Concentration can be fixed or moment-to-moment. The different stages of concentration when it's fixed concentration are the temporary cessation of the hindrances through suppression. Moment-to-moment awareness has to do with the Four Foundations of Mindfulness which I talked about in the Satipattana Sutta.
Robot-like mindfulness is when there is no clear comprehension, it's just bare awareness, it doesn't have Right View and wisdom backing it up. So there is often a misunderstanding, especially in the West, concerning awareness being enough in itself. In Thailand they don't usually say mindfulness by itself, they usually say mindfulness and clear comprehension, sati-sampajanna because they don't believe that mindfulness is enough by itself, that you have to have clear comprehension of the Law of Cause and Effect, that we need to have Right View backing it up.
Samatha is concentration directed towards tranquillity only, its goal is for a tranquil state of mind. Then with some people this tranquil state of mind has the power to do Vipassana. Buddhism teaches both, Vipassana and Samatha, but Samatha is usually taught to get a tranquil state of mind, which we then use the power that is developed to get insight. I mentioned that when coming out of concentrated states of mind to reflect upon the impermanence of mind states, that is then directed towards insight.