J.J. Abrams has sold another pilot and this one is about robot cops. Set in Los Angeles, the series will be produced by J.H. Wyman and executive produced by Wyman, Abrams and Bryan Burke. The robot drama, set in Los Angeles, is a “futuristic buddy cop drama set in a world where police officers are [...] More...
Meh. It's been done : [yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m8UweuBB8wM[/yt] Holmes and Yo-Yo Wikipedia Holmes and Yo-Yo at TVParty.com And that is Star Trek alum John Schuck (Star Trek:TUC and DS9) as "Yo-Yo"
As Christopher pointed out in the SciFi in Development Thread on the General SciFi Forum, this goes further than Alien Nation and Holmes and Yoyo (Or Maxwell Smart and Jaime) This shows is pairing up every Cop with an Android partner, so, though it will likely center on a specific cop and his Android Partner, there is lots of room for plot development on "Android Rights Issues", cops discussing their Android Partner with each other, possible "racism" plots from some cops who were forced to take on an Android Partner they objected vehemently to (Perhaps even an episode where someone is so offended he threatens to quit the force, or maybe actually does quit), etc.
Not exactly Robocop. Human + Android. I'm not sure what kind of robots they are, are they Asmov type Robots? There are androids now in Japan, they can't yet walk as far as I know, but they are fairly lifelike. If an android looked and behaved exactly like a human it would make no difference unless the android gets shot.
An Android can be any "race" that you like, including inhuman ones. If a cop wants an Orc for a partner, and android Orc could be built. I don't know about android rights, the android might not be a person in the same way a human is. One tough issue is that the android might neglect to protect himself sufficiently. For example in a shoot out the android might try to rush the bad guy without any consideration towards his own survival. Androids don't necessarily experience fear, though it might try to assess the consequences of its destruction if for example a bad guy points a gun to its head, the android might do something unexpected.
Eh, regarding Android (or Robot) Rights, I feel fairly confident, even if the bulk of them don't show Sentience, some Bleeding Heart will create a movement for their Rights once they become so prevalent in Society that you've got one partnered with every cop, LOL.