Robot: A Snapshot History of the Word and Idea

The word "robot" has a story. It begins in 1921 with a Czech playwright named Karel Čapek, who probably had no idea he was about to make such an impact in the world. Karel wrote a play, R.U.R. (Rossum's Universal Robots), about artificial human-like workers created to do all the things people didn't want to do. The word "robot" came from "robota," which means forced labor or drudgery in Czech. Going further back in linguistic meaning, the word's Slavic root, "rab," means "slave."

Karel, deeply impacted by World War I and other events of the time, wrote about the main characters:

"The old inventor, Mr. Rossum (whose name translated into English signifies 'Mr. Intellectual' or 'Mr. Brain'), is a typical representative of the scientific materialism of the last [nineteenth] century. His desire to create an artificial man — in the chemical and biological, not mechanical sense — is inspired by a foolish and obstinate wish to prove God to be unnecessary and absurd. Young Rossum is the modern scientist, untroubled by metaphysical ideas; scientific experiment is to him the road to industrial production. He is not concerned to prove, but to manufacture."

People were fascinated. They loved the idea of robots and, with them, the name. After the play's debut, the word "robot" quickly spread beyond the Czech language, making its way into English and over 30 other languages as translations of R.U.R. were performed worldwide. The concept resonated with audiences grappling with the effects of mechanization and automation in their own lives. By the 1930s, the term was being used in newspapers, magazines, and scientific discussions, fueling both curiosity and apprehension about the future of technology.