Artificial humans and autonomous artificial servants have a long history in human culture, though the term

Robot A robot is a machine—especially one Computer program, programmable by a computer—capable of carrying out a complex series of actions Automation, automatically. A robot can be guided by an external control device, or the robot control, co ...

and its modern literary conception as a mobile machine equipped with an advanced

artificial intelligence Artificial intelligence (AI) is the capability of computer, computational systems to perform tasks typically associated with human intelligence, such as learning, reasoning, problem-solving, perception, and decision-making. It is a field of re ...

are more fairly recent. The literary role of artificial life has evolved over time: early myths present animated objects as instruments of divine will, later stories treat their attempted creation as a blasphemy with inevitable consequences, and modern tales range from apocalyptic warnings against blind technological progress to explorations of the ethical questions raised by the possibility of sentient machines. Recently, a popular overview of the history of androids, robots, cyborgs and replicants from antiquity to the present has been published. Treated fields of knowledge are:

history of technology The history of technology is the history of the invention of tools and techniques by humans. Technology includes methods ranging from simple stone tools to the complex genetic engineering and information technology that has emerged since the 19 ...

history of medicine The history of medicine is both a study of medicine throughout history as well as a multidisciplinary field of study that seeks to explore and understand medical practices, both past and present, throughout human societies. The history of med ...

philosophy Philosophy ('love of wisdom' in Ancient Greek) is a systematic study of general and fundamental questions concerning topics like existence, reason, knowledge, Value (ethics and social sciences), value, mind, and language. It is a rational an ...

literature Literature is any collection of Writing, written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially novels, Play (theatre), plays, and poetry, poems. It includes both print and Electroni ...

film A film, also known as a movie or motion picture, is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, emotions, or atmosphere through the use of moving images that are generally, sinc ...

and

art history Art history is the study of Work of art, artistic works made throughout human history. Among other topics, it studies art’s formal qualities, its impact on societies and cultures, and how artistic styles have changed throughout history. Tradit ...

, the range of topics discussed is worldwide.

Early uses

The earliest examples were all presented as the results of divine intervention and include: The dry bones that came to life in the Book of Ezekiel (Chapter 37); three-legged self-navigating tables created by the god Hephaestus (Iliad xviii); and the statue Galatea, brought to life by the prayers of her creator Pygmalion. More recent humaniform examples include the brooms from the legend of the sorcerer's apprentice derived from a tale by

Lucian of Samosata Lucian of Samosata (Λουκιανὸς ὁ Σαμοσατεύς, 125 – after 180) was a Hellenized Syria (region), Syrian satire, satirist, rhetorician and pamphleteer who is best known for his characteristic tongue-in-cheek style, with whi ...

in the 1st century AD, the Jewish legend of the

golem A golem ( ; ) is an animated Anthropomorphism, anthropomorphic being in Jewish folklore, which is created entirely from inanimate matter, usually clay or mud. The most famous golem narrative involves Judah Loew ben Bezalel, the late 16th-century ...

created like Adam from clay, and Mary Shelley's ''

Frankenstein ''Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus'' is an 1818 Gothic novel written by English author Mary Shelley. ''Frankenstein'' tells the story of Victor Frankenstein, a young scientist who creates a Sapience, sapient Frankenstein's monster, crea ...

''. These tales include an indictment of human folly at presuming to take on the role of creator. Notable mechanical representations of humans include the life-sized singing puppet ''Olimpia'' in the short story " The Sandman" by E. T. A. Hoffmann in 1816 and a bipedal anthropomorphic mechanism in '' The Steam Man of the Prairies'' by Edward S. Ellis in 1868. These examples are stories about human-controlled mechanisms without autonomy or self-awareness. In Lyman Frank Baum's

children's novel Children's literature or juvenile literature includes stories, books, magazines, and poems that are created for children. In addition to conventional literary genres, modern children's literature is classified by the intended age of the reade ...

'' Ozma of Oz'', the first-ever introduction of a humanoid-appearance mechanical man that would satisfy the later "humanoid robot" definition occurred in 1907 - some fifteen years before the word "robot" was coined - with Tik-Tok, powered with a trio of clockwork movements for his thinking, movement and speech, none of which he could wind up himself. In 1912, Selma Lagerlöf published the poem ''Slåtterkarlarna på Ekolsund'' which was published in the first part of ''Troll och människor''. In the poem

Christopher Polhem Christopher Polhammar (18 December 1661 – 30 August 1751) better known as Christopher Polhem (), which he took after his ennoblement in 1716, was a Swedish scientist, inventor, and industrialist. He made significant contributions to the econ ...

is hired to create mechanical mowers for a farmer.

The modern "robot"

The first use of the word "

robot A robot is a machine—especially one Computer program, programmable by a computer—capable of carrying out a complex series of actions Automation, automatically. A robot can be guided by an external control device, or the robot control, co ...

" was in Karel Čapek's play '' R.U.R. (Rossum's Universal Robots)'' written in 1920 and first performed in

Czechoslovakia Czechoslovakia ( ; Czech language, Czech and , ''Česko-Slovensko'') was a landlocked country in Central Europe, created in 1918, when it declared its independence from Austria-Hungary. In 1938, after the Munich Agreement, the Sudetenland beca ...

in 1921, in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

in 1922 and an English edition published in 1923. Čapek's Robots are artificially manufactured from organic materials to labor for humans, and as the play progresses they revolt and overthrow their human creators. However, the play ends on an optimistic note: Robots' artificial biology causes a male and female Robot to fall in love, preserving the spirit of humanity as a result. ''R. U. R.'' and its Robots reflect contemporary anxieties about dehumanization amid the mass industrialization and militarism of the early twentieth century.Szollosy, M. (2017). Freud, Frankenstein and our fear of robots: projection in our cultural perception of technology. AI & Society, 32(3), 433+. While Karel Čapek's play introduced the word "robot" into languages around the globe, he later wrote a letter to the

Oxford English Dictionary The ''Oxford English Dictionary'' (''OED'') is the principal historical dictionary of the English language, published by Oxford University Press (OUP), a University of Oxford publishing house. The dictionary, which published its first editio ...

of etymology in which he named his brother, painter and writer Josef Čapek, as its true inventor. In an article in the Czech Lidové noviny in 1933 he also explains that he originally wanted to call the creatures "laboři" from the Latin word ''labor''. Karel found the word too bookish and sought advice from Josef who suggested to call them "robots". The word, which is always capitalized in Čapek's play, derives from ''robota'' which means "drudgery" in Czech and means "work" in Slovak.) The theme of robots has been picked up by science fiction writers and many volumes are focused on robots and their interaction with the human species. Of particular note is the work of

Isaac Asimov Isaac Asimov ( ; – April 6, 1992) was an Russian-born American writer and professor of biochemistry at Boston University. During his lifetime, Asimov was considered one of the "Big Three" science fiction writers, along with Robert A. H ...

as a large part of his work centers on robots. Asimov is particularly known for his creation of the Three laws of robotics which that author uses in stories as both to define his robots and how these interact within the worlds he creates.

Early uses

The modern "robot"

References

Further reading

See also