/ ˈrəʊbɒt; NAmE ˈroʊbɑːt/ noun
1.
a machine that can perform a complicated series of tasks automatically :
These cars are built by robots.
2.
(especially in stories) a machine that is made to look like a human and that can do some things that a human can do
3.
( SAfrE ) a traffic light :
Turn left at the first robot.
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WORD ORIGIN
from Czech , from robota forced labour. The term was coined in K. Čapek's play R.U.R. Rossum's Universal Robots (1920).