robot

Etymology 1

From German Robot, from a West Slavonic language, ultimately related to Etymology 2, below.

noun

1. (now historical) A system of serfdom used in Central Europe, under which a tenant's rent was paid in forced labour.
   I say again, down with the robot!—he is a dog who yields it! 1849, Littell's Living Age, volume 23, page 309
   Although the robot varied from region to region, it was rarely less than burdensome. 2007, Tim Blanning, The Pursuit of Glory, Penguin, published 2008, page 159

Etymology 2

Borrowed from Czech robot, from robota (“drudgery, servitude”). Coined in the 1920 science-fiction play R.U.R. (Rossum's Universal Robots) by Karel Čapek after having been suggested to him by his brother Josef, and taken into English without change.

noun

1. (chiefly science fiction) An intelligent mechanical being designed to look like a human or other creature, and usually made from metal.
   Domain: In fact, he rejected man and made the Robot. My dear Miss Glory, the Robots are not people. Mechanically they are more perfect than we are, they have an enormously developed intelligence, but they have no soul. 1923, Karel Čapek, translated by Paul Selver, R.U.R., page 13
   The robots in Dick's novel, loosely adapted by Ridley Scott into the film Blade Runner, were so similar to humans that when they went rogue, trained bounty hunters were called in to perform psychological tests to see whether suspected androids lacked human empathy. 26 January 2010, Tom Chivers, Iain McDiarmid, The Telegraph
2. A machine built to carry out some complex task or group of tasks by physically moving, especially one which can be programmed.
   We have a robot in the house that does the vacuuming.
   It's painfully slow and complex work which has never been attempted before in these conditions: the small box-shaped robots, equipped with two claws, are operating in almost freezing water 5,000ft below the surface, in pitch black and strong currents. 16 May 2010, Tim Webb, The Guardian
3. (figurative) A person who does not seem to have any emotions.
   Yet surely he was a humorless robot of a man, spewing forth lonely and bitter critiques of all those lesser mortals with whom he could not identify. 2006, Murray N. Rothbard, Making Economic Sense, page xiv
4. (South Africa) A traffic light (from earlier robot policeman).
5. (surveying) A theodolite which follows the movements of a prism and can be used by a one-man crew.
6. (dance">dance) A style of dance">dance popular in disco in which the dancer imitates the stiff movements of a stereotypical android robot.

Etymology 3

Referencing the origin of the name of the 4chan imageboard /r9k/ (created in 2008), so-called because it implements the ROBOT9000 algorithm by Randall Munroe to prevent the reposting of content. Possibly overlapping with the sense of robot (“a person who does not seem to have any emotions”), alluding to autism, due to the prevalence of personal stories describing awkward or embarrassing situations on the board.

noun

1. (Internet slang) A habitual poster on the /r9k/ board on 4chan; a member of the /r9k/ community.
   One anonymous message addressed to "fellow robots" hoped readers would have "an enjoyable Elliot Rodger day"—a reference to the shooter who killed six near a Santa Barbara university last year. 2015-10-01, David Kravets, “Ominous messages left on 4chan day before Oregon college killings [Updated]”, in Ars Technica, archived from the original on 2022-12-06
   Posters on the board are locked in an ongoing debate about who can be one of them— a "robot." Can white guys be robots, despite their privilege? Can black guys? Women love them! It goes on and on. Only one rule really seems to be agreed upon: "If you have no friends and no gf you are a robot." 2015-10-03, Jay Hathaway, “How 4chan Trolled Two of Its Friends by Framing Them for the Oregon Mass Shooting”, in Gawker, archived from the original on 2022-11-20
   It continued: "On October 5, 2015 at 1:00 p.m. CT, a fellow robot will take up arms against a university near Philadelphia. His cries will be heard, his victims will cower in fear, and the strength of the Union will decay a little more." 2015-10-05, Justin Wm. Moyer, “Philadelphia colleges on alert after 4chan post threatens violence Monday”, in The Washington Post, archived from the original on 2016-06-24
   As /r9k/ robots posted and reposted Pepes to playfully mock their status as grotesque outsiders whose very visage was disturbing to "normies," they ushered in a renaissance of frogs that soon appealed to all the netizens who every year had a little more in common with withdrawn, internet-soaked hikikomori. 2019, Dale Beran, It Came From Something Awful, St. Martin's Press