What's the main difference between a "robot," an "android," and a "droid?" Although they refer to the same meaning, why are there so many different terms?

Native speaker’s answer
Rebecca
Good question! There is a difference. Robots are a machine that can be programmed to allow them to do many tasks. They can appear in a variety of forms and shapes. Meanwhile, an android (sometimes "droid" for short) is a humanoid robot, or a robot that resembles a human. Thus, androids are robots, but not all robots are androids. Ex: The villain created an army of androids to fight the good guys. Ex: My favorite household robot is my automatic vacuum cleaner.