Where does the word robot come from?
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The robot first came to public attention through Czech writer Karel Čapek's play R.U.R. (Rossum's Universal Robots), published in 1920.
This opens in a factory that makes machines that replicate human form. These machines are closer to what we would call androids today.
As in Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, Čapek explores ethical issues related to individual autonomy. They share a preoccupation with the danger inherent in 'playing God'.
Dictionary dispute
Čapek credited his brother Josef with coining the word robot. He also wrote to the Oxford English Dictionary to correct their etymology.
Karel had originally used another neologism, labori, based on the Latin word for work, labour, but was dissatisfied. His brother then pointed to the Czech word robota, which suggests slave labour.
Robots rule the world?
The dystopian implications of ever-improving robotics are a staple theme in science fiction. Philip K. Dick's Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? (1968) and Michael Crichton's film 'Westworld' (1973) have been particularly influential.Yet Kathleen Richardson points out in this BBC broadcast that our notions about robots remain fanciful. Despite remarkable progress, even the most sophisticated robots are still comparatively clumsy, ineffective machines:
