Sue Cliner, age 9, of Butte, Mont., for her question:

HOW DID THE ROBOT RECEIVE ITS NAME?

Robot is the word we use to describe a device that can do certain jobs automatically and does not need a person to operate it. One of the simplest examples is an electric eye door opener, which automatically opens the door when an object approaches it.

The word robot comes from the Czech word "robotit," which means to drudge. It came into use after the production of a play by the Czech dramatist Karel Capek called "R.U.R." The initials that made up the play's title stand for "Rossum's Universal Robots."

In Capek's play, the robot was a mechanical man. The word has been applied to all devices that seem to act like mechanical men. Closely related to the robot is the entire field of automation. Here we find the use of machines that control their own operations with little or no human help. Automated machines operate quickly and make few errors.

Some people fear that robots and automation reduce the number of available jobs. But even though automation eliminates some jobs, it actually creates new jobs for highly skilled workers.