[carapace]

I sometimes do call them robots, but you could exclude them on the basis of lack of mobility, or, better yet, lack of decision making. (Although a friend of mine has a laundry dryer with a moisture sensor.)

In a sense, anything with a PID controller or even just a governor could be considered a "robot", or at least "automation", eh?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centrifugal_governor