A robot is a machine—especially one programmable by a computer—capable of carrying out a complex
series of actions automatically.[2] A robot can be guided by an external control device, or the control may
be embedded within. Robots may be constructed to evoke human form, but most robots are task-
performing machines, designed with an emphasis on stark functionality, rather than expressive
aesthetics.
Robots can be autonomous or semi-autonomous and range from humanoids such as Honda's Advanced
Step in Innovative Mobility (ASIMO) and TOSY's TOSY Ping Pong Playing Robot (TOPIO) to industrial
robots, medical operating robots, patient assist robots, dog therapy robots, collectively
programmed swarm robots, UAV drones such as General Atomics MQ-1 Predator, and even
microscopic nanorobots. By mimicking a lifelike appearance or automating movements, a robot may
convey a sense of intelligence or thought of its own. Autonomous things are expected to proliferate in
the future, with home robotics and the autonomous car as some of the main drivers.[3]
The branch of technology that deals with the design, construction, operation, and application of robots,
[4]
as well as computer systems for their control, sensory feedback, and information
processing is robotics. These technologies deal with automated machines that can take the place of
humans in dangerous environments or manufacturing processes, or resemble humans in appearance,
behavior, or cognition. Many of today's robots are inspired by nature contributing to the field of bio-
inspired robotics. These robots have also created a newer branch of robotics: soft robotics.
From the time of ancient civilization, there have been many accounts of user-configurable automated
devices and even automata, resembling humans and other animals, such as animatronics, designed
primarily as entertainment. As mechanical techniques developed through the Industrial age, there
appeared more practical applications such as automated machines, remote-control and wireless remote-
control.
The term comes from a Slavic root, robot-, with meanings associated with labor. The word "robot" was
first used to denote a fictional humanoid in a 1920 Czech-language play R.U.R. (Rossumovi Univerzální
Roboti – Rossum's Universal Robots) by Karel Čapek, though it was Karel's brother Josef Čapek who was
the word's true inventor.[5][6][7] Electronics evolved into the driving force of development with the advent
of the first electronic autonomous robots created by William Grey Walter in Bristol, England in 1948, as
well as Computer Numerical Control (CNC) machine tools in the late 1940s by John T. Parsons and Frank
L. Stulen.
The first commercial, digital and programmable robot was built by George Devol in 1954 and was named
the Unimate. It was sold to General Motors in 1961 where it was used to lift pieces of hot metal from die
casting machines at the Inland Fisher Guide Plant in the West Trenton section of Ewing Township, New
Jersey.[8]
Robots have replaced humans[9] in performing repetitive and dangerous tasks which humans prefer not
to do, or are unable to do because of size limitations, or which take place in extreme environments such
as outer space or the bottom of the sea. There are concerns about the increasing use of robots and their
role in society. Robots are blamed for rising technological unemployment as they replace workers in
increasing numbers of functions.[10] The use of robots in military combat raises ethical concerns. The
possibilities of robot autonomy and potential repercussions have been addressed in fiction and may be a
realistic concern in the future.
Summary
iCub is physically anthropomorphic; it looks like a human.
There is no consensus on which machines qualify as robots but there is general agreement among
experts, and the public, that robots tend to possess some or all of the following abilities and functions:
accept electronic programming, process data or physical perceptions electronically, operate
autonomously to some degree, move around, operate physical parts of itself or physical processes, sense
and manipulate their environment, and exhibit intelligent behavior, especially behavior which mimics
humans or other animals.[11][12]
The word robot can refer to both physical robots and virtual software agents, but the latter are usually
referred to as bots.[13] Related to the concept of a robot is the field of synthetic biology, which studies
entities whose nature is more comparable to living things than to machines.
Simpler automated machines are called automatons, like animatronics, often made to resemble humans
or animals. Humanoid robots that resemble humans esthetically, possibly even organically, are
called androids, while android can be shortened to droid, referring to robots with a broader likeness. On
the other hand a human that is augmented with artificial machines is called a cyborg, which is a
particular type of transhuman
