R.U.R. (Rossum's Universal Robots)

R.U.R. (Rossum's Universal Robots)

R.U.R. (Rossum's Universal Robots), often known as RUR, premiered in Prague in 1921, a science fiction play by Karel Capek. It is the origin of the word robot, which displaced older words such as "automaton" or "android" in languages around the world. In its original Czech, robota means drudgery or servitude. The name Rossum is an allusion to the Czech word rozum, meaning reason, intellect.

The above English translation of R.U.R was changed with respect to the original Czech one, in order to fit the initial letter's R,U,R. The correct translation of the Czech title R.U.R. (Rosumovi Uměl� Roboti) would be Mr. Reasson's Artificial Robots.

Warning: Wikipedia contains spoilers.

After having finished the manuscript, Capek realized that he had created a modern version of the old Golem Legend.

It is dark, but not hopeless, and was successful in its day in Europe and the United States. It was first translated into English in 1923 but a more accurate 1990 translation in English is available in Towards the Radical Center, published by Catbird Press.

An Esperanto translation is available as a free e-book from the eLibrejo, titled as R. U. R. - Rossumaj Universal-Robotoj[1].

External link

General information on the play, including a plot summary and photographs from various historical productions