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{{trope}}
[[File:Gunnerkrigg-
{{quote|''"'''Always''' program a militaristic defence mode into your toys, kids. It's just common sense!"''|'''Mr. Sin''', ''[[Sam and Fuzzy]]''}}
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[[Ridiculously-Human Robots|Sufficiently humanoid robots]] will have [[Super Strength|super-strength]] and [[Stock Super Powers|other fantastic abilities]]. [[Misapplied Phlebotinum|It doesn't matter what they were built for]].
Sometimes, the robot doesn't even need to be humanoid. Relatively simple non-human robots that perform mundane jobs also seem to be way overpowered and/or over-armed for their designed tasks. A robot designed to do nothing but wash windows will undoubtedly also have enough power to batter though a concrete wall if it has to.
This is especially true for [[Replacement Goldfish]]; something that's designed to emulate a [[Astro Boy|cute 6-year-old boy]] will undoubtedly have lasers, rockets, and invulnerable titanium armor. Fortunately, this often allows them to become a [[Superhero]]. (This may, though, just be their creator's way of ensuring that the replacement does not perish in the same kind of tragic accident that took the original.)
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This may be explained by it being easier to take something that's built to do industrial work and make it look like a human than build something that's as weak as a human from the ground up; however, few series come out and say this. Perhaps justified in that even robots not specifically designed to have super-lifting capabilities would have greater strength than humans because most metals are stronger than human muscle; their inability to feel pain or fatigue would also give them [[Made of Iron|unlimited stamina]]. May also become a [[Truth in Television]]; looking at many other forms of technology with extraneous doodads, the question doesn't seem to be "Why?" but [[For Science!|"Why not?"]]
It may also be justified if the robot has a secondary function as an inconspicuous
This makes them a threat when acquiring an [[Instant AI, Just Add Water|Artificial Intelligence]], or [[Lightning Can Do Anything|struck by lightning]].
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{{examples}}
== [[Anime]] and [[Manga]] ==
* Ur-example: ''[[Astro Boy]]'' was built to replace a grieving scientist's young son, and is equipped with a 100,000-horsepower engine, rocket feet, and ''[[Author Appeal|a machine gun that comes out of his butt]]'', among other things. Either Dr. Tenma is very strange, or his son was even stranger. [[Hand Wave|Hand-waved]] by having him simply retool an existing 'ultimate robot' model to look like his son, or claim that he will not only make his son a robot, but the 'best robot ever'.
** The 1960s series explained it by saying he was originally a military robot that the Doctor was working on, and was altered at the last minute at great haste; Tenma had rather snapped after his son's death, and didn't care beyond annoyance that he was a death machine.
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* Despite the prevalence of cybernetic enhancement in the world of ''[[Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex]]'', this is actually somewhat ''averted'' in a couple of episodes, late in the first season. {{spoiler|After the Tachikomas are retired from service in Section 9, most are dismantled. The only two that survive are sold off to a retirement home and a construction company as service robots, and all their specialized weaponry is removed when they're decommissioned. After all, when you're tending to a bunch of senile centenarians, you don't really need guns in your forearms, do you?}}
** It is played straight in an earlier episode where a reclusive millionare has robot maids which are armed with some deadly-looking weaponry and use it almost at the drop of a hat. They are taken down very easily though.
** The suicidal "Jeri" androids in Episode 3 have no apparent physical capabilities beyond those of
* [[Inverted Trope|Conversely]], in ''[[Mahoromatic]]'', a combat android decides to become a maid. Naturally, she is superb as a chef as well as all things domestic.
** Possibly a semi-subversion, as she does remove most of her combat equipment before becoming a maid, and reacquires it later on.
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** In chapter 253, Haruna uses [[Green Lantern Ring|her Artifact]] to make a [[Mobile Suit Human]] for [[Our Ghosts Are Different|Sayo]] so Sayo can kiss Negi for a Pactio, complete with [[Flight]], [[Eye Beams]], a [[Rocket Punch]], a [[Gatling Good|gatling gun]]...
