Robot

A robot is an electro-mechanical system which can move around, operate a mechanical arm, sense and manipulate their environment, and exhibit intelligent behavior, especially behavior which mimics humans or animals. The word robot can refer to both physical robots and virtual software agents, but the latter are usually referred to as bots.

The first digitally operated and programmable robot, the Unimate, was installed in 1961 to lift hot pieces of metal from a die casting machine and stack them. Today, commercial and industrial robots are in widespread use performing jobs more cheaply or with greater accuracy and reliability than humans. They are also employed for jobs which are too dirty, dangerous or dull to be suitable for humans. Robots are widely used in manufacturing, assembly and packing, transport, earth and space exploration, surgery, weaponry, laboratory research, and mass production of consumer and industrial goods.

A typical robot will have several or possibly all of the following properties.

* It is artificially created.
* It can sense its environment, and manipulate or interact with things in it.
* It is programmable.
* It moves with one or more axes of rotation or translation.
* It makes dexterous coordinated movements.
* It moves without direct human intervention.
* It appears to have intent or agency.
* It has some ability to make choices based on the environment, often using automatic control or a pre-programmed sequence.