A robot
A robot is a machine that automatically performs a set of usually pre-programmed tasks and has limited autonomy.
In early science fiction writing the idea of a robot tended to include thinking machines that could perform independent judgements. Later, this was revised to the idea of an android and the notion of robot became limited to less advanced forms of machines. The basis for this change is generally credited to Isaac Asimov who, though referring to them as robots, created characters who were far more intelligent than humans and operated according to the "Three Laws of Robotics" which later became the accepted basis for many characteristics of android behavior.
Albert Macklin wrote stories that featured robots almost exclusively. (DS9: "Far Beyond the Stars")
The Think Tank had a robotic lifeform as one of its members. (VOY: "Think Tank")
In 2152 the Enterprise made a repair-stop at what it had been told was a robotic space station, but which turned out to be a self aware machine with malicious intent. (ENT: "Dead Stop")
Deep Space 9 had a store called Tom Servo's Used Robots. (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine set decoration)
- The term robot was coined by Czech science fiction writer Karel Capek's play R.U.R (Rossum's Universal Robots). The word, actually, was invented by his brother, Josef Capek.