* Averted in ''[[Outlaw Star]]'' with Melfina and the numerous helper robots that Gilliam II uses around the ship. Melfina is very similar to humans with respect to her physical strength, and the helper robots can't even lift most objects unless the ship is in space. Gilliam II's helper robots are tiny; no bigger than a small rodent or so.
** Melfina is quite similar to humans in physical capability because she's a "bio-android" rather than a robot, which basically means "genetically engineered human built to a specific purpose with certain programming hardwired into their genes". Possibly her skeleton is inorganic as well<ref>But most likely not - if she had artificial bones, she would have no way to make new blood cells.</ref> but the point is her muscles are essentially human muscles.
** One episode actually shows a scan of her that outright confirms this. Later in the series it's revealed that other than the modifications that allow her to interface with the Outlaw Star she's pretty much as human as anyone else, though artificially created.
* It is never really clarified whether the 'Humaritts' of ''[[Najica Blitz Tactics]]'' are robotic, cybernetic, genetically-altered, or a combination of those... but they still definitely fall under this. While some of them are stated to have been outright designed for combat - and show appropriately impressive competency at this - at least one of the humaritts encountered was designed to be a nursemaid/assistant type... capable of taking down an army of ninjas with a [[Double Weapon|Double-Bladed Sword]]. Clearly, when she says 'nappy-time', you NAP!
* ''[[Dominion Tank Police]]'': It's odd that a pair of former [[Sex Bot|sexbots]] should have super strength and military-grade targeting computers, but Anna and Uni probably have the excuse that their boss bought them the upgrades.
* Yuki Nagato from [[Haruhi Suzumiya]] is an [[Artificial Human]] built to observe. Fans describe her as the most powerful character ever made.
* [[Funny Robot| Obots]] in ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh! Zexal]]'' (Litterbots in the English dub) were designed to clean up trash in Heartland City, but they can do other things, like play instruments in marching bands and act as referee during the [[Tournament Arc]]. In the finale of Season One, [[The Dragon|Mr. Heartland]] uses them as [[Mecha Mook]]s, the function he may actually have intended them for from the start. At least one Obot (named Obami) has enough sapience to have a personality of its own, becoming Yuma's [[Robot Buddy]] and housekeeper.
== [[Film]] ==
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*** This was shown in Episode 1, where R2 ended up being the only droid left to finish the repairs on Queen Amidala's Royal Starship. Since he was in possession of the Royal Engineers of Naboo, he had several enhancements that few other astromech droids had.
* Averted in the movie ''[[A.I.: Artificial Intelligence]].'' In one scene the [[Replacement Goldfish]] protagonist robot is asked by the real son of his adoptive mother what "cool tricks" he can do, such as fly or walk on walls. In fact, he has no powers at all, and behaves exactly as a normal human child would when placed in danger.
** Not entirely
* In ''[[WALL-E]]'' the [[Action Girl]] Eve is a essentially a biological collector, trying to find evidence of plant life on Earth. So naturally, she has a high power plasma gun, enough power to make a micro-tornado by spinning, fast enough to break the sound barrier, and strong enough to hold back a huge sliding wall by herself. Those plants are apparently rough customers.
** The speed and durability would probably be justified; she's got a lot of ground to cover, and Earth's environment can be rough. Also she's an Extraterrestrial Vegetation Evaluator, so she probably explores other planets that potentially have hostile life, so she's just equipped with killer defense systems.
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* In [[Henry Kuttner]]'s ''[[Gallagher]]'' cycle, the eponymous [[Mad Scientist]] has built a superpowered humanoid robot and then spends the whole story trying to find out what was he supposed to do (whi is, by the way, {{spoiler|opening cans}}). Justified, as the Gallagher's gimmick is that only his subconcious is a super-inventor, so he invents eveything while ''hopelessly drunk''.
* In [[Isaac Asimov]]'s short story ''Robbie'' the eponymous robot was a nursemaid for an eight-year-old girl named Gloria. Naturally, it's really strong and really fast {{spoiler|which turn out to be extremely useful when Gloria's life was in danger.}} When the story appears in ''I, Robot,'' Susan Calvin explains that Robbie was sold in a time before robots were outlawed on Earth.
