Mickey gets too close, they use the wheel to travel as the legs become spinning blades. Tankers are mobile gatling gun turrets, some of which have paint jobs based on the Queen from ''Disney/SnowWhite''.

For most of the history of fiction dealing with robots, the mechanical beings have almost always been portrayed as humans or [[RobotDog animals]] made up of artificial parts, usually metal. In fact, the word "android" (literally "manlike"), referring to artificial humans, predates the word "robot" by several decades, which goes to show that when people think of automatons, they tend to think of beings more or less akin to organic beings.

** Little Fighters, in ''SonicUnleashed'', are disembodied hands of the (humanoid) Egg Shooters after the Shooters have been defeated. They are still able to function on their own to try to attack Sonic.

* Many of the droids from ''Franchise/StarWars''. While many come in varieties more akin to the humanoid [[https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/5/5c/C-3PO_droid.png C-3PO]], others look like the strange "[[TinCanRobot trash bin on wheels]]" [[https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/3/39/R2-D2_Droid.png R2-D2]], while others have such surreal designs that it's difficult to compare them to any real life object. For example, [[http://vignette2.wikia.nocookie.net/starwars/images/6/68/BB8-Fathead.png/revision/latest BB-8]] from ''Film/TheForceAwakens'' is a rolling ball with a free-moving dome on top.

** The firefly trio in ''SonicCD''. They shoot lasers simultaneously when their abdomens are lit.

* ''OrionsArm'' is replete with these. Though, since most of them are sentient, they wouldn't be classified as robots in the setting's terminology ('robot' implies non-sentience), they'd be called vecs.

* ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaBreathOfTheWild'' features the Guardians, ancient {{Magitek}} machines originally constructed by the Sheikah to help their descendants battle [[BigBad Ganon]], only for them to be possessed by Ganon and turned against Hyrule in the Great Calamity. The standard Stalker model has six segmented tentacle-like limbs and a central rotating laser turret, while a flying variant has several helicopter-like blades and an odd number of eyes. A smaller cousin of the Stalker found exclusively in [[MiniDungeon Shrines]] can have up to three arms for carrying weapons and shields.

* ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaBreathOfTheWild'' features the Guardians, ancient {{Magitek}} machines originally constructed by the Sheikah to help their descendants battle [[BigBad Ganon]], only for them to be possessed by Ganon and turned against Hyrule in the Great Calamity. The standard Stalker model has six segmented tentacle-like limbs and a central rotating laser turret, while a flying variant has several helicopter-like blades and an odd number of eyes. A smaller cousin of the Stalker found exclusively in [[MiniDungeon Shrines]] can have up to three arms for carrying weapons and shields.

* ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaBreathOfTheWild'' features the Guardians, ancient {{Magitek}} machines originally constructed by the Sheikah to help their descendants battle [[BigBad Ganon]], only for them to be possessed by Ganon and turned against Hyrule in the Great Calamity. The standard Stalker model has six segmented tentacle-like limbs and a central rotating laser turret, while a flying variant has several helicopter-like blades and an odd number of eyes. A smaller cousin of the Stalker found exclusively in [[MiniDungeon Shrines]] can have up to three arms for carrying weapons and shields.

* ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaBreathOfTheWild'' features the Guardians, ancient {{Magitek}} machines originally constructed by the Sheikah to help their descendants battle [[BigBad Ganon]], only for them to be possessed by Ganon and turned against Hyrule in the Great Calamity. The standard Stalker model has six segmented tentacle-like limbs and a central rotating laser turret, while a flying variant has several helicopter-like blades and an odd number of eyes. A smaller cousin of the Stalker found exclusively in [[MiniDungeon Shrines]] can have up to three arms for carrying weapons and shields.

* Johnny 5 from the ''Film/ShortCircuit'' movies is a borderline example.

Common variations of this trope include SpiderTank, TripodTerror and TinCanRobot. Subtrope of {{Robot}}. See also AmbiguousRobots, MechanicalAbomination, EldritchStarship.

* Many of the droids from ''Franchise/StarWars''. While many come in varieties more akin to the humanoid [[https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/5/5c/C-3PO_droid.png C-3PO]], others look like the strange "[[TinCanRobot trash bin on wheels]]" [[https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/3/39/R2-D2_Droid.png R2-D2]], while others have such surreal designs that it's difficult to compare them to any real life object. For example, [[http://vignette2.wikia.nocookie.net/starwars/images/6/68/BB8-Fathead.png/ BB-8]] from ''Film/TheForceAwakens'' is a rolling ball with a free-moving dome on top.

* Many of the droids from ''Franchise/StarWars''. While many come in varieties more akin to the humanoid [[https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/5/5c/C-3PO_droid.png C-3PO]], others look like the strange "[[TinCanRobot trash bin on wheels]]" [[https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/3/39/R2-D2_Droid.png R2-D2]], while others have such surreal designs that it's difficult to compare them to any real life object. For example, [[http://vignette2.wikia.nocookie.net/starwars/images/6/68/BB8-Fathead.png/]] from ''Film/TheForceAwakens'' is a rolling ball with a free-moving dome on top.

* Many of the droids from ''Franchise/StarWars''. While many come in varieties more akin to the humanoid C3-PO, others look like the strange "[[TinCanRobot trash bin on wheels]]" R2-D2, while others have such surreal designs that it's difficult to compare them to any real life object.

* In ''Hellspark'' by Creator/JanetKagan, the robot drone that accompanies the heroine isn't described in detail, but it has a multitude of legs and the in-universe technical term for it is ''arachne'', derived from the Greek word for "spider".

* 2-Tor, the robot that accompanies you in the ''Star Challenge'' books. It has a height of around a meter and looks quite similar to BB-8 of ''TheForceAwakens'' fame[[note]]These books were written in TheEighties, much before BB-8 was ever conceived[[/note]], but it hovers instead of rolling, has a neck, and two big eyes not just one.

* The robotic shells the Daleks use for transportation in ''Series/DoctorWho''. They are [[TinCanRobot salt-shaker shaped tanks]] with an eye-stalk, a gun tube, and a telescoping arm ending in either a plunger-like device or a claw. Appropriately enough, the Daleks themselves are StarfishAliens (though they mutated from humanoids).