Wall-E is my favorite, but the Stepford Wives are the most scary:

Honorable mention to R2D2, Terminator, and Mystery Science Theater 3000's robots.

C'mon.....Wall-E is a cheap (well, very expensive) ripoff of Johnny Five:

That's what he said!

...but seriously here's where the inspiration for Wall-E came from:

1. The original Pixar Luxo Lamp used in their logo.

No, Wall-E doesn’t look anything like the lamp, what Stanton went on to say is that he wanted the character to be a machine first and a character second, much like the famous lamp. The lamp doesn’t look even remotely human or animal yet its personality comes across brilliantly:

“I wanted to believe that a robot is really there. I wanted to believe he is really a robot and not just a human in a robot shell.”

The initial design concept was that of a robot that was low to the ground so it would have a low center of gravity, a method of locomotion that could get it over any terrain or obstacle, and a way to compact trash efficiently, hence the cube shape.

2. A pair of binoculars at a baseball game.

Yes, folks: binoculars. He said he was at a stadium watching a game when he asked someone to pass their binoculars to him. He started playing with them and seeing how they could be used to express emotion.

He did see Short Circuit once, and supposes it could have influenced him on some subconscious level.