* There are several stories from the ''[[Bolo]]'' series of Bolos, basically football-field sized<ref>
** One had a Bolo redesigned as an agricultural aid. When aliens came to attack the colony, it used its agricultural tools to engineer a plague that wiped out the aliens.
** Another is about a Bolo with its weapons stripped so it can be a tractor/digging machine... which still manages to save a colony of humans.
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== [[Live Action TV]] ==
* Data from ''[[Star Trek: The Next Generation]]'' once took over the ship with his ability to perfectly mimic Captain Picard's voice and hack into his command codes. Nobody ever questioned why he could do this, or [[No OSHA Compliance|attempted to alter that function]]. He also had super strength, despite being designed to be as "human as possible." (Although it's revealed later that his creator ''did'' create a "normal" android, with human-level strength and intellectual
* ''[[Star Trek: Voyager]]'''s Emergency Medical Hologram was created as a mere backup for the human doctor in a crisis. When Voyager is thrown across the galaxy (killing the human doctor) the holographic Doctor is forced through circumstance (and later his own determination) to evolve. Over the next seven years the Doctor takes on hobbies such as opera, painting, photography and sex (''Let's just say I made an...addition to my program''), acts as a target for Kazon ships (albeit accidentally), writes a provocative holonovel, gets transmitted across the galaxy (and back) on two separate occasions, commands the ship single-handedly in "Workforce" and is just flat-out amazing (though not always sensible) in "Renaissance Man". But, as we see in "Tinker, Tailor, Doctor, Spy", it's nothing compared to what the egotistical Doc can do in his fantasies!
** It should be noted, however, that the Doctor (unlike most of the examples listed, especially in-universe counterpart Data) was never designed with these capabilities. He extensively modified himself to support these new subroutines and abilities. He wasn't 'born' with them. In fact, a couple of episodes were built around the consequences of him overtaxing his base programming and 'crashing'.
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* April, the original robot girlfriend made by Warren in ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]'', was given super-human strength for no good reason. While the Buffybot arguably needed strength to sufficiently impersonate Buffy, April doesn't need the power to throw men through walls...
** Maybe Warren's just kinky that way. He even made her growl.
** Warren is a nerd, so he was [[Genre Savvy|aware of this trope]] and made April that way simply because [[Ridiculously-Human Robots]] ''always'' [[Rule of Cool|have these abilities in TV and movies]]. It's entirely justified in the Buffybot however, as Spike didn't just want it to ''look'' like the
* Lampshaded in ''[[Red Dwarf]]''. Serving droid Kryten isn't particularly strong compared to a human being, but {{spoiler|his successor, Hudzen-10, is so strong he can chop through bricks... ''with his penis''}}.
** For those playing at home, this is a double example. Not only does he have superhuman strength but {{spoiler|has it in an appendage which a robot maid really shouldn't logically have. Unless you're in to that I suppose...}}.
** Kryten is regularly mocked by Rimmer for being designed to clean toilets, especially when Lister and Cat respect Kryten's leadership over his (e.g in the episode Quarantine). Kryten is actually a rather good leader (at least by Red Dwarf standards) so I guess that's a subtle example of this trope.
* The original K9 from ''[[Doctor Who]]''. He was built as a substitute pet for a doctor working on a space station that didn't allow dogs on board. So why's he got a frickin' laser cannon in his nose? [[Rule of Cool]]. If you could make a robot dog with a laser cannon in his nose, wouldn't you?
** Considering the places where dogs stick their noses? No.
* The title character in the Showtime ''[[The Outer Limits]]'' episode "Valerie 23" was a fembot who was specifically designed and created to be a companion for disabled shut-ins or people working in isolated conditions. So why was it built with lethal superhuman strength and a severe lack of impulse control? Worse, after the episode in which this gynoid went dangerously wrong, the series did several other episodes about other androids from the same company going dangerously awry in other ways.
