# Is this thing really a "robot"?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-thing-really-a-robot/321922
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [September 16, 2005, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-thing-really-a-robot/321922 "2005-09-16T03:48:47Z")
**Posts on this page:** 5
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)
#### Post date: [September 16, 2005, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-thing-really-a-robot/321922/1 "2005-09-16T03:48:47Z")
Seems more like some kind of semi-mobile switch than a “robot”.
[Inchworm-like robot smallest ever
Tiny bot about as wide as the width of a human hair](http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9356412/)
> [@](#):
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> To get around, the robot makes use of two independent microactuators — the robot’s “muscles.” One is for forward motion and the other for turning.
>
> It doesn’t have pre-programmed directions. Instead, it reacts to electric changes in the grid of electrodes it moves on. This grid also supplies the microrobot with the power needed to make these movements.
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### Author:  [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)
#### Post date: [September 16, 2005, 6:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-thing-really-a-robot/321922/2 "2005-09-16T06:01:44Z")
Yeah, I also think they are stretching the definition of a robot, but the dictionary seems to allow it:
> **[Definition of ROBOT](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/robot)**
>
> a machine that resembles a living creature in being capable of moving independently (as by walking or rolling on wheels) and performing complex actions (such as grasping and moving objects); often : such a machine built to resemble a human being or...
> [@](#):
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> 2 : a device that automatically performs complicated often repetitive tasks
> 3 : **a mechanism guided by automatic controls**
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### Author:  [@picunurse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/picunurse)
#### Post date: [September 16, 2005, 8:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-thing-really-a-robot/321922/3 "2005-09-16T08:29:34Z")
[Nanobots](http://www.nanobot.info/)?
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### Author:  [@Jeffro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jeffro)
#### Post date: [September 16, 2005, 9:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-thing-really-a-robot/321922/4 "2005-09-16T09:25:57Z")
How long will it be untill doctors are using these to clear out clogged arteries?
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### Author:  [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)
#### Post date: [September 16, 2005, 10:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-thing-really-a-robot/321922/5 "2005-09-16T10:49:26Z")
I think I recall Asimov defining a robot as a computer that can move itself around. That seems like as good of a first-cut definition as I can think of, provided that by ‘computer’ we mean ‘stored-program computer’ (every computer that carries the term now qualifies).
That obviously isn’t a robot by that definition. Neither is an RC car, for the same reason: The car is only capable of responding to direct commands, and isn’t really ‘computing’ anything.
Semantic drift is inevitable, however, especially when the lay media is concerned. Further evidence that you shouldn’t believe what you read in the papers.