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Robots These robots
working in a car
plant don’t look

much like the
original fictional

ones.

The word robot first entered our language through a play, not
a laboratory. Czech writer Karel Cˇ apek used the word in his 1921
play, R.U.R.: Rossum’s Universal Robots. In the play, robots look
like humans and are used for cheap labor. Fifty years later real
labor-saving robots would be putting together manufactured
goods in factories.

Not everyone is a fan of science fiction. But most people
have admitted that these writers seem to see the future. It is a
compliment to the power of imagination that so many sci-fi dreams
do become true. The next time you read science fiction, remember,
you may be reading about your future.

Karel Cˇapek’s
imaginary robots
looked like
humans.

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