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== [[Tabletop RPG
* At least one edition of the [[After the End|post-apocalyptic]] RPG ''[[Gamma World]]'' had ''literal'' super-powered robot meter maids as a potential risk to breaking open abandoned parking meters for cash.
* These showed up in an arcology in [[Shadowrun]], but then an insane AI decided to use them to perform medical experiments on the unwilling inhabitants. In the latest version, one of the selling points of the new robot assistants is that they are deliberately crippled to be slower than a person and mechanically incapable of restraining a human.
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* The entire inclusion of Tesse, from the Neo Geo fighting game ''[[Waku Waku 7]]'', is based on this trope. Despite officially being designed as a housekeeper and maid, and fighting with brooms and hypodermic needles, she is able to evenly match the other (quirky) fighters.
* Maintenance droids, courier droids, and office-aid androids in ''[[Crusader: No Remorse|Crusader]]'' are all armed to destroy possible invaders.
* One of the villains in the third ''[[Ratchet and Clank]]'' game is Courtney Gears, a robotic pop star. Nonetheless, she has enough weaponry to engage [[One-Man Army]] Ratchet in battle.
** She's also a [[Dance Battler]], and is perfectly willing to send her [[Mecha-Mooks|backup dancers]] out to kill you first. [[Everything's Better with Spinning|Who pirouette into you.]]
* Building a robotic fuel-injection system de-icer? Sounds like a good idea. Building a robotic fuel-injection system de-icer that's also a sentient AI that controls your entire research lab and is also equipped with the ability to summon rocket turret defenses and release neurotoxin? [[Portal (series)|That didn't work out so well.]]
** [[It Seemed Like a Good Idea At the Time]]!
* The robots in the [[Descent]] series are quite heavily armed. The strange part is that the majority of these 'bots are mining and industrial robots! Granted, that could be a [[Justified Trope|justification]], as robots used for blasting rock are more than capable of blasting intruders and later on it is mentioned that the robots are modifying themselves. But where are they getting the military hardware? They're mining robots!
** The most egregious offender is the Thresher 'bot from ''Descent 3''. It's a fucking industrial robot but it wields ''twin'' fusion cannons, which happen to be one of the most powerful weapons in the series.
** The novels spell it out more plainly: the robots didn't start using military-grade weapons until they found the military's research lab/weapons cache on Level 17. Before that they were using repurposed mining tools.
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** Remember, this is from [[Crap Saccharine World|before the war]], when things like "user survival" were seldom even considered.
*** Actually, Mr. Handy robots aren't butlers but repair and maintenance robots (in fact, you sometimes find repair tools on destroyed ones in Fallout 2). In this light, the flamethrowers and circular saws make far more sense, as do their modifications into combat tools. The fact that the Vault 101 Mr. Handy is made into a butler speaks more about the resident tinkerer of Vault 101 than the Mr. Handy models.
* VIVIT of the ''[[Seihou]]'' series, a [[Robot Maid]] who runs on <s>Getter Rays</s> <s>Spiral Power</s> Saboten Energy who also happens to be an advanced combat android. The maid part is, well, because [[Covert Pervert|her]] [[Dirty Old Man|creator]] had a [[Meido]] fetish.
* ''[[City of Heroes]]'': The Clockwork of [[Mirror Universe|Praetoria]] were designed to clean the streets, wash windows, and help citizens in their day-to-day lives. However, their creator [[Mad Scientist|Neuron]] decided they also needed plasma emitters, laser guns, and electric blasters built in. This is justified in story, as they are programmed to stop any criminal activity they see and help the police if needed. That being said, they are pretty much the ''only'' group of NPCs that will not attack you on sight in a world where [[Everything Is Trying to Kill You]].
* [[Invoked Trope|Invoked]] in ''[[Unreal Championship 2: The Liandri Conflict|Unreal Championship 2 The Liandri Conflict]]'' - Liandri advertise the strength, mobility and AI adaptability of their newest domestic robot by entering one in the year's Unreal Tournament. Devastation's curvy chassis is lampshaded in her bio, which states it was modeled after a "popular adult holoactress" to boost sales.
