Robot or Not?

The gate at Jabba’s palace in “Return of the Jedi” talks to droids, or has something inside it that talks to droids. So is it a robot? <p>John Siracusa and Jason Snell.</p>

They roam the ocean, scanning for important data and relaying their information home. There are no humans on board. Are these lonely sea voyagers robots? <p>John Siracusa and Jason Snell.</p>

The robotic guardian of the Beams. He looks like a bear but has a satellite dish on his head. He’s a thousand years old. <p>John Siracusa and Jason Snell.</p>

Game controller, robot, or total embarrassment? <p>John Siracusa and Jason Snell.</p>

ˈrōˌbät or ˈrōbət? <p>John Siracusa and Jason Snell.</p>

An unadorned iPhone can be a Naked Robotic Core, but is it a robot? <p>John Siracusa and Jason Snell.</p>

Look who was under the tree! It’s a giant mechanical monster!

Among the fiercest creatures in the machine kingdom are the Battlebots. They’re designed for fighting! But are they really robots, or is that just a clever marketing name?

High school students carry them around and learn what it’s like to be a parent. Or you learn how to revive them by pressing their chest and breathing into their mouths. But are these learning tools also educational robots?

It patrols the mall. Sometimes it knocks over small children.

The HBO series “Westworld” makes us contemplate whether its central characters, the Hosts, are robots or not. (We recorded this episode after the first seven episodes of season one had aired; forgive us if it was revealed later that “To Serve Man” was actually a cookbook.)

A robot slowly turns himself human. When does he stop being a robot?

Sometimes Mario is metallic. Does that make him a robot?

They are boats with paddles. What else are they?

Straight out of “Star Trek” come these technological villains. Also, we discuss larger issues including AIs and hive minds.

It just keeps going, and going, and going….

Little cute robots from “Ghost in the Shell.”

Self-guided rockets and drone barges.

They’re sure tasty, and it’s meat between bread, but are hot dogs sandwiches?

They sure look like robots. But who’s under the masks?

The owl and the snake from “Blade Runner” raise some interesting questions.

A little metal owl from “Clash of the Titans.” Crafted by the gods, can he possibly be a robot?

The robot from “The Day the Earth Stood Still”, plus a long digression into Star Trek androids.

Is all animation “cartoons”?

Two beloved metal creatures from animation.

That “Robo” prefix is sure interesting, and he’s probably a cop, but…

Bender, Calculon, and Hedonismbot.

He fights for the users inside a computer. Can software people be robots?

A fancy “robot arm” from Canada. But when is a robot arm just an arm, and when is it a robot?

Part animal, part machine. But is it a robot?

Please obey robot.

It’s Wimbledon time, and so our discussion turns to tennis, and Serena Williams—who is not a robot, despite her perhaps wishing she was.

Karel Capek’s play that made this podcast possible.

The Country Bears, Chuck E. Cheese, and the things from Five Nights at Freddy’s.

Live from RelayCon WWDC 2016, it’s a special live edition of Robot or Not.

He’s a droid with a cough. So what’s the deal?

They go up, they go down. They might even go sideways from time to time. And they can be smart. But are they robots?

Go go Gadget! Also we get off on a tangent about Penny, inspired by The Flop House.

Please state the nature of the medical emergency. Can a hologram be a robot?

From the AMC TV series “Humans,” the lifelike Synths look like humans but don’t act like it. And they bleed a funny color.

He’s an inflatable, medical robot from “Big Hero 6”—but can you back up your personality and still be a robot?

Our own robot (or not) is in the spotlight at last.

If he only had a heart.

It’s made of liquid metal.

Is it even a game? What if you had a video game that featured a robot?

From Bungie’s bestselling video game, Ghosts, Exos, Rasputin, and other things that might be robots.

A software model of a flatworm, piloting a Lego Mindstorms toy.

Agents and Oracles and Architects from the “Matrix” trilogy.

They listen to us and talk back. But is that enough?

Roy Batty, Pris, and all the rest. They’ve seen the Tannhauser Gate, but are they robots?