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robot

[roh-buht, -bot]

Example Sentences Origin

noun

a machine that resembles a human and does mechanical, routine tasks on command.

a person who acts and responds in a mechanical, routine manner, usually subject to another's will; automaton.

any machine or mechanical device that operates automatically with humanlike skill.

adjective

operating automatically: a robot train operating between airline terminals.

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Robot is always a great word to know.

So is flibbertigibbet. Does it mean:

a fool or simpleton; ninny.

a chattering or flighty, light-headed person.

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Origin:
< 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

Related forms

ro·bot·ism, noun

ro·bot·ic, ro·bot·is·tic

[roh-buh-tis-tik, -bo-] , adjective

ro·bot·like, adjective

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
Cite This Source

Link To robot

Example Sentences

The floor-scrubbing robot has a logic of its own as it washes floors.

The robot essentially mirrors the movements of the person controlling it-turning its head as the human operator moves.

The robot is designed to snake through dark, narrow air conditioning ducts and spot obstacles along the way.

EXPAND

The floor-scrubbing robot has a logic of its own as it washes floors.

The robot essentially mirrors the movements of the person controlling it-turning its head as the human operator moves.

The robot is designed to snake through dark, narrow air conditioning ducts and spot obstacles along the way.

What's more, the meshwork can bend with a robot hand or other object, however it moves.

The race to be the first to land a robot probe on the moon-and.

Robot dogs, for example, need only a change of batteries.

New models of robot vacuum cleaners are sure signs that the household robot field is finally taking off.

Brooks points out, training a robot to do it is a vastly harder problem for artificial intelligence.

Just because one studies and works doesn't mean one becomes a non-thinking robot victim of an ideological system.

Of course, full human employment may not be a part of a sentient robot overlord's grand plan.

Kids can become robotic engineers with this simple, programmable roving robot helper.

The simulated environment comes complete with robot arms for lifting packages off a conveyor belt and placing them on pallets.

And here's today's bonus video, watch robot flowers come to life.

One robot controlled by the kid from his hospital bed.

For the first time, brain signals have been used to make a robot walk.

But the customised robot uses far more of the company engineers' time.

Someday, in a house next door, a robot may be playing a game of cribbage with an elderly widow.

Long a staple of science fiction, self-driving vehicles that act as robot chauffeurs have been a cultural dream for decades.

It would seem that putting a robot onto a bike would be a pointless exercise akin to putting gas-powered horses before a carriage.

Gildenberg's hair-implant robot relies on stereotactic technology.

The obvious solution is to somehow turn low skilled workers into robot food.

Robot explorers transform a distant object of wonder into intimate terrain.

Turns out, building a legged robot that's more of a benefit than burden isn't so easy.

It sounds barking mad, but people are developing relationships with their robot dogs, as though they were real pets.

The usefulness of a kicking robot is moot, but the idea is certainly not new.

One robot cooks while other robots set the table and wash the dishes.

Have they finally come out with a robot for the rest of.

Using a lizard, a snaky robot and computer simulations, researchers have captured the secrets of swimming through sand.

The foundation has already put up prizes in areas as diverse as cleaning up oil spills and landing a robot on the moon.

The gecko's amazing sticky toes inspired scientists to invent a wall-climbing robot.

For robot designers these days, small is beautiful.

Like mechanized dentures, a new chewing robot will test the toll that munching takes on novel artificial teeth materials.

In vain do scientists protest that as yet nobody knows how to build a self-replicating robot of any size.

The robot is not in danger because it lies outside the impact zone.

See a video of the monkey operating the robot arm at the end of this article.

Just what soldiers are looking for: a creepy, quadrupedic robot to haul around their heavy gear.

Other insidious sorts employ armies of robot workers which produce a sham consensus about what is the correct solution to a task.

Robot lovers and outsourcing opponents could soon have something in common: the fear that their jobs are at stake.

The robot had saved the lives of many of the officer's ordinance-disposal soldiers.

After an update to its software, a robot scientist has recycled its previous research to make a new biological discovery.

It is as if a fleet of robot paparazzi were circling the earth.

But if you can be patient enough, a small robot might be able to do the job for you.

Dallas is not only getting a cool robot sculpture, it is getting three giant robot sculptures.

COLLAPSE

Collins

World English Dictionary

robot (ˈrəʊbɒt)

—n
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.	(South African) a set of traffic lights

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

ro'botic

—*adj*

'robotism

—n

'robotry

—n

'robot-like

—*adj*

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
Cite This Source

Etymonline

Word Origin & History

robot

1923, from Eng. translation of 1920 play "R.U.R." ("Rossum's Universal Robots"), by Karel Capek (1890-1938), from Czech robotnik "slave," from robota "forced labor, drudgery," from robotiti "to work, drudge," from an Old Czech source akin to Old Church Slavonic rabota "servitude," from rabu "slave"

EXPAND

(see orphan), from a Slavic stem related to Ger. Arbeit "work" (O.H.G. arabeit). According to Rawson the word was popularized by Karel Capek's play, "but was coined by his brother Josef (the two often collaborated), who used it initially in a short story." Robotics coined 1941 in a science fiction context by Isaac Asimov, who proposed the "Three Laws of Robotics" in 1968.

COLLAPSE

American Heritage

Medical Dictionary

robot ro·bot (rō'bət, -bŏt')
n.

A mechanical device that sometimes resembles a human and is capable of performing a variety of often complex human tasks on command or by being programmed in advance.
A machine or device that operates automatically or by remote control.
A person who works mechanically without original thought, especially one who responds automatically to the commands of others.

American Heritage

Science Dictionary

robot (rō'bŏt') Pronunciation Key
A machine designed to replace human beings in performing a variety of tasks, either on command or by being programmed in advance.

FOLDOC

Computing Dictionary

robot definition

1. A mechanical device for performing a task which might otherwise be done by a human, e.g. spraying paint on cars.
See also cybernetics.
2. An IRC or MUD user who is actually a program. On IRC, typically the robot provides some useful service. Examples are NickServ, which tries to prevent random users from adopting nicks already claimed by others, and MsgServ, which allows one to send asynchronous messages to be delivered when the recipient signs on. Also common are "annoybots", such as KissServ, which perform no useful function except to send cute messages to other people. Service robots are less common on MUDs; but some others, such as the "Julia" robot active in 1990--91, have been remarkably impressive Turing test experiments, able to pass as human for as long as ten or fifteen minutes of conversation.
3. spider.
[Jargon File]
(1996-03-23)

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