Synonyms for robot
EXAMPLES FROM THE WEB FOR ROBOT
All this kept the robot busy, and we got so used to him we were hardly aware he was around.
Then I noticed the tiny glow of light in the robot's eye lenses.
This was as close as a robot could look to a cop in uniform, without being a joke.
None of us knew the littlest bit about what a robot can or cannot do.
But a robot can't take the place of a cop, it's a complex human job.
This is not the kind of thing, though, that you explain to a robot.
What with putting on a robot as a full-fledged police officer.
I know a robot can't be happy or sad—but Ned seems to be happy.
Then he dubbed the robot Charles, after a father he had never known.
"I hope he finds his Martha," the robot croaked, and then the tape broke.
WORD ORIGIN
1923, from English translation of 1920 play "R.U.R." ("Rossum's Universal Robots"), by Karel Capek (1890-1938), from Czech robotnik "slave," from robota "forced labor, compulsory service, drudgery," from robotiti "to work, drudge," from an Old Czech source akin to Old Church Slavonic rabota "servitude," from rabu "slave," from Old Slavic *orbu-, from PIE *orbh- "pass from one status to another" (see orphan). The Slavic word thus is a cousin to German Arbeit "work" (Old High German arabeit). According to Rawson the word was popularized by Karel Capek's play, "but was coined by his brother Josef (the two often collaborated), who used it initially in a short story."