A Czech word roughly meaning 'drudge worker', from the play 'R.U.R.: Rossums's Universal Robots' by the Bohemian writer Karel Capek. It has since become an inspiration for many science fiction writers but also engineers.
A robot is an integration of mechanics, electronics and software. It represents the physical manifestation of information technology - a versatile machine which can carry out the instructions of an intelligent system, e.g. computer, the reverse of virtual reality. The ISO definition of a robot is "automatically controlled, reprogrammable, multipurpose manipulator programmable in three or more axes