Androids

Androids cover a variety of uses. Very simple and menial tasks might be done by robots, but not necessarily androids. After all, why would you need a complex personality and objective algorithm to vacuum your room? Just use a Roomba. Androids are often used in combat deployments of marines, as it's very useful to have a soldier that experiences no moral quandaries or disobedience and is able to comfort their fellow marines (albeit only because its programming tells it to, not because it genuinely feels compassion). Another example is them being used as explorers in inhospitable environments, since most are waterproof, have a heating and cooling system installed, and don't need to worry about a toxic atmosphere. Not only that, but they can also serve as companions for their far more vulnerable human counterparts. They can even be in a vacuum for a long time before they begin overheating. Some people just keep them around as a search engine that you can also chat with.   They can be used as a vessel for a ship's AI to direct them to check up on the ship while it is on a long journey, and they can also take care of it while it jumps through hyperspace. As of 2131, there is also the emergence of "synthetics," which are androids designed to look as human as possible. They are supposed to be a little more comforting than their counterparts with metal exteriors, though most of them are in the deepest parts of the uncanny valley in terms of how they act. Their facial expressions and the way they act are currently improving greatly, however. Non-synthetic androids are still prevalent in most situations, but are useful for any social situations that may arise.

Facilities dedicated to the production of androids are often giant industrial stations, with the most famous (or perhaps infamous) example being the Cloudbank Synthetics Production Facility. Completely mechanical androids typically go through far less development and testing than synthetic ones, as they do not have to learn natural muscle movements and human behavioral patterns, instead being given a pre-approved logic core that underwent about two weeks of machine learning.   Synthetics, on the other hand, have a rather complicated development process that involves creating a mechanical facsimile of human anatomy within a body of cloned tissue. Their bones, joints, and ligaments are a combination of aluminum, titanium, and various plastics. The synthetic skin and muscle tissue that covers their interior, filled with metal and wire, is actually just pseudoflesh. This is not the vat-grown pseudoflesh that humans have as a replacement for their their tissues, but rather synthflesh, which is not biological matter at all. It simply feels like real human tissue. If this synthetic tissue is damaged in some way, it is serviced by the nanomachines inside their body and repaired. These nanomachines are stored within a substance that permeates their body called "pseudomilk," though this substance is actually just a form of liquid latex that also happens to serve the function of lubrication and cooling.   The most advanced android models (besides those being improved upon at Cloudbank) have fully functioning internal organs and living tissue, as well as minds and personalities that are difficult to distinguish from real human beings. Their vatflesh bodies do require the sustenance of food, drink, air, and sleep. It is rumoured that the AI known as Monarch, now independently operating the Cloudbank Synthetics Production Facility, has advanced android intelligence even further, though how it managed to do so on its own is a subject of great debate.

Many people just treat androids as machines and nothing more. Some end up becoming genuinely attached to them despite their robotic nature. Most spacers consider them coworkers and treat them as such.