<networking, chat, World-Wide Web> (From "robot") Any type
of autonomous software that operates as an agent for a
user or a program or simulates a human activity. On the
Internet, the most popular bots are programs (called
spiders or crawlers) used for searching. They access web
sites, retrieve documents and follow all the hyperlinks in
them; then they generate catalogs that are accessed by search
engines.
A chatbot converses with humans (or other bots). A
shopbot searches the Web to find the best price for a
product. Other bots (such as OpenSesame) observe a user's
patterns in navigating a website and customises the site for
that user.
Knowbots collect specific information from websites.
