Robot

A machine designed to execute one or more tasks repeatedly through variable programmed motions, with speed and precision.

The word comes from the 'robota' meaning literally serf labour in Czech, Slovak and Polish. Robot is cognate with the German word Arbeiter (worker). The word was introduced to the public at large in 1920 by Czech writer Karel Capek in his play R.U.R. (Rossum's Universal Robots).