robot

[ roh-bot ]

noun

1. a machine that resembles a human and does mechanical, routine tasks on command.
2. a person who acts and responds in a mechanical, routine manner, usually subject to another's will; automaton.
3. any machine or mechanical device that operates automatically with humanlike skill.

adjective

1. operating automatically:

   a robot train operating between airline terminals.

robot

/ ˈrəʊbɒt /

noun

1. any automated machine programmed to perform specific mechanical functions in the manner of a man
2. modifier not controlled by man; automatic

   a robot pilot

3. a person who works or behaves like a machine; automaton
4. a set of traffic lights

robot

/ rō′bŏt′ /

1. A machine designed to replace human beings in performing a variety of tasks, either on command or by being programmed in advance.

Derived Forms

• ˈrobot-ˌlike, adjective
• roˈbotic, adjective
• ˈrobotism, noun

Other Words From

• ro·bot·ism noun
• ro·bot·ic [roh-, bot, -ik], ro·bo·tis·tic [roh-b, uh, -, tis, -tik, -bo-], adjective
• ro·bot·like adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of robot¹

< Czech, coined by Karel Čapek in the play R.U.R. (1920) from the base robot-, as in robota compulsory labor, robotník peasant owing such labor

Word History and Origins

Origin of robot¹

C20: (used in R.U.R. , a play by Karel Čapek ) from Czech robota work; related to Old Slavonic rabota servitude, German Arbeit work

Example Sentences

Neuralink is building a brain-machine interface as well as a little robot that installs it into your skull.

From Vox

The company’s new research aims to train AI using both visual and audio data, letting smart robots detect and follow objects that make noise as well as use sounds to understand a physical space.

From Singularity Hub 

In 2015, its president joked that by 2020 robots would score gymnastics.

From Science News For Students

A robot beetle goes the distance on its own thanks to a methanol-fueled micromuscle.

From Science News

My colleagues and I began putting robots with samplers into the Dry Valley lakes.

From Quanta Magazine

Luke Skywalker is an evil robot who has fallen to the dark side of the force.

From The Daily Beast

“The laser-wielding robot is a real threat,” Hetflaisz says.

From The Daily Beast

The other culprit, of course, is the one misanthropic jerk who reported “several hundred” names to the Facebook robot.

From The Daily Beast

The goal of the present research is to help create the programming for a robot that is “a sociable partner.”

From The Daily Beast

“Technology enables dissent,” the former NSA contractor told the crowd of thousands via video screen, this time sans robot.

From The Daily Beast

A squat robot with undulating arms passed by him, its arms weaving inquiringly.

From Project Gutenberg

Even the big robot with its two waving eyestalks retreated respectfully as he approached.

From Project Gutenberg

Jordan's brows contracted as he tried to understand the robot.

From Project Gutenberg

Are these robot-confessors present in the closed classrooms?

From Project Gutenberg

"A machine cannot be coerced," the robot-confessor told him.

From Project Gutenberg