robot

noun

• 1a machine capable of carrying out a complex series of actions automatically, especially one programmable by a computer: half of all American robots are making cars or trucks [as modifier]:a robot arm
• (especially in science fiction) a machine resembling a human being and able to replicate certain human movements and functions automatically: the robot closed the door behind us
• a person who behaves in a mechanical or unemotional manner:public servants are not expected to be mindless robots

• 2another term for crawler (in the computing sense).

• 3South African a set of automatic traffic lights: waiting at a robot I caught the eye of a young woman