The word and concept 'robot' (R.U.R.)
La palabra y el concepto «robot» (R.U.R.)
- Date
- 1920-1921 · confidence high
- Place
- Prague, Czechia
- Credited to
- Karel Čapek (word coined by Josef Čapek)
- Field
- Knowledge & symbols
What it is
The play 'R.U.R. (Rossum's Universal Robots)' presents mass-produced artificial workers who rebel against their owners. The term 'robot', from robota ('forced labour'), spread from it to almost every language.
Karel Čapek wrote the play in 1920 and it premiered in Hradec Králové on 2 January 1921; it was his brother Josef who suggested the word. The play's 'robots' are closer to biological androids than machines. The entry records the concept, not an artefact.
What it led to
- the word 'robot' in technical and popular vocabulary
- science fiction about machine revolt
- the term robotics, coined by Isaac Asimov in 1941