Fantastic portraits of pop culture’s most iconic robots

Published by Joel Willans on September 30, 2012

You only have to look at the Nokia Lumia 920 to see we’re massive fans of cool design combined with futuristic technology. So, you can imagine how happy we were to discover these incredible portraits by Daniel Nyari, a Romanian illustrator and designer based in New York.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, Leonardo Da Vinci was the first person to design a humanoid robot, when he put together plans for a mechanical knight in 1495. Since then, sci-fi has taken them to heart. Daniel has illustrated thirty of the greats together in one brilliant print. We managed to name thirteen of those shown here. Think you can do better? Prove it in the comments below.

 

Comments

  • http://twitter.com/strategyplanone Strategy Plan One

    R2D2, C3PO, Cylon, WALL-E, EVA, Bender and then I am stuck on the rest … similar to a post I saw a few weeks ago where hundreds of robots were drawn in a “where’s Wally” type picture.

    Good stuff

  • http://www.newsmeback.com NewsMeBack

    They are all incredibly cool !!!

  • Laura Sykes

    I got R2D2, C3PO, the one with Woody Allen, and that’s it!

  • http://twitter.com/nickdeninno Nick DeNinno

    voltron!

  • Mika Douglas

    I’m with Laura.

  • Andy Hards

    1, Clank (Ratchet and Clank) 2,Cyberman (Dr Who) 3,Cylon Centurian (Battlestar Galactica) 4,Marvin (Hitch Hikers Guide to the Galaxy) 5,Wheatley (Portal) 6,Miles Monroe (Sleeper) 7,HAL (2001:A Space Odyssey) 8,The Iron Giant (The Iron Giant) 9,Robby the Robot 10,Maria Robot (Metropolis) 11,Optimus Prime (Transformers) 12,WALL-E (WAL-E)13,Alpha 5 (Power Rangers) 14,Voltron (Defenders Of The Universe) 15,EVA (WAL-E) 16,C3P0 (StarWars) 17,Bender (Futurama)18,Brainiac (DC Comics) 19,Pnueman (Tom Strong) 20,R2D2 (StarWars) 21,Sentinel (Marvel)
    Do I get a 920?

    • http://www.facebook.com/joel.willans Joel Willans

      If it were up to me, Andy, the answer would most definitely be yes! In fact, 21 out of 21 is worthy of Transforming Cyber Star Wars 920!

  • http://twitter.com/haroldlgardner Harold Gardner

    Totally awesome!

  • http://www.rantsandravesofacrazedmom.com/ Vicky Harinski

    cylon i can rememver

  • http://www.facebook.com/MarkAReynolds Mark Reynolds

    It’s a bit tricky when they’re caricatured, but I figure:

    A Cyberman from Doctor Who;
    A Cylon from Battlestar Galactica;
    Inspector Gadget ?;
    HAL from 2001 A Space Oddyssey;
    C3PO from Start Wars;
    R2D2 from Star Wars;

    I would have included:
    Robby “The Robot” from Lost In Space;
    Number Five;
    Bicentennial Man;
    Tobor the Great;

    Marvin the Paranoid Android;

    (although there are different visualisations of Marvin, and I think no. 4 above might be one)

    I was never much of a fan of animated movies or TV shows, so I’m sure there are some that I don’t recognise like Transformers, etc…

    Make my 920 a black one…

  • Peter Shorney

    I got 18 right. But cybermen aren’t robots. *geek points*

    • http://www.facebook.com/joel.willans Joel Willans

      Nice work, Peter. You certainly spanked us. Is that the result of a misplaced childhood or a passion for sci-fi? Definite geek points for Cybermen, I had my suspicions, but wasn’t entirely sure what was under the hood.

    • Andy Hards

      Hal from 2001 wasn’t a robot either, it was the ships computer. Miles Monroe from Sleeper was just Woody Allen with silver make up and a colander on his head and Brainiac was usually depicted as a man, this is the most robotic I’ve ever seen him. *Super Geek Points*

    • The almighty Brick

      neither are transformers, because they are technically living aliens.

  • http://www.WhitepaperDepot.com/ Daniel Waas

    Love these! HAL & the Cylon Centurion are my Faves. Axis of Robot Evil. Yay!

  • http://www.facebook.com/goldiedust2012 Goldie Dust

    LOL! These are brilliant. My kid brother would love the poster. Hes total sci fi geek

  • http://www.stichtingmilieunet.nl/andersbekekenblog Milieunet

    Very nice

  • http://twitter.com/srivatsan316 Srivatsan

    Not a robo geek but yeah shed a lot of light for me on this subject.

  • http://twitter.com/srivatsan316 Srivatsan

    The comments are super :) Cheers to all of you

  • http://www.facebook.com/kevin.norris.3990 Kevin Norris

    Is Voltron technically a robot? I mean, he’s not really autonomous… if that’s the definition of a robot, of course. All the rest work on their own. The Lion pilots have to control Voltron…