Robotics is a branch of engineering that involves designing, building, and programming machines to perform tasks automatically. Robots are used in dangerous environments like bomb detection. The term "robotics" was first coined by science fiction author Isaac Asimov in the 1940s, derived from the word "robot" introduced by Karel Čapek in 1920, which comes from the Slavic word for labor. Fully autonomous robots emerged in the second half of the 20th century, beginning with the first digitally operated and programmable robot installed in 1961 to handle hot metal parts.