What’s the deal with Androids/droids?

The term “android”, at least in part, describes the difference between an android and a robot. You are probably thinking that it’s contraction of “anthropomorphic droid”, right? Anthropomorphic meaning “having human characteristics”.

Well, you’re wrong because droid is a made-up word – thank you, George Lucas, for that.

The suffix “oid” does mean “having the form of” so to say that androids take the form of humans is not wrong. It’s just that the true meaning is a little bit more specific.

Andr- means “man” - literally male. Turns out you can’t have female androids. If you did, it’s likely that you’d call them a gynoid.

In either case, whether it’s an android or a gynoid, these mechs are designed to walk, talk, and perform complex social interactions. Naturally, they all look human and by all accounts, they should behave human.

Their AI is superior to robots, to the point where they ought to “break free” of any programming limitations and think freely for themselves. Right now, I suspect you are thinking “something, something, Skynet”. That’s possible - likely for androids that are built for war – but house cleaning androids will probably continue to clean your house. They will simply begin to complain about how much work you make them do. They possess human characteristics, after all.

I’ve described androids as being sentient, and in popular culture they usually are. However, the only true requirement for an android is to look humanoid. Unfortunately, Sentient androids do not currently exist.
To sum up, androids are mechanical beings that take the form and attitude of men. Gynoids are the female version, and droids only exist in the Star Wars universe.