This month you will notice an increase in articles or references to robots, although we won’t just stop at that, but include androids, cyborgs, and the like. Why? Because we love them!
From a sci-fi writing point of view, robots have given us a plethora of incredible novels, often turned into successful movies, TV series or animated shows. I grew up with Japanese anime, a world filled with the most hard-core transforming robots ever. I have a picture of me as a four-year-old, dressed like UFO Robot Grendizer, or Goldrake to us Italians, surrounded by nursery girlfriends dressed as Disney princesses … but no, princesses weren’t really my style.
As a YA SF writer I just had to have them in my Tijaran Tales series. In book 3, “The Nuarn Rift”, there’s a mean fight between these huge robots totally inspired by my childhood memories. So in love was I with the whole robot trend that I even dedicated my second book to Aran Banjo, pilot of the robot Daitarn 3. Yes, he was my first crush … ahhhhh ….
Before we go any further, let’s get this robot terminology right (Merriam-Webster).
Robot:
A machine that can do the work of a person and that works automatically or is controlled by a computer. Some examples: the Mars Explorer, automatic car washes, robotic arm of the Space Shuttle, autonomous robots, like the round dusters you unleash in the house to clean your floors, etc.
Android
A robot that looks like a person.
Cyborg:
A person whose body contains mechanical or electrical devices and whose abilities are greater than the abilities of normal humans. A bionic human.
Why don’t you get in touch and write an article on your favourite robot, or robot movie/book/tv series? We would love to hear from you. Make robot-month your month!
