What does the Sesame Street robot SAM's name stand for?

Sesame Street’s robot SAM was named for “Super Automated Machine.”

SAM was introduced as a supposedly perfect automated machine, but his comic role depended on the gap between that claim and his behavior. He was frequently confused, made mistakes, and misunderstood situations, giving children a humorous way to see that machines are not automatically infallible.

The robot was performed primarily by Jerry Nelson, with occasional involvement from other Sesame Street puppeteers. SAM appeared during the program’s early-1970s period, when computers and robots were becoming increasingly familiar ideas in popular culture but were still often presented as mysterious or futuristic.

The name is sometimes misremembered as “Super Automatic Machine,” but the commonly documented expansion is “Super Automated Machine.” SAM also should not be confused with unrelated robots or software systems that use the same acronym. His sketches fit Sesame Street’s educational style: a seemingly advanced character could make errors, while children watching could recognize the correct answer and feel confident correcting him.