Sarah Kidner explores our fascination with robots, looks at their past and ponders the robotic future.
What have a Czech playwright, 15th century artist Leonardo da Vinci and the future o
Sarah Kidner explores our fascination with robots, looks at their past and ponders the robotic future.
What have a Czech playwright, 15th century artist Leonardo da Vinci and the future of space travel got in common? The improbable answer is robotics.
The Czech playwright in question is Karel Capek (pronounced Chopek), who first coined the term robota in his 1920s play Rossums Universal Robot. The play charts the fortunes of inventor Rossum, who creates mechanical beings to replace humans for some of the more unpalatable jobs on a production line in his factory. The robots take over the world at the plays conclusion. Although the concept of robots has fascinated man since the dawn of intelligent thought, were going to concentrate on the developments since the term robots was coined.
Isaac Asimov put forward a cautionary view of robots some 20 years after Capeks play when he proposed the Three Laws of Robotics in his seminal story Runaround. Designed to prevent robots from turning on their creators, the Three Laws stated that: first, a robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm; second, a robot must obey the orders given to it by human beings (except where it would conflict with the First Law); and third, a robot must protect its own existence (as long as such protection doesnt conflict with the First or Second Law).
Together, these stories reflect the way robots have penetrated the human psyche since they stepped between science fiction and fact. Robots have often been depicted as a destructive influence in fiction, from Mary Shelleys Frankenstein, where the monster turns on its creator, to Arthur C Clarkes HAL in Stanley Kubricks 2001: A Space Odyssey, and more recent examples such as Terminator and The Matrix, where the machines have once more taken over the world. Asimov also has his disciples, and there are plenty of depictions of friendly, helpful, intelligent robots, such as Star Wars R2D2 and C3PO, Dr Whos faithful companion K9, and Red Dwarfs lovable Kryten.