The word robot was introduced to the public at large by Czech writer Karel Čapek in his play R.U.R. (Rossum's Universal Robots), which premiered in 1921. The play begins in a factory that makes 'artificial people' - they are called robots, but are closer to the modern idea of androids or even clones, creatures who can be mistaken for humans. They can plainly think for themselves, though they seem happy to serve. At issue is whether the "Robots" are being exploited and, if so, what follows?
However, Karel Čapek himself was not the originator of the word; he wrote a short letter in reference to an article in the Oxford English Dictionary etymology in which he named his brother, painter and writer Josef Čapek , as its actual inventor. In an article in the Czech journal Lidové noviny in 1933, he also explained that he had originally wanted to call the creatures laboři (from Latin labor, work). However, he did not like the word, seeing it as too artificial, and sought advice from his brother Josef, who suggested "roboti".
The word robot comes from the word robota meaning literally labor or work and historically applied specifically to serf labor, and figuratively "drudgery" or "hard work" in Czech,Slovak,Ukrainian, Russian and Polish. The origin of the word is the old Church Slavonic rabota "servitude" ("work" in contemporary Bulgarian and Russian), which in turn comes from the Indo-European root *orbh-. "Robota" in the sense of serfdom was outlawed in 1848 in Bohemia, so at the time Čapek wrote R.U.R., usage of the term had broadened to include various types of work, but the archaic sense of serfdom would still have been known. Robot is cognate with the German word Arbeiter (worker).
In Hungary, the robot was a feudal service, which was rendered to local magnates by peasants every year.
However, Karel Čapek himself was not the originator of the word; he wrote a short letter in reference to an article in the Oxford English Dictionary etymology in which he named his brother, painter and writer Josef Čapek , as its actual inventor. In an article in the Czech journal Lidové noviny in 1933, he also explained that he had originally wanted to call the creatures laboři (from Latin labor, work). However, he did not like the word, seeing it as too artificial, and sought advice from his brother Josef, who suggested "roboti".
The word robot comes from the word robota meaning literally labor or work and historically applied specifically to serf labor, and figuratively "drudgery" or "hard work" in Czech,Slovak,Ukrainian, Russian and Polish. The origin of the word is the old Church Slavonic rabota "servitude" ("work" in contemporary Bulgarian and Russian), which in turn comes from the Indo-European root *orbh-. "Robota" in the sense of serfdom was outlawed in 1848 in Bohemia, so at the time Čapek wrote R.U.R., usage of the term had broadened to include various types of work, but the archaic sense of serfdom would still have been known. Robot is cognate with the German word Arbeiter (worker).
In Hungary, the robot was a feudal service, which was rendered to local magnates by peasants every year.
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