automaton vs bot

automaton

noun
  • A toy in the form of a mechanical figure. 

  • A machine or robot designed to follow a precise sequence of instructions. 

  • A person who acts like a machine or robot, often defined as having a monotonous lifestyle and lacking in emotion. 

  • A formal system, such as a finite-state machine or cellular automaton. 

bot

noun
  • A physical robot. 

  • The larva of a botfly, which infests the skin of various mammals, producing warbles, or the nasal passage of sheep, or the stomach of horses. 

  • A piece of software designed to perform a minor but repetitive task automatically or on command, especially when operating with the appearance of a (human) user profile or account. 

  • A computer-controlled character in a video game, especially a multiplayer one. 

  • A supremely unskilled player. 

verb
  • To ask for and be given something with the direct intention of exploiting the thing’s usefulness, almost exclusively with cigarettes. 

  • To bugger. 

  • To use a bot, or automated program. 

How often have the words automaton and bot occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )