Robot

(Did you mean a Alex Osheroff fanzine?)

The term robot was introduced in 1920 by Czech writer Karel Čapek in his play R.U.R. (Rossumovi univerzální roboti) (Rossum's Universal Robots); see below. They came out of the realm of science fiction by 1948. Isaac Asimov gets credit for robotics in 1941.

Android, used mostly but not always for humanoid robots, is actually an older term, dating to the 18th century, though Jack Williamson may have been first to use it in an sf story (The Cometeers in the August 1936 Astounding). The short form, droid, first appeared in Mari Wolf’s July 1952 Worlds of If story, "Robots of the World! Arise!" (And you thought George Lucas invented it!)

From Fancyclopedia 2, ca. 1959

(Capek; from Czech robota "servitude") Mechanism which carries out a series of actions without the need for supervision; exact line of demarcation between robotic and automatic machinery has not been drawn but would doubtless classify as robots those capable of reacting to an emergency in some other way than stoppage. Robots differ from androids and humanoids in not necessarily resembling people.

See also: Asimov's Three Laws of Robotics.

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Fanspeak

1920—

This is a fanspeak page. Please extend it by adding information about when and by whom it was coined, whether it’s still in use, etc.