I believe industry modeled robots on humans because the tools used and designs of things built were already the result of human anatomy.

Even so, industrial robots don't look like the mechanical men of science fiction. It can be argued that an Asimov-style humanoid robot has to be humanoid so it can operate human machinery and tools. But our industrial robots have their own built-in tools. They don't need to grab and twist a screwdriver, for example, or swing a hammer. They have a spinning shaft for driving fasteners and a reciprocating pounder for hammering.

Human muscular/skeletal design is very clever, but it has to come up with awkward work-arounds for things like axles, full rotation, etc. There is nothing in nature like a wheel, or a spinning shaft, but our robots can take advantage of those simple machines easily.

Yes, speculating about alien biology and culture is very enjoyable. Science fiction writers have come up with some very believable and ingenious ideas in this area, and are worth reading. Real aliens may not actually look or act like that, but speculations grounded in real science are good preparation for the day we actually meet ET.

For example, I believe aliens will have an organic/water-based chemistry similar to ours. The reason is that carbon is common, and the element most capable of easily forming complex molecules and water is a common and very effective solvent at the temperatures where carbon chemistry is easily facilitated. There may be other alternatives, but I'm not familiar with them, and we've never found them in nature so far.

Aliens will also be composed of proteins similar to ours because the building blocks of proteins, amino acids, easily form in many environments, even deep space, far from any planet. However, I also believe alien tissue may be sufficiently different from ours that neither of us could eat the other. We might even be allergic, or even poisonous to each other; not because of some specific toxin, but because our biochemistries are incompatible.

As for body plans and anatomy, any structure that has evolved independently here on earth will probably be found on other worlds, such as lensed eyes, tentacles, exoskeletons, nature has created millions of designs here, and many have been successful for eons, so we will probably find analogues elsewhere. What works here will work there.

But some things, like intelligence, and communication, have only evolved once, (maybe twice if you count dolphins). And it took evolution a long time to come up with them, and they haven't been tested for long. Intelligence may be very rare in the cosmos. And even high intelligence does not necessarily lead to technology.

My guess (based on earth history and our own timeline of 4.6 billion years) is single-celled life is extremely common (3-4 billion years ago). Photosynthesis much less common (2-3 billion years ago), so not all living worlds will have oxygen atmospheres. Multi-cellular organisms only arose in the last half billion years,they are probably relatively rare, but after they arose evolution really took off. Intelligence, and especially technical intelligence, may be extremely rare. Dolphins, after all, don't need flint tools, and they're not likely to learn about fire without some outside help.

It used to be thought life was a lucky accident, but once you had it a technical civilization would quickly arise. The best guess now is that life is abundant, but civilizations are the lucky accident.

I hope I'm wrong, but we may be the only space-faring race in the galaxy today.