< networking , chat , World-Wide Web > (From " robot ") Any type of autonomous software that operates as an agent for a user or a program or simulates a human activity. On the Internet , the most popular bots are programs (called spiders or crawlers) used for searching. They access web sites , retrieve documents and follow all the hyperlinks in them; then they generate catalogs that are accessed by search engines .
A chatbot converses with humans (or other bots). A shopbot searches the Web to find the best price for a product. Other bots (such as OpenSesame ) observe a user's patterns in navigating a web site and customises the site for that user.
Knowbots collect specific information from web sites .
(1999-05-20)