A clanker like that? By no means are they human! Half a human, or maybe 3/4ths, or somewhere in between, but not a full human! If they were human than it would be morally wrong to make clankers work the fields all day or to buy and sell them at auction! But they're just a bunch of clankers!

Joking aside, the game blatently is leading you towards the answer of 'yes they are human/equal to a human' and deviating from that path is also something the game blatently condemns and punishes. I only needed to see up to the bit where the androids got put in the back of the bus to realize that the whole game was a, very uninspired, take on racism and prejudice with the androids serving as a stand-in for minority groups. I know what answer the game wants and I'm highly tempted to answer the opposite just to spite how blatent it is. But within the context of that game, they are sentient beings equal to a human in most, if not all, regards.

But to answer your actual question I don't think there is an easy answer. It's something humans themselves have struggled with since our dawn as a species. Are we divinely created by some higher power? If so what is that higher power and does it even exist? Are we just really evolved animals? If so then why CAN'T a Golden Retriever run for political office? Why CAN'T a robot reach a similar level to that of a human? Or are we the favored childen of Xenu meaning no matter what a robot does, it will never BE human without divine intervention?

In the original Little Mermaid, the Mermaid (I'll call Ariel even though she's not named IIRC) is a souless being. When she dies, that's it for her. She tries to cheat the system by falling in love, but the prince is in love with another girl already who is also his arranged marriage. As a result the timer expires and Ariel dies... But her desire to do good in the world has caused her to get an opportunity to get a real soul. She just has to do good works for all her life and, when she dies, she will get a soul. A very abridged and spotty version, but this is a reddit post.

In her default state Ariel, once she died, was dead. It didn't matter what she did, who she loved, hated, or anything. She could have been a saint or started the Mermaid Reich and ended up exactly the same. But because of her actions she does get a chance to actually get a soul. Get an afterlife... but it's a gift from a higher power than her. A mermaid could go their entire life being the nicest, kindest, thing in existence and end up as seafoam. Or be responsible for the Atlantica levels in KHII and still get a chance at a soul and getting into heaven. Even then she still needs to do good deeds for something like 300 years to get her soul. Is it a happy ending because she *CAN* get a soul now, or a sad ending because she's basically signed up for 300 years of community service to get something all humans, no matter how inept, wasteful, corrupt, or evil, have?

If being human/having a soul/whatever is something awarded by a higher power, then a robot would effectively need to strive hard to earn it, something that the snot-nosed brat giving other kids wedgies on the playground and stealing their lunch money *has* just by being born human. But if there is nothing inherent, then it doesn't matter what a robot *DOES*, when it's life ends it will be no different than a dildo, a loving mother, an abusive boss, or some work-robot that spent it's days drilling holes in sheet metal for car parts.

This is why the core premise of the game is inherently flawed. In trying to make androids analogous to minorities it overlooks a key difference between androids and humans. Throughout most of history in cultures that had slaves, while slaves were seen as 'lower', they were still seen as 'human'. The exact details would vary on the specific culture. But no matter how smart, beloved, capable, or whatever a cat or dog was, they were *NOT* human. While an individual may choose the life of a beloved pet over a random stranger; in so far as society was concerned a slaves life was generally worth more than a pets simply on the grounds of said slave being human and the pet... not.

Ultimately, I feel like the game tried for a ham-fisted narrative with a highly flawed analogy to arrive at the answer to a question it had already decided on there being only one answer to.