Are Sentinals Sentients?

[hippokrene]

If eidolons are to sentients what zombies are to humans, then are sentinals like pet dogs and cats? Are they proto-sentients that never traveled through the Void?

If would be cool if my Dethcube could be upgraded to have resistances like those sentients that smack me around when I meet them.

[(PSN)robotwars7]

the Codex mentions that they were found on a planet by themselves, and appear to be off-shoots of the Sentients, but instead of being hostile to those who discovered them they immediately began carrying out helpful tasks, as if they had already been pre-programmed to do so. it could be that the Sentients left them behind in this manner, or perhaps the Sentinels represent what the Sentients were supposed to be for the Orokin: blindly obedient servants that obey every single command given to them flawlessly; but of course, that didn't happen with the Sentients..

 

[Hayrack]

"... They are mechanical entities, almost organic in appearance, with a precarious resemblance to the fearsome Sentients that had decimated human civilization..." implies that, like Sentients, Sentinels may have been once made by an advanced civilisation and released upon the planet they were found in.

[PsiWarp]

It's a fascade, they are Sentient spies disguised as helpful companions that are secretly documenting and relaying information about the Origin System to the Sentient invasion force!

[(NSW)Greybones]

54 minutes ago, PsiWarp said:

It's a fascade, they are Sentient spies disguised as helpful companions that are secretly documenting and relaying information about the Origin System to the Sentient invasion force!

!!! Not Commander Cube, the wiggly little friend who floats around and silently listens to my problems 😱.

Very intently listens, without any judgement; I’m forever feeling like it’s on the verge of saying “….Go on”, like it’s really interested in how I worry about not having anything to believe in except fighting and killing and destroying for the sake of destroying, or how if the Sentients wanted to really hurt us, they wouldn’t strike at our friends or factions, they would strike at our mods, leaving us helpless if we had to actually fight because we rely on them so much. I feel compelled to go into tremendous detail.

It’s such a good listener and is always there for me, hovering over my shoulder and watching everything I do, how I fight and what my weaknesses are. I refuse to believe it’s a spy 😠

[PsiWarp]

See those little devilish horns above its cubical corners? Meant to deceive the Void Demons into a false sense of security and kindred trust...

[Archeyef]

2 hours ago, PsiWarp said:

It's a fascade, they are Sentient spies disguised as helpful companions that are secretly documenting and relaying information about the Origin System to the Sentient invasion force!

*slams fist onto desk* I knew it! Good thing I switched to home-grown hounds, kubrow, and kavats!

[Librus_107]

As some have said, their true nature is unknown, but they're thought to be a distant relative to the Sentients. Perhaps they're an offshoot strain that retained their original properties of being subservient machines, we just don't know.

We do know some were constructed by other factions as drones. Helios, for example, is a Corpus construct, even accompanying certain specialists (such as Lockjaw in The Index). Considering also how close Prime Sentinels resemble the bio-constructs you can find as Rare Fish on Venus and Deimos, it's possible some were constructed as mechanical aides or even pets for eclectic Orokin. 

In summary: their origins vary wildly! While some have a possible relation, most appear to be mere robotic constructs from various factions. (Which is possibly why pet MOAs are compatible with Sentinel gear: they technically qualify as a "Sentinel" construct.)