Description
In 1921 Karel Čapek coined the word robot in his science fiction play called R.U.R. (Rossum’s Universal Robots). The word “robot” comes from the word robota meaning literally serf labor, and, figuratively, “drudgery” or “hard work” in Czech, Slovak and Polish.
The Robots described in the play are not robots in the modern sense. Rossum’s robots are biological creations engineered in the same fashion as Frankenstein’s creature as described by Mary Shelley. Čapek’s Robots are biological machines, but they are still assembled, as opposed to grown or born.
In the play the robots can think for themselves and perform manual labor. Although they seem happy to work for humans, that changes and leads to the end of the human race due to a hostile robot rebellion.
In 1921 Karel Čapek coined the word robot in his science fiction play called R.U.R. (Rossum’s Universal Robots). The word “robot” comes from the word robota meaning literally serf labor, and, figuratively, “drudgery” or “hard work” in Czech, Slovak and Polish.
The Robots described in the play are not robots in the modern sense. Rossum’s robots are biological creations engineered in the same fashion as Frankenstein’s creature as described by Mary Shelley. Čapek’s Robots are biological machines, but they are still assembled, as opposed to grown or born.
In the play the robots can think for themselves and perform manual labor. Although they seem happy to work for humans, that changes and leads to the end of the human race due to a hostile robot rebellion.