* Some of the [[Schizo-Tech|mechanical enemies]] in [[World of Warcraft]] are like this. The harvest golems in particular, were ostensibly built to harvest crops. Naturally, [[
* Orianna in ''[[League of Legends]]'' was the daughter of a [[Mad Scientist]] and died in an accident while training for a League tournament. She was [[Dance Battler|rebuilt]] as the "perfect daughter" with [[Uncanny Valley|spastic mechanical movements]] and an [[Creepy Doll|emotionless voice]] but a perfectly functional "protector", a mechanical ball complete with EMP and gravity weapons. Although her powers are justified by firstly his desire to stop anything else happening to her, and secondly because ''not'' making her incredibly dangerous would have been a bit of an obstacle to joining the League.
* ''[[Monster Girl Quest Paradox]]'' has an inversion of this trope in Hild. She initially seems to be a combat robot, but she has unnecessarily advanced emotions and even the ability to reproduce.
* A lot of mechanical foes in the ''[[Epic Battle Fantasy]]'' series are described in their bestiary entries as machines dedicated to a maintenance or utility job. In ''EBF4'', these are originally harmless machines hijacked by a rogue A.I. that found a way to weaponize their tools, and in ''EBF5'', all mechanical foes were created by Lance, who adds weapon systems to everything, even maintenance drones, the Neon Valhalla tunneling machine is especially ludicrous with its machine guns, massive harpoon turrets and arsenal of bombs that easily qualify as WMDs.
* HAN-D and CHEF in ''[[Risk of Rain]]'' are robots designed for non-combat purposes, a janitor and a cooking assistant, respectively. This doesn't explain HAN-D's suicide drones and absurd physical strength, or CHEF's boomeranging cleavers and built-in oven shooting bursts of fire several meters in length, making them as dangerous as well-armed soldiers and mercenaries.
** MUL-T in ''[[Risk of Rain 2]]'' is a multi-purpose robot assistant that got tampered with by bored technicians who thought it would be funny to teach it silly things outside its usual functions, and one of them got the stupid idea to instruct it to riddle one of their bosses full of holes. It's implied they never got the opportunity to fix their screwup, and it kept learning on its own from there.
== [[Web Comics]] ==
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** The general [[Hand Wave|explanation]] for any robot that does not make a lot of sense to make, like half of Cossack's fleet, are the results of being drunk. Sort of a scientists version of [[Drunken Master]].
* Given a good [[Lampshade Hanging]] (and arguable [[Justified Trope|justification]]) in [http://sluggy.com/daily.php?date=980417 this] ''[[Sluggy Freelance]]'' strip.
* Subverted in ''[[Freefall]]'', where most robots are [http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff1500/fc01457.htm made of cheap plastic and aluminum], and are weaker than the average human.
**
*** This runs into some serious civil rights issues, because many government officials view robots and artificial intelligences of any kind, including animals uplifted using the BANN, to be property as a function of their artificiality, yet most such entities are far better equipped mentally than even most humans (and certainly all the [[Pointy-Haired Boss|government officials]] the comic presents) to argue as to why that's not the case.▼
*
▲** This runs into some serious civil rights issues, because many government officials view robots and artificial intelligences of any kind, including animals uplifted using the BANN, to be property as a function of their artificiality, yet most such entities are far better equipped mentally than even most humans (and certainly all the [[Pointy-Haired Boss|government officials]] the comic presents) to argue as to why that's not the case.
** The [http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2015-05-14 Crypt Spiders] are... ''[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2015-08-10 dammit]''. These robots are essentially glorified CD-readers/librarians. Justified, since they are supposed to work with ''big'' data medium. Also, since the place was damaged, and maintenance was kind of dodgy last few millions years after AI gone bonkers, so they may occasionally meet local wildlife.
