robotic

American  

[roh-bot-ik] / roʊˈbɒt ɪk /

adjective

1. in the manner of a robot; mechanical; lacking human intelligence or emotion.

   He’s so constant and efficient that he looks robotic on the ice, and his scores for artistic performance suffer.

2. performed by a robot without active guidance from a human operator.

   Over the course of several robotic missions, NASA gathered information about the surface of Mars and its atmosphere.

---

Etymology

Origin of robotic

First recorded in 1925–30; robot ( def. ) + -ic ( def. )

Explanation

Something is robotic if it moves or behaves like a machine. If you express no emotion and do things in an automatic-seeming way, your friends might say you're robotic. The adjective robotic can describe something related to the use of robots, like a robotic technique for dismantling a bomb or a robotic tool for surgery. Often, it's used to describe a person who reminds you of a robot: "She gets good grades, but she's so robotic! All she does is work — never has any fun!" Science fiction writer Isaac Asimov is credited with the first use of robotic in 1941.

Example Sentences

Appeared in the November 15, 2025, print edition as 'Old Age Will Be Different in the Robotic Age'.

From The Wall Street Journal • Nov. 14, 2025

Robotic probes have been sent across the solar system for the last six decades, reaching destinations impossible for humans.

From BBC • Dec. 30, 2024

Robotic vacuums are all the rage, but what about when you need to vacuum the couch or car?

From Salon • Dec. 17, 2024

Now, Alin Albu-Schäffer, a professor at the Chair of Sensor-based Robotic Systems and Intelligent Assistance Systems at TUM, has successfully transferred this method to the movement of robots.

From Science Daily • Nov. 18, 2024

Robotic forklifts zipped through the aisles retrieving boxes.

From "Blood of Olympus" by Rick Riordan

Related Words

• automatic
• computerized
• electronic
• mechanical
• mechanized