You give a bot directions and it brings back answers. The word is short for robot of course, which is derived from the Czech word robota meaning work. On the Web, robots have taken on a new form of life. Since all Web servers are connected, robot-like software is the perfect way to perform the methodical searches needed to find information. For example, Web search engines send out bots that crawl from one server to another, compiling the huge lists of URLs that are the heart of search engines.
Shopping bots compile enormous databases of products sold at online stores.
The term bot has become interchangeable with agent, to indicate that the software can be sent out on a mission, usually to find information and report back. Bots were not invented on the Internet, however. Robotic software is generally believed to have been created in the form of Eliza-a computer programmer, one of the first public displays of artificial intelligence. At times, Webmasters look on some forms of robots as a nuisance. A spider robot may uncover information which the Webmaster would prefer would remain secret.