[ Harald Mueller wrote in 030907 MMD: ]

> ... but when a player piano actually _moves_ hammers, a band organ
> _moves_ drum sticks and beautiful ladies, etc., it seems that
> mechanical(!) music should be counted under "robots."

Technically, yes, all automata of any sort, including orchestrions,
music boxes, band organs, and automata figures are robots.  However,
the more modern function -- al definition of "robot", which is not
likely to be in modern dictionaries yet and may never be -- implies
some sort of self-regulating feedback.  That is, a robot not only
manipulates the environment but also senses it and responds to it.

Nowadays, robotics people prefer to use the term "animatron" for
the old fashioned automatic figures that simply repeat a programmed
sequence of movements, and this would apply to mechanical music as
well.  "Automata" has more or less fallen out of use, but seems to
encompass robots _and_ animatrons.

"Animatron", of course, is derived from Disney's coining of "audio
animatronics" to describe his automata multi-media figures.

It must be admitted, however, that the definitions of all these
words -- robot, animatron, automata, automatic, android, etc. --
tend to be very slippery.  Basically, they mean whatever the user
intends them to mean, and you have to know the context to know that
for sure.  They tend to have different meanings in the various worlds
(cyber, entertainment, etc.) that use them.

Regards,

Larry Smith