Even before Karel Capek coined the term robot, the idea of mechanical people fascinated us: they wanted to play one, to use their ingenuity to create in their own image. While the actual robotics achievements have been stunning, the literary robots are even more amazing in the diversity of both function and metaphor.

From Capek's biotech machines of R.U.R. to Kuttner's Proud Robot to the fictional assortment of mechanical sex toys, rebels, grandmothers, servants and masters, these machines have represented our dreams as well as our anxieties. In this anthology are the stories that represent all the many faces of robots: beautiful, hideous, and everything in between.