Oddly
enough, the robots in RUR were not robots. At least, they
weren't what we think of when we use the word today. We regard
robots as machines, ideally man-shaped, that are capable of something
resembling intelligent action. Ray guns are optional. Capek's robots, on the other hand, were biochemical creations;
humanoid creatures with engineered, simplified bodies and brains.
I'd call them products of genetic engineering, except Capek depicts
them as being being assembled like automobiles, only squishier.
But as the word robot slipped into the English language in the 1920s,
it became firmly attached to mechanical men such as RUR here, which
had the devastating power to stand up and then... SIT DOWN!
Okay, not that exciting,
but the bar was set pretty low back then.
