Robotics is the interdisciplinary study and practice of the design, construction, operation, and use of robots.
The Shadow robot hand system
Mechanical construction
Electrical aspect
The InSight lander with solar panels deployed in a cleanroom
A robot is a machine—especially one programmable by a computer—capable of carrying out a complex series of actions automatically. A robot can be guided by an external control device, or the control may be embedded within. Robots may be constructed to evoke human form, but most robots are task-performing machines, designed with an emphasis on stark functionality, rather than expressive aesthetics.
ASIMO (2000) at the Expo 2005
Articulated welding robots used in a factory are a type of industrial robot.
KITT (a fictional robot) is mentally anthropomorphic; it thinks like a human.
iCub is physically anthropomorphic; it looks like a human.