Regarding the Feb. 29 article on humans and robots "MIT prof eyes robots as centerpiece of future society," the word "robot" enters the English language with the 1922 American premiere of Karel Capek's play R.U.R. (Rossum's Universal Robots) and the publication the following year of this translation of the work. Proposed by Capek's brother Josef as the name for the artificial life forms of the play (Capek's own original choice had been "laboci"), "robot" derives from the Czech "robota," serf labor, and is related to the German "Arbeiter," worker.
Michael Morton
Associate professor, Germanic languages and literature
Get The Chronicle straight to your inbox
Signup for our weekly newsletter. Cancel at any time.