ROBOT. This term has long been in use in many languages. It is derived from the Czech word robit (work). It passed into popular use after 1923 to describe either mechanical devices so ingenious as to be almost human, or workers whom mechanical and repetitive work was making almost into machines. Its popu lar usage is based on the play R.U.R. (Rossum's Universal Ro bots), written by the Czechoslovakian writer, Karel Capek, in which society is described as depending on mechanical workers called robots, which can do any kind of mental or physical work and which when worn out are scrapped and replaced by new. In the play the robots develop intelligence and a spirit of revolt, turn upon their employers, and exterminate their creators.
The construction of a mechanical man has captivated the imagi nation of men since antiquity and early literature contains many schemes for the construction of some device that would require no human effort. It is not improbable that this idea has had a marked influence upon the development of mechanics and other branches of physics. In the Icelandic saga, Frithiof's ship needed no helmsman ; she understood what was said to her and obeyed. In 1927 a steamship made a run of 21 days from San Francisco to Auckland, New Zealand, during which no human hand touched her steering apparatus. A modern robot had held her true to her compass course. (See NAVIGATION ; GYROSCOPE.) In the Arabian Nights' tale of the "Forty Thieves," Ali Baba stood before the cave and said "Open Sesame." The portal swung open without the aid of human hands. A robot controlling the
door of an industrial plant in America actually opens when addressed in precisely the same words ; addressed in any other manner the door remains immovable. In a mediaeval romance a great brazen head in the castle of a giant would tell those who inquired whatever they wished to know about the past, present or future. In Washington is a robot, known as the "Great Brass Brain" and to it are put questions about future ocean tides, which are promptly answered. It predicts the tides (q.v.) for every port in the world for years ahead with great precision. (See MATHEMATICAL INSTRUMENTS: Harmonic Analyzers.) Mythical manlike monsters permeate the folklore of all peoples. Albertus Magnus in the Middle Ages, Roger Bacon, Descartes and other philosophers built androids or automatons in human form, which could open doors and play musical instruments. Anthropoid figures which apparently perform actions which call for independent thought are still to be seen and are often accepted with credulity by the public. On the other hand modern me chanical men have been constructed and placed at the disposal of industry, that have sensitive fingers and ears, talk with a pre determined conversation, that are able to test by "a sense of taste" chemicals, and with some equivalent of the sense of smell and balance. By the use of photo-electric cells, the partial equiva lent of the sense of sight has been accomplished. (See the articles