A robot is a machine that does tasks without the help of a person. Many people think of robots as machines that look and act like people. Most robots, though, do not look like people. And robots do only what a person has built them to do.
Most robots are computer-controlled devices with many parts. An industrial robot, for example, is an armlike machine that can turn at several joints. It has a handlike part to grasp and hold things. Motors move the parts.

Some robots can be “taught” to do a job. For example, a person might guide an industrial robot through the movements needed to do something. Sensors on the robot send signals about the movements to the computer. The computer stores the pattern of movements. Later the computer can retrieve the pattern and tell the robot what to do.
Most industrial robots are used in factories. Some robots load, move and unload materials. Others are used on assembly lines to help build things such as cars and appliances.

Robots are especially useful because they can do things that could be dangerous for people. For example, they can be sent deep underwater or into space. Robots can also handle dangerous materials such as radioactive waste or harmful chemicals. They can even dispose of bombs or do spy work for the military.

The term comes from a Czech word, robota, meaning "forced labor." The word robot first appeared in a 1920 play by Czech writer Karel Capek, R.U.R.: Rossum's Universal Robots. In the play, the robots eventually overthrow their human creators. One early example of a robotic design dates back to about 1478: Leonardo da Vinci's car, a spring-driven autonomous system that was likely created to cause a sensation at court.

Writings from ancient Greece and China tell of toys called automatons, which were like robots. They were set in motion by steam, air, water, or falling weights. In the late 1700s and early 1800s complex automatons could play music or write with a pen on paper. During this time people also built machines to help do certain kinds of work. Modern robots only came about after computers were invented. With computers, people could program robots to do tasks on their own.

Robots often appear in science fiction, or stories set in the future or in another world. Robots in science-fiction books, television shows, and movies can often think, listen, talk, and walk easily on two legs. Science-fiction robots that look exactly like humans are known as androids. Although real robots are becoming more complex, they still are not like these imagined robots.