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I'm looking for general advice on playing robot characters. (The "wishing to be a real boy" trope applies to this character.) Any thoughts from anons on voice, mechanical/robotics things I should know, or anything else?

Depends. Is your robot fully sentient? Do they have a full range of emotions?

In the way of physical build, you'll be talking about joints, servos, maybe hydraulics. They'll probably use the word mind or neural net instead of brain, since brains are organs they don't have. You may want to refer to bits of programming like subroutines or decision trees. Be prepared for a lot of technobabble.

They'll have an internal gyroscope to give them a sense of balance. Instead of blood, expect something like coolant fluid or joint lubricant. If they're meant to pass as human, there will be a lot of technically extraneous devices inside them to mimic those functions. Some sort of rhythmic pump to pass as a heart, for instance. Their inhaling and exhaling, beyond possibly producing speech through a synthetic larynx, could also be used as a heat exchange. Instead of having nerves, they'll have a sensor net.

Basically, look at Data fron TNG, C3PO from Star Wars, that kind of character. For technobabble, again, TNG, and a lot of the old 80s stuff that dealt a lot with the amazing power of computers. Short Circuit, Knight Rider, Flight of the Navigator. For how robots work, look at Youtube videos about what Boston Dynamics has come up with, Honda's Asimo, the difference between Asimov's laws and what they call Friendly AI.

Sorry for the tl;dr, anon, I just love robots.

don't apologize at all! thank you anon!! and this particular character is fully sentient, but their understanding of their own emotions is not so great.

If your robot character wants to explore the understanding of their own emotions, then they might want to look into things that inspire pure emotional reaction in humans. The Emergency Medical Hologram in Voyager built himself a fake family in the Holodeck to try familial relations. Data got a pet cat. But think about what brings out emotions in people: music, dance, movies/plays, religion, family, sports - there would be different reasons for them to look into all sorts of things. They might learn about preferences, what works for them, what doesn't, what they have an affinity for "just because," just like humans do, but they'd want to pin a reasoning onto it.

If they like soap operas, they might start to emulate them to experience the emotional highs and lows without thinking of the consequences to personal relationships. Or a certain piece of music might bring them to tears or the closest thing they have to tears. (I recommend the story Virtuoso by Herbert Goldstone, which you can find here: http://lostsciencefiction.com/free-stories/virtuoso-by-herbert-goldstone-a-rarity-from-1953/ I read it a long time ago and it's been one of my standbys for robots relating to humans.)

Basically, sci-fi loves robots and the difference between them and humans. Just don't ascribe solely to Asimov. Friendly AI has a lot more opportunities than strictly following the three laws.

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