Cyborgs:

            
 







          

                     There's also the matter of how one starts off. Cyborgs can include biological humans with parts replaced with machinery, or machines with biological parts added, or sometimes both are put together from scratch. Whether or not this detracts from them being a person depends on the series. Sometimes as long as the brain is organic makes the difference. Sometimes not even then.

                     In the original definition of "cybernetics", it was the study of constructing machines by mimicking real organisms, i.e. building insect robots that process sensory and motion information like insects do. Thus, "cybernetic organism" can refer to such a pure machine. The "super-prosthetic" part came later, but it has overshadowed the earlier definition. "Bionics" is an older term from the design field, where it meant mimicking nature in order to get an elegant, functional product (see Victor Papanek's seminal book, Design For The Real World for multiple examples).

               It was used much in this manner by Martin Caidin's early 1970s novel Cyborg, to describe mechanical prosthetics designed to look and act like real limbs, but in the transformation of Cyborg into The Six Million Dollar Man, the "elements of nature" aspect was lost and it became a generic term for the enhancement of people with mechanical parts. Fortunately for those who use it for its original meaning, this definition is seldom seen anymore.