Will to live
Inspired by the example of the box with the candle, my chosen form of creatureness is the instinctual desire/will to live. This can be expressed by the direct will to survive an acute threat like not wanting to drown or in a larger concept when threatened with an illness. As this is mainly instinctual in humans, in robots this is not present. During my search for examples, I noticed that when speaking about will to live in robots, usually the term 'self-perseverance' is used or 'continue functioning' as any form of instinct is absent.
I will illustrate this form of creatureness with some examples.
Firstly, we see an act of willing to live by the bot WALL-E in the Pixar movie. Although the bot was originally made for collecting trash, we see that he has a desire to "survive" (continue functioning) by collecting parts from other robots for himself. He also shows that he tries to protect himself and even form connections with other bots (Eve). Altogether this can be interpreted as a self-preservation instinct.
Interestingly, at the end of the movie, his battery is almost dead and when he is fully charged again it seems like he got a "hard reset". He gets back to his pre-awareness state, not recognizing EVE or his previous experiences. His physical form survived but he lost his 'personality' that developed over time. So this raises the question if he as a whole has survived or only his physical body. The movie resolves this question by re-emerging this personality triggered by Eve illustrating that WALL-E's will to live is not only restricted to his physical body but also to his experiences and relationships.
Another example of a bot that shows a will to live/survive is illustrated in the series "Westworld". Here, humans can visit the 'animation park' Westworld where robots are programmed/designed to appear, act, and feel as close to humans as possible. The robots are programmed with a scripted narrative. The visitors can interact with the robots as if they were living humans and do anything with them (follow the narrative or other chosen things). After each day the memory that formed within the robots is erased.
As the series progresses, some characters develop some form of consciousness and therefore also a form of self-preservation, which they did not have before when it was not present in their narrative. This also raises the question if a form of consciousness is a requirement to to create some form of self-preservation or will to live.
However, the series takes it one step further in not only creating some form of self-preservation but also seeking autonomy. The result of this is not only the self-preservation of the bots but even closer to the human instinct of will to survive.
When imagining to build a robot with this form of creatureness myself, I would make it a bit more tangible, more like the box that don't want to be put on fire. I would want to make a robot that does not want to drown when you bring it in contact with water. That always swims to the surface or tries to reach the surface even though they are being pushed under water. Another example that I can think of to make is a robot which is dying (a dying battery for example) and when it reaches a certain base level, it seeks for charging (in any kind of form) - seeking for help so that somebody charges it, or being able to go to a charging station itself. This is more in line with self-preservation then an ultimate will to live instinct.