Today in 1922, the play R.U.R. had its American premier.
A science-fiction play by the Czech writer Karel Čapek, R.U.R. (Rossumovi Univerzální Roboti—Rossum's Universal Robots) introduced the word "robot" to the English language and to science fiction.
The robots in the play, which takes place around the year 2000, are man-made, mass-produced artificial biological organisms. “In the introductory scene,” the stage instructions read, “the robots are dressed like people. They are slightly mechanical in their speech and movements, blank of expression, fixed in their gaze.”
Robot and robotka, the Czech words Čapek used for the male and female versions of the play’s sentient biological automatons, are derived from the Czech word robota, "servitude, forced labor."
The posters displayed at the office of the general manager of the factory in the opening scene introduce the audience to a future of a robot-based economy: “The Cheapest Workforce You Can Get: Rossum’s Robots”, “Latest invention; Robots for the Tropics. 150 d. each”, “Everyone Should have a Robot!”, “Reduce the Cost of your Products! Order a Robot from Rossum’s!”
The robots eventually grow tired of their subservient position and stage a rebellion, take over the world, and kill all humans except one. At the end of the play, the last surviving human realizes that robots are capable of human feelings, even falling in love. He concludes that love will be the salvation of the new robotic world.