Robotics is a term coined by Isaac Asimov to describe the field of science involving robots and related technologies. So what is a robot? The word comes from a 1923 Czech play called R.U.R. and described autonomous, humanoid robot servants. The original Czech word was robota, which means "servitude or forced labor". According to the Syrius Cybernetics Corporation of Douglas Adams' Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy, a robot is "your plastic pal who's fun to be with". A more conventional definition is, "A mechanical device that sometimes resembles a human and is capable of performing a variety of often complex human tasks". There are many other definitions, some a bit too narrow and some far too broad. We try to be as inclusive as possible, accepting sites about hobby robotics, industrial robotics, even those about the radio-controlled entertainment vehicles of "Robot Wars". Enjoy our selections. And if you don't agree with some of our choices, rest easy in the knowledge that someone else out there wouldn't agree with yours.

This category is for "directory sites" only.

Scientific publications of all forms related to Computer Science. Notes:

• In spite of their name, technical report archives include usually conference or journal papers (they are usually FTP sites of research institutions).
• The number of items indexed by an engine is constantly increasing. However it gives an order of magnitude useful to compare indexes (most of the figures were gathered at end 2000).
• In bibliographic indexes, if search for on-line documents only is not allowed by the search form, try http and ftp as keywords.
• Usually, indexes are run by scientists as part of their research, and the indexing engines are sometime made available, for instance ResearchIndex and Ncstrl.