Robotkin are a subset of otherkin who believe themselves to be robots on some level, other similar terms include AIkin, Androidkin, Machinekin.

Otherkin are a very diverse category of individuals that believe themselves to be some form of entity that is nonhuman or partially nonhuman, most frequently animals, elves, dragons, angels and demons.

All of the mentioned branches are part of other much larger subsets of the collective community- dating back as far back as the late 60s and early 70s, or at least in written record. The early internet was a place for it to prosper and grow.

It’s hard to really say, as early therians (at the time Werewolves and other such wereanimals) felt that they needed to protect their online spaces from outside trolls and would turn away new ideas, as they failed to befit their understanding of therianthropy. Likewise, machines aren’t exactly animals.

Regretfully, many machines tend to hide themselves due to a long history of ridicule and what I refer to as The Soul Argument.

The Soul Argument states that any nonhuman identity that cannot possess a soul does not count as a legitimate identity. This claim is flawed, as there is massive disagreement depending on who you ask on who and what possesses a soul, especially if they believe in animism (an·i·mism /ˈanəˌmizəm/ n. the attribution of a soul to plants, inanimate objects, and natural phenomena.)

Most of the globe carries animist ideals- some even extending souls to things like machines and rocks. This fight is not only used to exclude what is deemed “too preposterous”, but is ethnocentrist and based in the ideas of the western world. Many otherkin have stated to me personally that they don’t feel we- as collective lifeforms- even have souls at all, a notion that some neuroscientists agree with. In short, it isn’t worth the fuss. (See article: “Kill All Humans” for more information on this with sources)

I would say your first course of action would be to check out our resource pages and affiliate websites.

We trust their information to be factual and historically accurate- much more so than some screenshotted text you’ll find reposted to reddit. There are MANY of us out there, you need only seek us out and say hello!

• Polybius, Machine Soul Founder