ro•bot

1. A mechanical device that can resemle a human being and is capable of performing complex human tasks by remote command or programming.

2. A machine or device that can operate automatically or by remote control

3. an automatically controlled, reprogrammable multipurpose manipulator programmable in three or more axes (international robot standards from the IFR, International Federation of Robots)

History of the word 'robot'

The word robot has been in the English language since 1923. It orginally came from a Czech word, robota, meaning drudgery, servitude or forced labor. The root word is rab meaning slave. Karel Capeck used the word 'robot' in his play, R.U.R. (abrreviation of Rossum's Universal Robots), published in 1921. The play was translated into English and performed in London and New York in 1923.

Karel Capek 1890-1938

A Czech writer famous for coining the word 'robot' from R.U.R., a play about robots taking over the world. He also wrote War of the Newts, a modern epic that presents the state of the world c. 1937.