Android

From Memory Alpha, the free Star Trek reference.

An android being built

An android is an advanced form of robot, equipped with a self-aware artificial intelligence and made with the purpose to imitate humanoid lifeforms in at least rudimentary physical form. In the strict sense of the term, 'android' denotes a robot that is designed to look like a male humanoid. 'Female' androids are termed gynoids.

Androids began replacing other forms of robots in the late 22nd century when it became clear that a more lifelike appearance was needed for successful interactions with Humans. The biggest challenge that androids have continually had is their inability to fit seamlessly into society.

Androids are generally used for tasks that humanoids find either dangerous or tedious such as trash collection or cleaning up hazardous materials. Androids are generally many times stronger than the people who build them and therefore are much better able to survive in poor environmental conditions. This ability makes them both very useful to their creators but also makes them more likely to be destroyed, an issue that Federation ethicists are still debating.

The first truly successful android in the Federation was the Soong-type android Lieutenant Commander Data of the USS Enterprise-D. His eventual growth beyond his original programming created renewed interest in the field of humanoid robotics.

1 Alien Androids
2 Related Links
3 External Links

[edit] Alien Androids

[edit] Exo III - The Old Ones

The Old Ones of Exo III discovered how to build sophisticated androids thousands of years ago. They made their machines more and more complex, eventually conferring upon them the ability to feel emotions. Their greatest technical achievement was perhaps the android duplicator, a mechanism that could manufacture an exact duplicate of a living being, including its memories.

The Old Ones built their machines too well; according to a surviving machine, Ruk, the Old Ones became afraid of their machines and began to deactivate them. Their survival threatened, the machines overcame their programming and slew their builders. Ruk and all other known Exo III type androids were destroyed in 2266. (TOS: "What Are Little Girls Made Of?")

[edit] Automated Personnel Units

In 2372, the USS Voyager found a deactivated android which, upon repair by B'Elanna Torres, identified itself as Automated Personnel Unit 3947. It used Torres' goodwill to gain sympathy for his "people", who were on the verge of extinction after the death of their creators, the Pralor. It was later found that a people known as the Cravic had also made Automated Personnel Units, and that the Cravic were also extinct. Originally, the two peoples had been at war, using the Automated Units to battle. However, when the war ended and it was time to dismantle the units, they killed their creators and resumed their war. (VOY: "Prototype")

Ironically, the term "robot" was favored in dialog instead of "android" throughout the episode in question, although the Automated Personnel Units had a definite humanoid appearance.

[edit] Mudd's Androids

In 2268, infamous criminal Harcourt Fenton "Harry" Mudd, having escaped from imminent execution on Deneb V on charges of fraud, fled known space and encountered a Class K planet inhabited by thousands of advanced androids originally from the Andromeda Galaxy. Their makers had established outposts throughout their own galaxy, and had built only a handful of outposts in the Milky Way Galaxy; however, when the sun of their home star system went nova, most of their civilization was destroyed. The remaining makers died out over time, leaving only distant outposts of androids. These androids had their first encounter with native life in the Milky Way when Mudd crash-landed on their planet. Mudd was hardly an ideal model of humanity, and the androids decided that humans were a form of galactic pest that needed to be contained for their own protection (and the protection of the galaxy). These androids could have an operational lifespan of up to 500,000 years, and had access to advanced medical technology which could let them transplant humanoid brains into android bodies to grant them virtual immortality.

Mudd was detained, albeit in very comfortable surroundings, as the androids were quite happy to build replicas of any person he wanted, and provide him with any wish he could want (except freedom). When the androids attempted to abduct the USS Enterprise, the crew was able to escape by discovering the weakness of these androids; their minds are so highly logical that by intentionally acting as illogically and unpredictably as possible, the androids could be overloaded and incapacitated. (TOS: "I, Mudd")