Newsgroups: comp.robotics
Path: brunix!uunet!utcsri!skule.ecf!hertz
From: hertz@ecf.toronto.edu (HERTZ ROGER BARRY)
Subject: robot collective nouns
Message-ID: <C1441y.BoB@ecf.toronto.edu>
Organization: University of Toronto, Engineering Computing Facility
Date: Tue, 19 Jan 1993 17:46:45 GMT
Lines: 48

Hi,

Just thought I would add some food for thought about the "collective nouns"
discussion for robots.

First, some of my favorites so far:
	assembly of robots  (nice dual meaning)
	team of robots      (getting back to the 'worker' meaning)
	rabble of robots    (the one responsible would be a rabble rouser?)

I've asked around, and received a number of good suggestions.  They fall
under five groups: 1) original usage of 'robot', 2) military terms,
3) mathematical terms, 4) biological terms, and 5) miscellaneous.

1. Original usage of robot (in R.U.R., Karel Capek, 1923)
	collective of robots
	cooperation of robots
	rossum of robots
	universe of robots
	radius of robots

2. Military terms (since they do organized tasks)
	squadron of robots (or squad)
	legion of robots
	brigade of robots
	league of robots

3. Mathematical terms (a necessary component in all robots)
	vector of robots
	matrix of robots
	locus of robots
	tensor of robots

4. Biological terms (since the use of robot work-"cells" is popular)
	population of robots
	organ of robots
	tumor of robots
	malignancy of robots (I know, its bad)

5. Miscellaneous
	load of robots (double meaning for manipulators)
	stack of robots (double meaning as well)
	bank of robots (if you hope to make a profit)
	congregation of robots (if your robots don't turn away from you)
	roster of robots (for the alliteration benefits)

Roger Hertz
hertz@ecf.toronto.edu
