Karel Čapek's play R.U.R. Names the Robot

It was around this time that automaton started losing the verbal fight with the term, a hundred years later, we still use today: robot. And to be honest, not a great start for our relationship.

Karel Čapek's play R.U.R. (Rossum's Universal Robots) was published in Prague in November 1920 and first staged in January 1921. Its robots are artificial workers made from synthetic organic matter and built to free people from labor. Ah but they rebel and wipe out humanity.

The word robot came from the Czech robota, forced labor. In proof that art is always relevant (wink), Karel credited his brother, the painter Josef Čapek, with suggesting the name. It would take several years for the word to gain widespread acknowledgement let alone popularity. In 1922 the play had gone to New York and was in London in 1923, along with an English translation. From there, the word spread from English into dozens of other languages. And here we are today still using it.