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WHERE THE WORD “ROBOT” COMES FROM 27

receivers for checking where on this earth your robot currently is. Read more on these and
other cool devices in Chapter 45, “Navigating Your Robot.”

Output Devices

Output devices are components that relay information from the robot to the outside world.
Here are examples of output devices in robots:

• Light- emitting diodes (LEDs) that shine or blink, to indicate what the robot is doing— or
trying to do.
• Liquid- crystal displays (LCDs), for showing complete messages.
• Sounds that allow your bot to communicate in nonvisual ways. You might add a speech
synthesizer so your robot can talk to you. Or program it to wake you up in the morning by
playing your favorite MP3s. You can record any sound and have your robot reproduce it
instantly.
Read more on these and other ideas in Chapter 46, “Making and Listening to Sound,” and
Chapter 47, “Interacting with Your Creation.”

Where the Word “Robot” Comes From

I close this chapter with a wee bit of pontification: where does the term robot come from, and
what does it mean to the average robot enthusiast?

Figure 2-14 Robots are made for the
drudgery of everyday work. In Czech, Slovak,
and Polish languages, the word robota (from
which robot is derived) means “work.”
(Rendering courtesy Christopher Schantz.)

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