Learn Dutch: We lieten de intelligente robot een mens imiteren. - We let the intelligent robot imitate a human.

In Dutch, laten is used when you delegate a task, give instructions, or allow something to happen—like programming or commanding a robot. You only use doen for involuntary, uncontrollable reactions, like making someone laugh, sweat, or cry.

Does lieten here strictly mean 'let' as in giving permission?

Not necessarily! While it translates literally to let, laten is also the standard way to say to have someone do something or to make someone do something. In this context, it implies we instructed or programmed the robot to imitate a human, rather than just allowing it to do so.

Why doesn't imiteren use te before it?

Causative verbs like laten and doen work similarly to modal verbs. They take a bare infinitive (an infinitive without te) which gets pushed to the very end of the clause.

Just as a refresher, why does intelligente get an -e ending?

Because robot is a de-word. When an adjective comes before a noun and is preceded by the definite article de, it always takes the -e ending.