(From "robot") Any type of autonomoUSsoftware 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. (1999-05-20)