R.U.R. (Rossum's Universal Robots): A Fantastic Melodrama

First edition (1923) of the English translation of the play R.U.R., written in 1920 by the Czech writer Karel Čapek. The initials stand for “Rossum's Universal Robots.” The play, set sometime around the year 2000, tells the tale of artificial humans created to be cheap factory labor. These beings have synthetic flesh and blood, and so are not mechanical robots, but more like the androids seen in Blade Runner or Battlestar Galactica. 

In the story, the robots eventually revolt and destroy all of humanity. Among them are two advanced models that have a new ability—to love. The play ends implying that those two will be the founders of a new species.  

R.U.R. introduced the word “robot” to the world. The term, invented for the play, is derived from the Czech word robota, which means “drudgery,” or, more broadly, forced labor. The root of the word, rab, means slave.