Where Does the Word Robot Come From?

When did the word robot first appear?

The word robot comes from R.U.R. (Rossum's Universal Robots), a play by the Czech writer Karel Čapek.^[5][2] The Linda Hall Library notes that its appearance in the play's subtitle marked the introduction of the term.^[2] The play was published in November 1920.^[9] According to the Czech Foreign Ministry, an amateur company in the town of Hradec Králové gave the first performance on 2 January 1921, ignoring the postponement of the planned premiere at the National Theatre in Prague.^[9] The National Theatre first staged R.U.R. on 25 January 1921 and kept it in the repertoire until 25 December 1927, for 63 performances in all.^[1] Karel's brother, the painter Josef Čapek, designed the costumes for that production.^[1][2]

Reference works therefore date the play differently: Oxford's learner's dictionary gives 1920, the year of publication, while the American Heritage Dictionary calls R.U.R. Čapek's 1921 play.^[5][4] The Linda Hall Library says the play debuted in 1921.^[2]

Did Karel or Josef Čapek invent the word?

Karel Čapek pointed out on several occasions that, although robot first appeared in print in his play, the word was coined by his brother Josef.^[2] Josef was a painter and writer who was as well known at the time as Karel.^[2] He designed the cover of the 1920 edition of R.U.R. and is named in it as an editor.^[3]

Karel told the story in the Czech newspaper Lidové noviny on December 24, 1933.^[3] In an English translation published by the literary journal Blackbird, Karel writes that he did not invent the word but "merely ushered it into existence."^[3] When the idea for the play came to him, he rushed to his brother, who was standing at his easel, painting.^[3] Karel said he did not know what to call the artificial workers; he had thought of "Laboři," but that seemed a bit literal.^[3] "Then call them Roboti," Josef muttered, with a brush in his mouth, and carried on painting.^[3]

What does robota mean in Czech?

Josef formed the word from the Czech robota.^[2] Oxford's learner's dictionary translates robota as "forced labour."^[5] The American Heritage Dictionary gives "servitude, forced labor," and the Linda Hall Library gives "drudgery."^[4][2] The Online Etymology Dictionary traces robota to an Old Czech source related to the Old Church Slavonic rabota, "servitude," from rabu, "slave."^[7]

Brno Tech Region, a Czech regional innovation website, explains that robota referred to the unpaid hard work that commoners were obliged to do for aristocrats in feudal times.^[8] In the play, Čapek used robot for the male versions of his artificial beings and robotka for the female ones.^[4]

Were Čapek's original robots made of metal?

The robots of R.U.R. are not mechanical humans but organic creations, made with a secret recipe developed by the play's inventor, old Rossum.^[2] The American Heritage Dictionary describes them as made of something like flesh and blood.^[4] Their flesh is mixed like dough in mixing machines, and their nerves and veins are spun out on spinners.^[4] In the story, a company makes them to serve as slave labour for humanity.^[4] When some robots are made more humanlike, they revolt, and in the end every human is killed except one engineer, Alquist.^[2]

The image of a robot built from sheet-metal parts took shape later, between the two world wars.^[8] In a 1935 newspaper article, Čapek objected that he had never intended to send into the world "dummies made of sheet metal, full of cogs, photocells or any other mechanical gadgets."^[8] The American Heritage Dictionary contrasts his biological robots with the metal and silicon robots of later science fiction, such as those in Star Wars.^[4]

How did robot spread into English?

The Theatre Guild opened R.U.R. at the Garrick Theatre in New York on October 9, 1922, as the first production of its fifth season.^[6] The Linda Hall Library says the play was "quite the rage on Broadway in 1922/23."^[2] The Theatre Guild edition of the English text was published by Doubleday in 1923.^[6]

The American Heritage Dictionary dates robot in English to 1923, when the play was translated from Czech and presented in London and New York.^[4] That is a year later than the New York opening recorded by the Theatre Guild.^[4][6] The play was eventually translated into more than thirty languages and staged in cities including New York, Vienna, Berlin and London.^[8]

The American Heritage Dictionary now defines a robot as a mechanical device that can perform complex human tasks, and also as a person who works mechanically without original thought.^[4]

Where does the word robotics come from?

Robotics, meaning "the science of robots, their construction and use," dates from 1941 and was formed from robot and the ending -ics.^[7] The Online Etymology Dictionary says it was coined in a science fiction context by the Russian-born American author Isaac Asimov.^[7]