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In the classical system, as I understand it, a pound of force is the force gravity makes on an object whose mass is one pound of mass.
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If you have to talk about force in the classical system, I suggest you use the unit of force called the slug.
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Whoa! Physics is confusing enough without confusing the terms "mass" and "weight." Let's get things straight. The POUND is the unit of FORCE in the Imperial (British) system. Weight is defined to be W = mg, which is a force vector. Weight is then a force, and the POUND is also a unit of WEIGHT. The SLUG is the unit of MASS in the Imperial system. Here on Earth, where g=32ft/s/s, assuming that the robot is short enough that g does not change drastically (probably a safe assumption assuming the height limit!), then we can convert between weight and mass relatively easy (W=mg) -- but beware not to confuse the two in a physics equation, or in your understanding. If all that sounded a bit confusing (too many wierd names ... afterall, who's heard of a slug?) ... that's why we use the metric system (well, I guess not many more have heard of a Newton, but that's inconsequential).