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One of my friends had a question about Starfinder that I wanted to relay and get answers for: are there ways to play robotic characters that AREN'T androids? He believes a sci-fi game is made or broken by how it portrays robot people, and he was disappointed when in Pathfinder it was super hard to be a true robot or droid like K-2SO, Legion or WALL-E. Can you play something like this in Starfinder or are you pretty much limited to androids?
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I believe that, at this time, you are limited to androids.
The examples you gave would always be true AI that exist in the setting, but I don't believe are presented in the main rule book. All the robots in core book are not true self-learning AIs and while true AIs exist (three ascended to become a Deity), there are no statistics for them outside of a class feature for the mechanic.
I expect that we will see PC AI "race" in a future product (likely after alien book) and expect that it will include drone bodies for the AI to use, but that is just my speculation.
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As of the Starfinder Core Rulebook and Starfinder First Contact, the android is the only option completely within the Starfinder rules.
This will change with the release of the Alien Archive (which will explicitly include "robotic anacites;" i.e. the robots of Aballon). There may be other robotic options, as well.
Until then, you could always convert the wyrwood from the Advanced Race Guide and reflavor them as robots instead of magical constructs.
I've been playing around with creating a robot/true android race since the CRB hit using the Advanced Races Guide... the three biggest points of contention for me are.
a) Their bodies have to be constructs, which brings with it certain benefits and drawbacks.
b) They have to be true AIs, which makes their minds computers, as far the SF rules are concerned.
c) They have to be very variable/upgradable.
So, combining PF and SF rules, that means:
Type: Construct (true AI)
Size: Variable (based on their build, androids can be small to large)
Speed: Normal 30ft (based on their build, they can have other types of locomotion at the GM's discretion)
Ability Score Modifiers: +4 to INT; +2 to any one Ability score other than CON and CHA; -4 to CHA
Language: Binary and Common
Upgrades: Based on their build/size, true androids can receive a variety of upgrades, from weapons/armor to new body parts.
The rest of the racial trails is still kinda up in the air, but there should be something like "alien mind" in there that reduces Charisma based skills. Also, while their "black box" (the AI itself) is not hackable, their bodies very well could be, so computer upgrades should also play a role.
I wouldn't make their bodies hackable. They should be susceptible to Charm Person, like any other player class, since you can make an easy argument for all their hardware being a closed system.
You could also go the opposite route - an organic brain inside a construct body. There's a lot of unexplored room in Starfinder right now for cyberpunk tropes.
It is indicated in the racial write-up that androids run a wide spectrum of 'how organic they are'.
Everything from 'nearly all artificial' to 'mostly meat-bag with a few artificial parts'.
So the bigger question is, does it need to be all artificial, or is it okay to have some biological systems in there?
Some robots have internal systems that approach biological as it is?
If you're not opposed to third-party content, the nice folks at Rogue Genius Games just recently released the Starfarer's Companion, which has a sentient, robot PC race called the Mechanoi.
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It is indicated in the racial write-up that androids run a wide spectrum of 'how organic they are'.Everything from 'nearly all artificial' to 'mostly meat-bag with a few artificial parts'.
So the bigger question is, does it need to be all artificial, or is it okay to have some biological systems in there?
Some robots have internal systems that approach biological as it is?
Well, there is quite a big difference rules and roleplaying appeal wise between a full android/autonomous robot and what's essentially a biodroid/cyborg... problem with robots is, they can be quite overpowered in certain situations because of their construct status.
There's always the option of playing a mechanic, and treating the attached meatbag as a secondary character who is there to keep the primary robot PC in tip-top shape.
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With anacites being a thing, we'll either get them in Alien Archives, and definitely in the Pact Worlds expansion next March (since they mentioned expanding player races in there). Until then, it's possible one could port in Warforged from 3.5 Eberron into SF. In addition, while being a full construct is pretty powerful in regards to PCs, SF *may* counterbalance this because even the CRB has a ton of spells/effects that mess with robots, like making them hackable (and even if, like Legion or EDI, they have cyberwarfare suites to counteract them, spells that specifically control robots are available at about the same level as, like, charm person (but are actually more powerful, because they function as domination effects), it might be more balanced. Also, since you would always be treated as a technological item...that might mess you up.
That said, I totally agree that there are no rules to play droids. I super wanna play an advanced AI in a droid suite a la that guy from Rogue One or, heck, Marvin the robot from Hitchhiker's Guide. Heck, even a SF version of Bender would be hilarious. So yeah, can't wait for them to print a truly sentient robot species.
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I would love the option to play an A.I.
<insert plug for We Are Legion (We Are Bob) here>