The word ‘robot’ is meaningless

Re:The word ‘robot’ is meaningless by taylorzane on Wednesday September 30, 2015 @11:27PM (#10309044)

I feel like trying to convince people to use the term 'automaton', when referring to devices that look similar to humans but are non-biological, is a feeble venture. The term 'robot' is just so ingrained in our society to describe a humanoid-like piece of hardware...

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Re:The word ‘robot’ is meaningless by JoeAltmaier on Wednesday September 30, 2015 @11:40PM (#10309089)

Isn't the word 'Android' already invented for that class or organism?

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Re:The word ‘robot’ is meaningless by taylorzane on Wednesday September 30, 2015 @11:48PM (#10309108)

They could be used interchangeably, 'automaton' predates 'android' by a margin, primarily because an 'automaton' doesn't necessarily have to be an electronic device. It could be a water-powered wooden nutcracker. So yes, 'android' is probably the best candidate to describe the 'robots' that the author is referring to.

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Re:The word ‘robot’ is meaningless by qbrass on Thursday October 01, 2015 @04:46AM (#10309970)

A roomba is an automaton, but not an android.

Automaton refers to acting on it's own. Android literally means humanlike. Electronics have no bearing on either.

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