robot

American  

[roh-bot] / ˈroʊ bɒt /

noun

• robots
  plural

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.

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adjective

1. operating automatically.

   a robot train operating between airline terminals.

robot British  

/ 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

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robot Scientific  

/ 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.

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• robotism
  noun
• robot-like
  adjective
• robotic
  adjective
• robotistic
  adjective
• robotlike
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• robots
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of robot

< 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

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Explanation

A robot is a mechanical creation that can move or act on its own. Science fiction is full of robots. Also called droids, Cylons, and bots, robots are certainly the stuff of science fiction stories. But there are plenty of real robots out there in the world, using their mechanical smarts to make life easier. There are robots that can vacuum the rug, dance, perform surgery, clean oil spills, and even build cars. The field of robotics is growing all the time. Maybe someday you'll even have that robot butler so many of us have dreamed about.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

robot robots

And according to specialist publication Via Satellite, Eutelsat's OneWeb constellation is unable to support drone and ground robot operations because of its limited capacity and lack of compact satellite terminals.

From Barron's ● Oct. 16, 2026

That means a lot of engineering is going into the small and nimble robot, including acoustic sensing that works like echolocation and a pulsing laser light to map the environment.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 16, 2026

“This is one area we’re not quite confident in,” Pinkerton said as we watched the robot attempt to align a glass on the dishwasher’s prongs with motions suggestive of a claw-machine arm.

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 16, 2026

Sending a robot through pipes isn’t as straightforward as it might seem: Pipes move when the soil around them shifts, and there are blockages made of sediment that the robot must be able to navigate.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 16, 2026

It’s not every day you see a robot burst up from the ground.

From "The Wild Robot Protects" by Peter Brown

Tau is developing a general-purpose AI model for robots, which it runs on customized third-party hardware.

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 16, 2026

Ukrainian ground robots had also completed roughly 112,000 frontline missions by August.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 16, 2026

Earlier legged robots, such as Boston Dynamics’ robot dog Spot, favored quadruped designs for balance and support.

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 16, 2026

Cameras mounted on their wrists and heads gather video footage, which is first used by off-site teleoperators to steer the robots, and later by Tau to train more advanced AI models.

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 16, 2026

If there were humans or robots nearby, she might have to wait for hours.

From "The Wild Robot Escapes" by Peter Brown

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