*** And once you start mass-producing robots specifically designed to handle massive and delicate items in less than safe environment, [http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2016-04-11 you aren't going to miss your old ex-tank longshoreman much], even if they don't have high-end gravitics. Also were repurposed as [https://www.schlockmercenary.com/2016-03-27 botanists] and underwater scouts (this [https://www.schlockmercenary.com/2016-05-27 clearly needed more work], even though they are waterproof as is).
▲** Of course, some bright spark had to go and name him "Longshoreman Of The Apocalypse". Later on the full name gets updated to "Long-''gunner'' Of The Apocalypse".
* In the gaming webcomic ''[[Ctrl+Alt+Del|Ctrl Alt Del]]'', Zeke is a robot built from a [[
** You can never be sure with an Xbox.
** Also, the Xbox was ''huge'', weighting 8.5
* In ''[[The Inexplicable Adventures of Bob]],'' Roofus the Roof-Repair Robot is able to defeat a pair of alien [[Space Pirates]] with ease after they [[Berserk Button|destroy his beloved roof.]] In fairness, Roofus was ''designed'' to be strong. It was the [[Instant AI, Just Add Water|sentience that was an accident.]]
* Von Pinn from ''[[Girl Genius]]'' was created to be a nursemaid. [http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20030718 Meet Von Pinn.]
** More specifically, she was created by ''[[Mad Scientist|mad scientists]]'' to be a nursemaid capable of protecting her charges from a wide range of potential threats. And in [[Crapsack World|a world ruled by warring mad scientists]], the [[Everything Trying to Kill You|range of potential threats is very wide indeed]].
** Although, {{spoiler|1=Von Pinn's mind is actually that of [http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20100517 Otilla, the Muse of Protection], one of the 9-clank Magnum Opus of [[Shrouded in Myth|the greatest spark of all time]].}}
** The Muses, clanks created to inspire and teach, are another example. It makes a bit of sense that the Muse of Protection would be able to fight. It makes less sense that the Muse of Dance is equipped with the ability to emit enough electricity to kill a man.
* Warbot from ''[[Warbot in Accounting]]'' is a decommissioned weapon of mass destruction that was given a job at an accounting firm.
* ''[[Gunnerkrigg Court]]'
{{quote|
* [[Questionable Content|Pintsize]] is basically a walking computer. [http://www.questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=61 With a laser.]
** Justified. Martin (Pintsize's owner) had to replace his chassis and unknowingly upgraded him with a [http://www.questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=147 prototype battlefield robot chassis]. The laser has since been removed.
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* In ''[[Sam and Fuzzy]]'', these things are commonplace. Mr. Sin's {{spoiler|robot duplicates of Fuzzy}} have foot-long retractable claws, for one.
* In ''[[Beyond the Canopy]]'', Pedro's giant battle robot was originally designed to be his maid. Apparently his clothes get some crazy tough stains.
== [[Western Animation]] ==
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** Also subverted in another one, where after many other attempts to replace Carl's body Frylock decides he'll put it on his super-powerful robot. Upon Shake's questioning he suddenly realizes how unwise it would be to heavily arm someone ''whose body they destroyed'' and questions what he was thinking.
* ''[[Batman Beyond]]'' had synthoids, and not only are the ones (illegally) made as "personal company" just as strong as ones made for combat (training), they're actually ''stronger''.
* The 1980 animated version of ''[[Richie Rich (comics)|Richie Rich]]'' had Richie's robot maid Irona, who was basically a [[Do-Anything Robot]] and, consequently, a walking [[Deus Ex Machina]].
== [[Real Life]] ==
* Human-like robots are not common yet, but this still applies to industrial robots. It doesn't matter if all you need is robotic transporter which only needs to lift empty cardboard boxes, or cigarette blocks; this industrial robot is still designed strong enough to lift 2 elephants at once. There was a small accident in a cigarette factory when one robot smashed entire stack of full boxes without even noticing. Which proves that robots really have way too much power.
* [http://www.allbusiness.com/safety-accidents-disasters/accidents-accidental-fatalities/12573109-1.html A woman was killed]{{Dead link}} by a ''robotic box sorter''.
{{reflist}}
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