New Scientist Ranks the 25 Best Fictional Robots

Fast Summary

• New Scientist discusses the 25 best fictional robots across films, TV, and books.
• Robots featured include Ava from Ex Machina, Johnny-5 from Short Circuit, and WALL-E from Pixar’s animated film.
• Other iconic robots mentioned are R2D2 (Star Wars), Major Kusanagi (Ghost in the Shell), TARS (Interstellar), Bender (Futurama), and Sonny (I, Robot).
• the list highlights diverse themes like artificial intelligence consciousness (Ava, Kusanagi) to quirky charm (WALL-E, BB8).
• Additional entries explore layers of human-like emotions in robotics (Data in Star Trek: The Next Generation) along with moral dilemmas involving AI such as Ash’s programming in Alien.

Indian Opinion Analysis
The concept of robots, whether fictional or real-world innovations like AI-driven systems transforming industries globally-including India’s technological sector-has notably evolved our collective creativity. This curated list by New Scientist showcases narratives questioning autonomy vs servitude-a theme India’s tech space actively grapples with amid increasing automation debates. Such stories also foster public curiosity about ethics surrounding robot-human relationships: how much agency should machines have? With India rising as an emerging AI hub,public discourse inspired by cultural representations can potentially help guide ethical frameworks for India-centric innovation. Robotics is not just cinematic escapism but a reflection of deeper societal aspirations and fears regarding technology’s growing role.