Smoked, on 12 March 2015 - 02:54 PM, said:
I guess if you refer to the robot battles etc on TV, they can be considered driven. However, all the manufacturing robots and commerical/home robots for sale are programmed and are autonomous.
From Wiki, "
A robot is a mechanical or virtual artificial agent, usually an electro-mechanical machine that is guided by a computer program or electronic circuitry. Robots can be autonomous or semi-autonomous and range from humanoids such as Honda's Advanced Step in Innovative Mobility (ASIMO) and TOSY's TOSY Ping Pong Playing Robot (TOPIO) to industrial robots, collectively programmed swarm robots, and even microscopic nano robots. By mimicking a lifelike appearance or automating movements, a robot may convey a sense of intelligence or thought of its own."
So I guess if you are calling AMS a semi-autonomous feature, then I guess you can call mechs with AMS, robots.
So if someone DC's in battle, does this robot that someone is piloting in the game, no longer becomes defined as robot and becomes a mech in your viewpoint, or is it always a robot?
Just out of curiosity what do you do for a living and what is your background concerning robotics?For what it's worth, I have a background in mechanical engineering and design, specialising in CAD (Solidworks primarily), IT technician and moving into 3D printing off the back of the afformentioned CAD specialisation.
However, in modern nomenculture, popular culture and general, the term Robot has also come to be synonymous with Mecha.
Mecha itself, simply means mechanical, and the origins of the term are so
vague as to be anything.
I have mech drafting pencils for example.
To also quote Wikipedia: "
Mecha is a
science fiction genre that centers on robots or machines controlled by people. These machines vary greatly in size, shape, and appearance. Some are little more than cars with arms and legs, while others are giant
humanoid constructs. Different sub-genres exist, with varying connotations of realism. The concept of
Super Robot and
Real Robot are two such examples found in Japanese
anime."
"The word "mecha" (メカ
meka[color=#00e]?[/color]) is an abbreviation first used in
Japanese of the word "
mechanical". In Japanese, mecha encompasses all mechanical objects, including
cars,
guns,
computers, and other devices. In this sense, it is extended to humanoid, human-sized robots and such things as the boomers from
Bubblegum Crisis, the similar
replicants of
Blade Runner; even
cyborgs can be referred to as mecha. The Japanese use the term "robot" (ロボット
robotto[color=#00e]?[/color]) or "giant robot" to distinguish limbed vehicles from other mechanical devices.
[1] One prominent example is the anime
Mazinger Z, where the term "Super Robot", features in the Japanese
theme song."
Additionally, the film Robot Jox further cemented the interchangeable term of 'Mecha' and 'Robot' within our vocabulary.
Technically, in the english language, yes, in a technical a Robot is an autonomous machine that can perform a task or tasks with minimal input from the user, but additionally, all robots would technically be Mecha also.
Yet in a broader sense, and other languages, robot is a perfectly acceptable terminolgy.
As others have stated (and I do it myself), Battlech is often refered to as 'big stompy robots', mecha anime commonly refered to as 'giant robot shows', etc.