Robotics is the study of building machines that act on their own. Study robotics, a robotics lab, robotics competition.
It sits where mechanical engineering, electronics and software meet, and the hard part has turned out to be the physical world rather than the thinking — a machine can win at chess far more easily than it can pick up a strange object.
1nounroboticsThe study of building machines that act on their own.
“He's studying robotics and wants to build machines that help surgeons.”
robotics is a field of study.
Coined by Isaac Asimov in 1941 from robot plus -ics, on the pattern of physics and mechanics.
Proto-Indo-European
*h₃erbʰ-
German
Robot
English
robot
English, today
robotics
coined by Isaac Asimov in 1941 from robot + -ics by comparison to "physics... hydraulics, celestial mechanics, and so on" in his short story Liar!. robot comes from German Robot, from a zlw language, ultimately related to Etymology 2, below.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA