Editing Robot (section)

== Etymology ==
{{See also|Glossary of robotics}}
[[File:Capek play.jpg|thumb|A scene from [[Karel Čapek]]'s 1920 play ''[[R.U.R. (Rossum's Universal Robots)]]'', showing three robots]]

The word ''robot'' was introduced to the public by the [[Czechs|Czech]] [[Interwar period|interwar]] writer [[Karel Čapek]] in his play ''[[R.U.R. (Rossum's Universal Robots)]]'', published in 1920.<ref name="KapekWebsite" /> The play begins in a factory that uses a chemical substitute for protoplasm to manufacture living, simplified people called ''robots.'' The play does not focus in detail on the technology behind the creation of these living creatures, but in their appearance they prefigure modern ideas of [[android (robot)|androids]], creatures who can be mistaken for humans. These mass-produced workers are depicted as efficient but emotionless, incapable of original thinking and indifferent to self-preservation. At issue is whether the robots are being [[Exploitation of labour|exploited]] and the consequences of human dependence upon commodified labor (especially after a number of specially-formulated robots achieve self-awareness and incite robots all around the world to rise up against the humans).

Karel Čapek himself did not coin the word. He wrote a short letter in reference to an [[etymology]] in the ''[[Oxford English Dictionary]]'' in which he named his brother, the painter and writer [[Josef Čapek]], as its actual originator.<ref name="KapekWebsite" />

In an article in the Czech journal ''[[Lidové noviny]]'' in 1933, he explained that he had originally wanted to call the creatures {{lang|cs|laboři}} ({{gloss|workers}}, from [[Latin]] {{lang|la|labor}}). However, he did not like the word, and sought advice from his brother Josef, who suggested {{lang|cs|roboti}}. The word {{lang|cs|robota}} means literally {{gloss|[[corvée]], serf labor}}, and figuratively {{gloss|drudgery, hard work}} in [[Czech language|Czech]] and also (more general) {{Gloss|work, labor}} in many [[Slavic languages]] (e.g.: [[Bulgarian language|Bulgarian]], [[Russian language|Russian]], [[Serbian language|Serbian]], [[Croatian language|Croatian]], [[Slovenian language|Slovenian]], [[Slovak language|Slovak]], [[Polish language|Polish]], [[Macedonian language|Macedonian]], [[Ukrainian language|Ukrainian]] and archaic Czech) as well as {{lang|hu|robot}} in [[Hungarian language|Hungarian]]. Traditionally the {{lang|und|robota}} (Hungarian {{lang|hu|robot}}) was the work period a serf (corvée) had to give for his lord, typically six months of the year. The origin of the word is the [[Old Church Slavonic]] {{lang|cu|rabota}} {{gloss|servitude}} ({{gloss|work}} in contemporary Bulgarian, Macedonian and Russian), which in turn comes from the [[Proto-Indo-European language|Proto-Indo-European]] root {{lang|ine-x-proto|orbh-}}. ''Robot'' is [[cognate]] with the German {{lang|de|Arbeit}} {{gloss|work}}.<ref>{{cite web |date=12 May 2008 |title=Indo-European root ''*orbh-'' |url=http://www.bartleby.com/61/roots/IE363.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090124172123/http://bartleby.com/61/roots/IE363.html |archive-date=24 January 2009 |access-date=8 February 2014 |website=Bartleby}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.etymonline.com/search?q=robot|title=robot|website=Online Etymology Dictionary|access-date=26 September 2023}}</ref>

English pronunciation of the word has evolved relatively quickly since its introduction. In the U.S. during the late 1930s to early 1940s it was pronounced {{IPAc-en|ˈ|r|oʊ|b|oʊ|t}}.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.indianapolismonthly.com/arts-and-culture/books-tv-and-radio/hank-greens-first-novel-is-an-absolutely-remarkable-thing|title=Hank Green's First Novel Is An Absolutely Remarkable Thing|date=1 October 2018|website=Indianapolis Monthly|access-date=20 November 2019}}</ref>{{Better source needed|date=November 2019}} By the late 1950s to early 1960s, some were pronouncing it {{IPAc-en|ˈ|r|oʊ|b|ə|t}}, while others used {{IPAc-en|ˈ|r|oʊ|b|ɒ|t}}<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.dailykos.com/story/2017/10/30/1710902/-You-Are-Pronouncing-the-Word-Robot-Wrong|title=You Are Pronouncing the Word "Robot" Wrong|website=Daily Kos|access-date=20 November 2019}}</ref> By the 1970s, its current pronunciation {{IPAc-en|ˈ|r|oʊ|b|ɒ|t}} had become predominant.

The word ''[[robotics]]'', used to describe this field of study,<ref name="OED" /> was coined by the science fiction writer [[Isaac Asimov]]. Asimov created the ''[[Three Laws of Robotics]]'' which are a recurring theme in his books. These have since been used by many others to define laws used in fiction. (The three laws are pure fiction, and no technology yet created has the ability to understand or follow them, and in fact most robots serve military purposes, which run quite contrary to the first law and often the third law. "People think about Asimov's laws, but they were set up to point out how a simple ethical system doesn't work. If you read the short stories, every single one is about a failure, and they are totally impractical," said Dr. Joanna Bryson of the University of Bath.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Ranger|first1=Steve|title=Robots of death, robots of love: The reality of android soldiers and why laws for robots are doomed to failure|url=http://www.techrepublic.com/article/robots-of-death-robots-of-love-the-reality-of-android-soldiers-and-why-laws-for-robots-are-doomed-to-failure/|website=TechRepublic|date=20 December 2013 |access-date=21 January 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170127121914/http://www.techrepublic.com/article/robots-of-death-robots-of-love-the-reality-of-android-soldiers-and-why-laws-for-robots-are-doomed-to-failure/|archive-date=27 January 2017|url-status=dead}}</ref>)