Gynoid

Gynoid (from Greek gynÄ" - woman) is a term used to describe a robot designed to look like a human female, as compared to an android modeled after a male. The term is not common, however, with "android" often being used to refer to both 'genders' of robot. The portmanteaus "fembot" (female robot) and "feminoid" (female android) have also been used sparingly. "Gynoid" alone was first used in the writings of British science fiction author Gwyneth Jones and later by Richard Calder.

Early concepts

Pygmalion and Galatea by Jean-Leon Gerome (1824-1904)

From 600 BC onward legends of talking bronze and clay statues coming to life have been a regular occurrence in the works of classical authors such as: Homer, Plato, Pindar, Tacitus, and Pliny. In Book 18 of the Iliad, Hephaestus the god of all mechanical arts, was assisted by two moving female statues made from gold - "living young damsels, filled with minds and wisdoms". Another legend has Hephaestus being commanded by Zeus to create the first woman, Pandora, from out of clay. The myth of Pygmalion, king of Cyprus, tells of a lonely man who sculpted his ideal woman from ivory, Galatea, and then promptly fell in love with her after the goddess Aphrodite brings her to life. Variations on this recurrent theme of loving an artificial creation appear in E.T.A. Hoffmann's gothic short story Der Sandmann (1817) in which the love object is the automaton Olympia, in LÃ©o Delibes' ballet CoppÃ©lia (1870) where it is the eponymous dancing doll, and in countless recent science fiction films and novels.

Since the Renaissance, inventors began considering machines for more realistic yet aesthetic purposes. In 1540, Italian inventor Gianello Torriano of Cremona made automata for the amusement of Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, including a life-sized girl plucking a lute. The girl could walk in straight lines or circles and tilt her head. It still exists and now resides in the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna. During the 1640s, the French philosopher RenÃ© Descartes is reputed to have travelled with an artificial female companion called Francine, named after his daughter. Austrian Friedrich von Knauss developed a "writing doll" in 1760 capable of writing up to 107 words through dictation. By 1773, the Jaquet-Droz brothers in France had developed a series of life-like mechanical puppets which included a sixteen year old female musician. The musician played a piano with fingers on the appropriate keys and was designed to simulate breathing as well as turn her head sideways and bow at the end of each performance. Mechanist Les Maillardet is credited in inspiring the invention of "The Philadelphia Doll" (1812) which was capable of writing in English and French and drew landscapes. In 1823, Johann Nepomuk Maelzel had manufactured a doll that could state "Ma-ma" and "Pa-pa". By 1891, Thomas Edison developed this work further by patenting his Talking Doll, utilising a wax cylinder that recited "Mary Had a Little Lamb", based on Maelzel's earlier idea. Initially to advertise his phonograph, more than 500 were produced.

Modern developments

The industrial revolution and in particular since World War II, the development of cybernetics and the concept of artificial intelligence led to more complex ideas of robots and androids. Whereas robots in the past have performed routine and mundane tasks, a fully independent gynoid has yet to be developed. Protoype gynoids are the Repliee Q1 family, including Repliee R1 (resembling a little girl) and its successors Repliee Q1 and Repliee Q2.

Role of gynoids in science fiction

Science fiction storytellers have widely used humanoid robots, sometimes as part of the look and feel of their fictional worlds, but often so as invite the audience to react to the robot character as if it were human. Stories using androids can explore issues such as what it means to be human. At what point do androids become so human-like that they deserve the rights that society grants to humans? For example, the story Blade Runner deals with a world in which androids are so realistic that only special equipment can distinguish them from humans. However, androids are treated as inferior to humans. The action revolves around a bounty hunter employed to track down escaped androids who are masquerading as humans.

Stories that specifically need gynoids (as opposed to genderless humanoid robots) often invite the audience to consider issues of gender relations and gender roles. Many fictional gynoids are made to resemble attractive young women, bringing issues of romance and sexual relations into play. For example, should societies approve or tollerate gynoids being owned by male humans as sex toys or sex slaves (and by extension, how does this reflect on the treatment of human females by their males)? Stories such as the The Stepford Wives, Weird Science, and Chobits have dealt thoughtfully with these issues. See also Sex in science fiction.

List of fictional gynoids

The list below includes gynoids or cyborgs with a female appearance.

