What makes a robot a robot?

Answer 1

Mostly perception. If it looks like a robot to someone, then it's a robot. If you prefer something more objective, one definition of robot is "artificial agent" (a better definition is in the link below). Artificial just means someone made it, agent means it does something for someone (my favorite robot is the dishwasher - someone built it to wash dishes for me). Many people assume "agency" includes the ability to act by itself (autonomy), or at least look like it can. "Anthropomorphism" is "the attribution of uniquely human characteristics to non-human" things and critters (some people don't think it's a robot unless it looks like humans, animals or something else recognizable). These days most of the really popular robots are exploring places people can't go yet (Voyager left the solar system not too long ago, Spirit and Opportunity are still running around Mars) and doing things too dangerous for humans to do safely (like hunting for roadside bombs in war zones or searching the bottom of the ocean). I used to work with a parts placer in an electronics assembly plant, it took very small parts from reels and bins and placed them on circuit boards. Some car manufacturers use big industrial robots for welding and lifting cars and trucks. Nanotechnology is finally catching on, with motors and wheels the size of atoms. I have seen pictures of remote control robots for doing surgery from somewhere outside the hospital, like from Another Country. Then there are the vacuuming robots. Anything you can build to do something for you is basically a robot. Oh yeah, don't forget battlebots! Some of us like the sound of smashing and tearing metal.