Wiktionary
n. An autonomous flying robot used in the context of unmanned space probes for research within planetary atmospheres.
Wikipedia
An aerobot is an aerial robot, usually used in the context of an unmanned space probe or unmanned aerial vehicle.
While work has been done since the 1960s on robot " rovers" to explore the Moon and other worlds in the Solar system, such machines have limitations. They tend to be expensive and have limited range, and due to the communications time lags over interplanetary distances, they have to be smart enough to navigate without disabling themselves.
For planets with atmospheres of any substance, however, there is an alternative: an autonomous flying robot, or "aerobot". Most aerobot concepts are based on aerostats, primarily balloons, but occasionally airships. Flying above obstructions in the winds, a balloon could explore large regions of a planet in great detail for relatively low cost. Airplanes for planetary exploration have also been proposed.
Usage examples of "aerobot".
Combat aerobots launched from bases dotted around the outskirts of New Costa.
He sent combat aerobots rocketing skyward, firing as they went: big machines of unmistakable military ugliness.
Squadrons of combat aerobots launched from their silos to patrol the skies above the force fields.
Three of his aerobots fired their atom lasers, taking out incoming Prime projectiles as they hit the upper atmosphere.
Other than cities protected by force fields and aerobots, they were woefully unprepared.
Cargo trains loaded with aerobots and armed troops from all over the Commonwealth, hurrying to reinforce the isolated cities.
Cargo trains pulled up in sidings, and the aerobots they carried launched from there to fly through the wormholes above the heads of the refugees.
Wilson wanted it kept intact with a functioning station so that aerobots could be channeled through and deployed around Anshun’s remaining shielded cities.
Meters above the ground, aerobots and Prime flyers alike vectored around in high-gee maneuvers in an attempt to avoid the miasma of incendiary particles.
They started to fire their weapons, blasting the aerobots out of the sky.
Several force field generators had been delivered by cargo flyers, along with weapons capable of shooting down any aerobot that ventured too close.
Anshun had few sensors left in working order, but the aerobots provided intermittent sweeps of space directly above the tempestuous ionosphere.
A squadron of FTY897 combat aerobots had taken up patrol of the perimeter.