Maria, from the film Metropolis, is a famous gynoid in modern fiction,

* Alicia, in "The Lonely" an episode from The Twilight Zone (1959).
* The Alienator, from Alienator (1989).
* Alsatia Zevo from Toys
* Andrea, in "What are Little Girls Made Of?" an episode from Star Trek: The Original Series (1966).
* Androids in Westworld (1973). A female android refusing a guest's seduction causes a supervisor to suspect something is seriously wrong.
* Naomi Armitage from Armitage III (1997) .
* Andromeda from A for Andromeda (1961) and The Andromeda Breakthrough (1962).
* Andromedan gynoids, in "I, Mudd" an episode from Star Trek: The Original Series (1967).
* Ashley, from Cybergirl (2001 - )
* Assorted gynoids, from Robot Stories (2003).
* ANI from Mercy Point (1998 - 1999).
* Anri from the original Bubblegum Crisis OVA series.
* April and Buffybot from Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997 - 2004).
* Betty, in "Directly from My Heart to You" an episode from Twisted Tales (1996).
* Bloodberry from Saber Marionette R/J/J Again/J To X
* Android version of Calliope Jones on Days of our Lives(1985)
* Android and Replicator versions of Samantha Carter, from Stargate SG-1 (1998, 2002, 2004).
* Annalee Call from Alien: Resurrection (1997).
* Cassandra from Android (1983).
* Cherry from Saber Marionette R/J/J Again/J To X
* Cherry 2000 from Cherry 2000 (1987).
* Chii (Elda) from Chobits (2002)
* Cho from [1]Divine Endurance((1984)
* Cybergirl/Ashley from Cybergirl (2001)
* Disposable women, from an early issue of Mad Magazine
* Doctus from the PS2 RPG Xenosaga Episode III: Also sprach Zarathustra.
* R. Dorothy Wayneright, from The Big O
* Dot Matrix, from Spaceballs
* Dot Matrix, from ReBoot (a completely different character from the one in the movie Spaceballs)
* Dural, from Virtua Fighter videogame series by SEGA/AM#2
* Eve VIII, from Eve of Destruction (1991).
* Eve Edison from Mann & Machine (1992).
* Fem bots from Austin Powers
* Fem bots from the TV series, The Six Million Dollar Man and The Bionic Woman
* Four pleasure gynoids in Cyberzone (1995).
* Freya from Chobits (2002).
* Galatea from Bicentennial Man (1999).
* Galaxina from Galaxina (1980).
* Guri, assistant to Prince Xizor in Shadows of the Empire from the Star Wars Expanded Universe.
* Hadaly from Viller's de L'Isle Adam's novel L'Eve future (1879).
* Helen O'Loy from Lester del Rey's novel Helen O'Loy (1938).
* HMX-12 Multi and HMX-13 Serio from ToHeart (as well as HMX-11 Feel from To Heart - Remember My Memories).
* HMX-17a Ilfa from ToHeart2
* Ilia from Star Trek: The Motion Picture, after she returns from being converted into a nano-machine being by Vger.
* Jaycie Triplethree (or JC 333) from the play by Alan Ayckbourn Comic Potential (1998).
* Jennifer Chow in the play The Intelligent Design of Jennnifer Chow (2005)
* "Jenny" XJ-9 Wakeman from My Life as a Teenage Robot 2003-present
* Jessica from Screamers (1995).
* KAY-Em 14, from Jason X (2001).
* KOS-MOS from the PS2 series RPG Xenosaga.
* Lal, a "daughter" built by Data, in the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode "The Offspring"; referred to as an android.
* Lana and Greta, from Grid Runners (aka Virtual Combat) (1994).
* Lime from Saber Marionette R/J/J Again/J To X
* Lisa from Weird Science (1985).
* Losira replicants, in "That Which Survives" an episode from Star Trek: The Original Series (1969).
* Dee Model from Ken MacLeod's The Stone Canal, referred to as gynoid within the book, who proved to be more than "just a fucking machine".
* Mahoro from Mahoromatic 1-2
* Marine from Saber Marionette J Again
* May from Hand Maid May
* Perhaps the original film Gynoid, the robot "Maria" (also referred to as Futura, Hel, or the Robotrix) in 1927's Metropolis, or the mysterious girl in its Japanese remake.
* Mecha Rinrin in Sister Princess
* Melfina from Outlaw Star.
* Nan 300F from the play by Alan Ayckbourn Henceforward... (1987)
* Mona Lisa, in "Mona Lisa" an episode from The Outer Limits (2003).
* Nightbird from the Transformers episode "Enter the Nightbird".
* Niya from Humanoid Woman (1981).
* Olga from The Perfect Woman (1949).
* Olympia in Jacques Offenbach's Les contes d'Hoffmann.
* Ping from Megatokyo
* Pixie from Buttobi CPU
* Pris from Blade Runner (1982).
* Rachael Tyrell from Blade Runner (1982).
* Rayna Armitraj from Earth: Final Conflict
* Rayna Kapec, in "Requiem for Methuselah" an episode from Star Trek: The Original Series (1969).
*Reverie (Hoshino Yumemi in the original Japanese version), a main character in the visual novel Planetarian.)
* Reese, in "Menace" an episode from Stargate SG-1 (2002).
* Rhoda from My Living Doll (1964 - 1965).
* Rommie from Andromeda (2000 - 2004).
* Ruth, in "Shore Leave" an episode from Star Trek: The Original Series (1966).
* Rya from Bonus Stage
* The 33-S 'Sexaroids' Sylvie, Anri, Lou, Meg and Nam from the original Bubblegum Crisis OVA series (episodes #5 and #6). In addition, there were female-form boomers of other models (notably the 33-C and 55-C types) appearing throughout the series.
* Six of one from the animated TV series Tripping the Rift (2004) - to present.
* Solty from Solty Rei.
* The replacement women in The Stepford Wives.
* The Supervisor droid, which controls the Electrocorp factory in the video game Rise of the Robots.
* Synthetic females called Syns, from Future Syn (2004).
* Dr. Juliana Tainer (nÃ©e O'Donnell), a replica of Data's "mother" appearing in the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode "Inheritance"; referred to as an android
* T-elos from the PS2 RPG Xenosaga Episode III: Also sprach Zarathustra.
* THELMA from Space Cases (1996 - 1997).
* T-X (Terminatrix), from Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines (2003).
* Valerie 23, in "Valerie 23" an episode from The Outer Limits (1995).
* Number Three (D'Anna Biers), Number Eight (Sharon Valerii) and Number Six from Battlestar Galactica (2003 - ).
* Verda, in "The Android Machine" and "Revolt of the Androids" episodes from Lost in Space (1966)
* VICI and Vanessa from Small Wonder (1985 - 1989).
* WD40, from Space Quest V (1993).
* Zhora from Blade Runner (1982).
* Several gynoids are featured throughout the Unreal series.
* Petra, a character in the computer game Ultima VII Part Two: Serpent Isle
* The female body of Project 2501 from Ghost in the Shell
* Geisha-like gynoids from Ghost in the Shell: Innocence
* Female-like persocoms in Chobits (2002)
* Several "marionettes" from Saber Marionette R/J/J Again/J To X

