What Does This Mean?
In internet usage, a label for an automated account or program (a bot), and figuratively for a person who seems to lack emotion or individuality. As a persona, "robot" accounts and users play at being machine-like. It differs from the many neighbouring bot entries by being the base word rather than a specific trend.
EXPLAINER
Grid · original source ↗
EXPLAINER
Tech Policy Lab, University of Washington · original source ↗
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REAL-WORLD EXAMPLE
""Their replies come in at the same second every time, so the account is obviously a robot.""
LORE & ORIGIN
Wiktionary says the word was borrowed from Czech robot, from robota ("drudgery, servitude"), and popularised by Karel Čapek's 1920 play R.U.R.; it lists the computing sense (a bot) and the figurative sense of an unemotional person. On 4chan, the same entry records a slang sense tied to the /r9k/ board, named after the ROBOT9000 anti-repost algorithm.
MENTIONS OVER TIME
Radar observation data not yet available for this term.
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