First Autonomous Mech?

[Mafty]

So looking on the Macross Mech Manual FB page, there's a discussion about autonomous(or drone as they're now known) planes in Macross, which date to the franchises beginning in the early 80s. So when exactly could be considered the first use of an Autonomous/Drone plane or mech in fiction?

[Seto Kaiba]

So looking on the Macross Mech Manual FB page, there's a discussion about autonomous(or drone as they're now known) planes in Macross, which date to the franchises beginning in the early 80s.

It's worth noting there that the QF-3000 Ghost and its retconned-in predecessors were not truly autonomous fighters... they were semi-autonomous, able to take independent actions in specific circumstances but still being directed from a remote location by a person. Macross's first go at a truly autonomous fighter that needed no human intevention is the ill-fated X-9 Ghost from Macross Plus.

So when exactly could be considered the first use of an Autonomous/Drone plane or mech in fiction?

It's all in how you want to define the term, I suppose... are you thinking truly-autonomous weapons that operate without any human intervention at all, or remotely-operated weapons?

You could make an argument that a number of different myths involving cursed/supernatural weapons with minds of their own probably count as the oldest examples. Examples include Freyr's sword in Norse mythology that could fly and fight of its own accord, and the Flaming Sword that barred entry to the garden of Eden in Judeo-Christian mythology that is implied to also be able to fight of its own accord without a wielder.

Evil robots meant for combat, or at least threatening enough to kill people, were a fixture in Republic sci-fi serials of the 1930s like The Undersea Kingdom and continued as a fixture in comic books of the 40's and so on, often with very absurd markings that spelled out in no uncertain terms what the robot was programmed to autonomously do. It died out as a trend after it was overused to the point of accidental comedy in superhero comics.

The oldest example of a remotely operated weapon that I can recall in anime is probably Tetsujin 28-go's titular giant robot, a flight-capable mecha operated remotely by radio.

If you wanted to discuss a truly autonomous weapon in strictly fiction... that could get hairy over the actual definition of "weapon" in a lot of old sci-fi from the 40's and 50's involving computers and other AIs gone mad and turning on human beings.

[MythSearcher]

If you wanted to discuss a truly autonomous weapon in strictly fiction... that could get hairy over the actual definition of "weapon" in a lot of old sci-fi from the 40's and 50's involving computers and other AIs gone mad and turning on human beings.

Side question, is that what triggered Issac Asimov to write about the 3 laws of Robotics?

[Seto Kaiba]

Side question, is that what triggered Issac Asimov to write about the 3 laws of Robotics?

One specific permutation of the theme, yes.

In his notes in the 1964 collection/anthology The Rest of the Robots, Asimov partly credited the inspiration for the Three Laws of Robotics and his story I, Robot to a desire to avoid a particular, vaguely Frankenstein-esque plot where a scientist would create a robot (or robots) that would promptly turn on and destroy him for some largely arbitrary reason or no reason at all save to punish them for their hubris in seeking knowledge. He compares that oft-reused plot to rehashing the story of Faust.

(Asimov was an avid consumer of pulp sci-fi via magazine serials as a child, so he doubtless saw that tired old plot a great many times.)