roboticadj.n.
/rə(ʊ)ˈbɒtɪk/, U.S. /roʊˈbɑdɪk/ A. adj.
1. Of the nature of a robot; of or relating to robots. Also: that is a robot.
ΚΠ
1928 Portsmouth (Ohio) Daily News 9 Apr. 4/6 When you open your paper and find..circulaced for circulated..you just wonder whether or not the robotic mechanism in the composing-room is out of order.
1941 Astounding Sci.-Fiction May 50 You'd cut your own nose off before you'd let me get the credit for solving robotic telepathy.
1963 New Worlds Sci. Fiction Apr. 52 Johnston wouldn't have been..surprised to find out that more than half of the city's population was robotic, no matter how cleverly they were disguised.
1987 B. Leatham-Jones Elements Industr. Robotics i. 16 Welding tasks..represent one of the largest application areas for industrial robotic devices.
2000 Cutting Edge: Encycl. Adv. Technol. 238/1 The successful use of robotic spacecraft to explore the solar system.
2. Resembling or suggestive of a robot; mechanical; emotionless.
ΘΚΠ
society > occupation and work > equipment > machine > types of machine generally > [adjective] > automatic > robotic
automatic1686
automaton-like1770
robotic1929
robotical1942
mechanoid1954
1929 Personalist 10 179 Those who dread to see the gusto and peculiarity of life subdued to Robotic uniformity.
1939 Ogden (Utah) Standard-Examiner 24 May 6/4 A healthy survival in the individual of the will and spirit to assert himself against any subtly encroaching ideas of robotic regimentation.
1959 Archit. Rev. 125 212/3 His line is bold, his colour is bright but lifeless, and his figuration is decoratively robotic.
1976 L. Deighton Twinkle, twinkle, Little Spy viii. 84 The kind of dispassionate robotic bastard that communism breeds.
2000 A. Thorpe Shifts (2001) 168 Haydock would..read sensational ‘tit-bits’ in a robotic voice about Soho's strip-girls and so forth.
B. n.
A robot. rare.
ΘΚΠ
society > occupation and work > equipment > machine > types of machine generally > [noun] > automatic > automaton or robot
self-mover1570
self-moving1570
automa1631
automatea1649
android1728
golem1732
automaton1922
robot1927
mechanoid1947
robotic1951
droid1952
bot1969
mecha1986
1951 C. D. Simak Time & Again v. 20 The robotic clicked and chuckled. It moved a pawn.
Derivatives
roˈbotical adj. of or relating to robots; robotic.
ΘΚΠ
society > occupation and work > equipment > machine > types of machine generally > [adjective] > automatic > robotic
automatic1686
automaton-like1770
robotic1929
robotical1942
mechanoid1954
1942 I. Asimov in Amazing Stories Feb. 227/1 Austin Wilde, Robotical Engineer, turned to Sam Tobe and said, ‘Did you get anything out of the robot?’
1976 K. Bonfiglioli Something Nasty in Woodshed v. 53 Sam got up in a robotical sort of way.
2007 Irish Independent (Nexis) 16 May Leading roboticist, Dr Gerard Lacey..is at the forefront of robotical aids in Irish medicine.
roˈboticist n. an expert in designing and operating robots.
ΘΚΠ
society > occupation and work > worker > workers according to type of work > manual or industrial worker > engineer > [noun] > other types
millwright1387
field engineer1758
chemical engineer1838
mechanical engineer1840
industrial engineer1849
structural engineer1867
civil1873
sanitary engineer1873
radio engineer1910
stress analyst1916
ack emma1917
stressman1919
roboticist1940
systems engineer1940
environmental engineer1947
terotechnologist1970
knowledge engineer1981
1940 I. Asimov in Super Sci. Stories Sept. 70/2 Johnson is an expert Roboticist.
1960 M. Scriven in S. Hook Dimensions of Mind xiii. 120 The roboticist in his task of duplicating the brain functions of higher vertebrates.
2008 Robotics & Autonomous Syst. 56 1015/1 With new technologies emerging, the ultimate goal of many roboticists, that of complete autonomy, draws closer.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2010; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
<
adj.n.1928