Unit's 1 Assignment

con·vey:
1)To take or carry from one place to another; transport.
2)To serve as a medium of transmission for; transmit: wires that convey electricity.
3)To communicate or make known; impart: “a look intended to convey sympathetic comprehension” (Saki).

con·sen·sus:
1)An opinion or position reached by a group as a whole: “Among political women . . . there is a clear consensus about the problems women candidates have traditionally faced” (Wendy Kaminer). See Usage Note at redundancy.
2)General agreement or accord: government by consensus.

limb:
1)One of the larger branches of a tree.
2)One of the jointed appendages of an animal, such as an arm, leg, wing, or flipper, used for locomotion or grasping.
3)An extension or a projecting part, as of a building or mountain range.
4)One that is considered to be an extension, member, or representative of a larger body or group.

die-casting:
1)Process by which molten metal is forced by a plunger or compressed air into a metallic die and the pressure maintained until the metal has solidified. Die castings are accurate, are sharply outlined, have a good surface finish, and can be made in complicated designs. Zinc, aluminum, and magnesium alloys are the principal metals used. The high cost of the die usually limits the process to large-scale, high-speed production. Typical products are carburetor bodies and zippers. Type-casting machines are specialized die-casting machines

wide·spread:
1)Spread or scattered over a considerable extent: widespread fallout from a nuclear explosion.
2)Occurring or accepted widely: a widespread misunderstanding

vil·lain·ous:
1)a)Appropriate to a villain, as in wickedness or depravity: a villainous plot.
b)Being or manifesting the nature of a villain: a villainous band of thieves.
2)Highly undesirable or offensive; obnoxious.

coun·ter·part:
1)a)One that closely resembles another.
b)One that has the same functions and characteristics as another; a corresponding person or thing: Their foreign minister is the counterpart of our secretary of state.
2)A copy or duplicate of a legal paper.
3)a)One of two parts that fit and complete each other.
b)One that serves as a complement.

clum·sy
1)Lacking physical coordination, skill, or grace; awkward.
2)Awkwardly constructed; unwieldy: clumsy wooden shoes; a clumsy sentence.
3)Gauche; inept: a clumsy excuse.

Summary
A robot is a virtual or mechanical artificial agent. In practice, it is usually an electro-mechanical system which, by its appearance or movements, conveys a sense that it has intent or agency of its own. The word robot can refer to both physical robots and virtual software agents, but the latter are usually referred to as bots. There is no consensus on which machines qualify as robots, but there is general agreement among experts and the public that robots tend to do some or all of the following: move around, operate a mechanical limb, sense and manipulate their environment, and exhibit intelligent behavior, especially behavior which mimics humans or other animals.
Stories of artificial helpers and companions and attempts to create them have a long history but fully autonomous machines only appeared in the 20th century. The first digitally operated and programmable robot, the Unimate, was installed in 1961 to lift hot pieces of metal from a die casting machine and stack them. Today, commercial and industrial robots are in widespread use performing jobs more cheaply or with greater accuracy and reliability than humans. They are also employed for jobs which are too dirty, dangerous or dull to be suitable for humans. Robots are widely used in manufacturing, assembly and packing, transport, earth and space exploration, surgery, weaponry, laboratory research, and mass production of consumer and industrial goods.
People have a generally positive perception of the robots they actually encounter. Domestic robots for cleaning and maintenance are increasingly common in and around homes. There is anxiety, however, over the economic effect of automation and the threat of robotic weaponry, anxiety which is not helped by the depiction of many villainous, intelligent, acrobatic robots in popular entertainment. Compared with their fictional counterparts, real robots are still benign, dim-witted, and clumsy.robots for cleaning and maintenance are increasingly common in and around homes. There is anxiety, however, over the economic effect of automation and the threat of robotic weaponry, anxiety which is not helped by the depiction of many villainous, intelligent, acrobatic robots in popular entertainment. Compared with their fictional counterparts, real robots are still benign, dim-witted, and clumsy.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robot