What does R.U.R. stand for?
R.U.R. stands for Rossumovi Univerzalni Roboti, which translates from Czech as Rossum's Universal Robots. The phrase has been used as an English subtitle in many productions of the play.
Questions about R.U.R.
Short answers, pulled from the story.
Who wrote R.U.R. and when was it first performed?
R.U.R. was written by Czech playwright Karel Capek and published in 1920. Its world premiere took place on the 2nd of January 1921 in Hradec Kralove; the Prague National Theatre production followed on the 25th of January 1921.
Did R.U.R. invent the word robot?
Yes. R.U.R. introduced the word robot to the English language and to science fiction. Capek credited his brother Josef as the true inventor of the word; in Czech, robota means forced labour of the kind serfs performed for their masters, derived from rab, meaning slave.
What kind of robots appear in R.U.R.?
The robots in R.U.R. are biological organisms, not mechanical machines. They are assembled from synthetic organic matter, including laboratory-grown skin, livers, brains, and bones, and can be mistaken for human beings.
What did Isaac Asimov think of R.U.R.?
Asimov called R.U.R. "a terribly bad" play but acknowledged it as immortal for contributing the word robot to English and, through English, to all languages in which science fiction is written. His Three Laws of Robotics were designed specifically to prevent the robot-uprising scenario Capek depicted.
Was R.U.R. ever adapted for television?
Yes. On the 11th of February 1938, the BBC broadcast a 35-minute television adaptation of part of R.U.R., which was the first science fiction programme ever broadcast on television. A second BBC television adaptation of the complete play, running 90 minutes, aired in 1948, with Patrick Troughton playing the robot Radius.