In 1979 the word "Robot" is defined by Robot Institute of America as:

"A reprogrammable, multifunctional manipulator designed to move material, parts, tools, or specialized devices through various programmed motions for the performance of a variety of tasks".

The word 'robotics' was first used in Runaround, a short story published in 1942, by Isaac Asimov (born Jan. 2, 1920, died Apr. 6, 1992).

Three Laws of Robotics given by Asimov is given below:

Asimov also proposed his three "Laws of Robotics", and he later added a 'zeroth law'.

• Law Zero: A robot may not injure humanity, or, through inaction, allow humanity to come to harm.
• Law One: A robot may not injure a human being, or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm, unless this would violate a higher order law.
• Law Two: A robot must obey orders given it by human beings, except where such orders would conflict with a higher order law.
• Law Three: A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with a higher order law.

Most people hate getting out of their car to pump gas, especially in bad weather, so gas stations in the Netherlands are eying an alternative that could replace yesterday's gas attendants. This week Dutch inventors unveiled the "Tankpitstop," a robotic arm that can fill a car's gas tank simply by identifying the car on arrival.

A robotic arm fitted with multiple sensors extends from a regular gas pump, carefully opens the car's flap, unscrews the cap, picks up the fuel nozzle and directs it towards the tank opening, much as a human arm would, and as efficiently.

To avoid scratching or damaging the car, the robot first determines the type of car it will service, then matches that information to a database that tells it which fuel cap the car has or what type of fuel it should use. It only works with cars programmed in the database, which will hopefully also have a keyless fuel tank.

Nico van Staveren, the developer and gas station operator, said he got the inspiration to develop the "Tankpitstop" robot after seeing a robotic arm milk a cow once, " If a robot can do that then why can't it fill a car?" The handy robo-gas attendant cost 75.000 euros ($111,000), and will be released in a handful of Dutch gas stations brave enough to try this type of technology later this year.

According to inventor - "I was on a farm and I saw a robotic arm milking a cow. If a robot can do that then why can't it fill a car tank, I thought," said developer and gas station operator Nico van Staveren. "Drivers needn't get dirty hands or smell of petrol again."

Scientists in Japan have developed a tiny robot that can ride a bicycle.

Murata Boy, which weighs just 5kg and is 20cm tall, can travel at 76 cm per second and is controlled by a wireless computer link.Engineers said the most difficult part of the design process was getting Murata Boy to balance on the bike.They solved the problem by installing special sensors on the robot, which allows it to judge its angle and speed, and then make balance adjustments.

Last week Japan announce "robot of the year - 2007" - a mechanical arm capable of grabbing 120 items-per-minute from a conveyor belt­marked an anticlimactic end to what has otherwise been a good year in the advancement of artificial intelligence. These robots are optimized to work efficiently and accurately on food and pharmaceutical manufacturing lines.

During the tragedy at Utah's Crandall Canyon mine in August, when six miners and three rescuers perished in a mine collapse and subsequent rescue attempt, rescuers learned valuable lessons about the capabilities and limitations of robotic equipment. A robot crawler was sent 1,500 feet (457 meters) through a borehole into the mine, located about 120 miles (193 kilometers) south of Salt Lake City, after it crumbled due to a cave-in so powerful that it registered a magnitude of 3.9 on the Richter scale. Workers, handicapped by time constraints and the continued shifting of the mountain's mass, managed to get the crawler to the mine's floor but were bogged down by debris and unable retrieve the device, which remains trapped 52 feet (16 meters) below the mountain's surface.

As if signing books and performing surgery on patients were not enough, robots can now walk on water, too, thanks to engineers at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU). What started as a class project three years ago ended up as insectlike mechanical robots with four to sixteen legs. The "bugs," two to six inches long and weighing a few grams, can scoot over water, reports IEEE Transactions on Robotics. Called STRIDE, for surface tension based robotic insect dynamic explorer, the robots use water's surface tension to amble on their spindly legs exactly like water striders, the insects that motivated the challenge.