There are several names that are synonymous with the word "gynoid" in anime and manga, for example: persocom, marionette, and cyberdoll.

Japanese illustrator Hajime Sorayama is well-known for having female-shaped robots among his preferred themes.

References

* Adams, Alison (1998) Artificial Knowing: Gender and the Thinking Machine. London and New York: Routledge. ISBN 0415129621
* Balsamo, Anne (1996) Technologies of the Gendered Body: Reading Cyborg Women. Durham, NC: Duke University Press. ISBN 0822316862
* Haraway, Donna J. (1991) Simians, Cyborgs and Women: The Reinvention of Nature. New York: Routledge. ISBN 0415903866
* Jordana, Ludmilla (1989) Sexual Visions: Images of Gender in Science and Medicine between the Eighteenth and Twentieth Centuries. Madison, Wis.: University of Wisconsin Press. ISBN 0299122905
* Leman, Joy (1991) "Wise Scientists and Female Androids: Class and Gender in Science Fiction." In, Corner, John, editor. Popular Television in Britain. London: BFI Publishing. ISBN 0-85170-269-4
* Warner, Marina (2000) reprint Monuments and Maidens: The Allegory of the Female Form. Berkeley: Univ. of California Press. ISBN 0520227336

External links

* Catalyst program - Fembots
* Fembot Central
* Gynoid Gallery
* The Mechanical Eve

Gynoid: Encyclopedia BETA

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