Robots

The word robot comes from Karel Capek's 1920 play "R.U.R" (Rossum's Universal Robots). Today when we say "robot", most people think of something akin to Robby or a Cylon: some form of "mechanical man". However the term is used - possibly abused - far more widely. Everything from Furby to an automated factory is described as "Robotic".

What Is A Robot?

Trying to define the word "robot" is a lot more difficult than it might at first seem. Let's try this: "A robot is a mechanical creation that can perform action without outside intervention."

That's a pretty good start. The inclusion of the word "mechanical" prevents a human being from being classed as a robot (this is a common mistake: any time you read a definition of a robot, consider whether or not it fits you!). Of course it also excludes a Dalek, which is a basically an armoured travel device for a biological entity.

Note that a robot doesn't need to look like a person.

The need for a robot to be able to operate without outside intervention excludes remote controlled units such as toy cars - also many toys sold as "robots". Personally I'm happy with that, others might disagree. However it includes - for example - an alarm clock, a factory paint sprayer or a VCR that is pre-programmed to perform an action at a certain time. I'm less happy with that.

Some people say that a robot must be capable of movement, but that would exclude many industrial robotics applications - as well as C-3PO with damaged legs.

Programmed vs Autonomous

The question of the VCR and the factory paint sprayer raise an important issue: If a machine just carries out a preset series of actions, is it a robot? Or does a true robot need a degree of autonomy? Should it need to react to its environment?

Putting aside for now the thorny question of "free will", there are still various levels of autonomy. For example, a thermostat takes actions at certain temperatures - it is reacting to the environment. Is that a robot?

One way to get round this is to look at the complexity of the responses. If a thermostat is a robot then it's a very simple one - it only responds to one stimulus and then only with one of two reactions, "on" or "off". By comparison, the Sony Aibo responds to many stimuli with many responses. Trying to quantify that distinction into the definition of a robot is beyond me.

Moving even further from here, a robot that is capable of sufficiently complex responses to many stimuli starts to become a form of artifical life. Many robots in science fiction could easily pass the Turing Test. So this raises the philosophical question of when a robot ceases to become a "machine" and becomes "life". The definition of "life" is left as an exercise for the reader.

At the end of the day perhaps trying to come up with a "one size fits all" definition of "robot" is pointless. Maybe we should just use a scale, with "machines" at one end and "artificial life" at the other.