The word robot was introduced by Czech writer Karel âapek in his play R.U.R. (Rossum’s Universal Robots) which was written in 1920 . However, the verb robotovat, meaning “to work” or “to slave”, and the noun robota (meaning corvée) used in the Czech and Slovak languages, has been used since the early 10th century. It was suggested that the word robot had been coined by Karel âapek’s brother, painter and writer Josef âapek.

Isaac Asimov’s robot stories—many of which were collected in I, Robot (1950)—were begun in the mid 1940’s. They promulgated a set of rules of ethics for robots and intelligent machines that greatly influenced other writers and thinkers in their treatment of the subject. One such short story, “The Bicentennial Man”, was made into a film starring Robin Williams.

The 2004 film I, Robot, starring Will Smith, was based on a script by Jeff Vintar entitled Hardwired, with Asimov’s ideas incorporated later after acquiring the rights to the I, Robot title.

Information paraphrased from Wikipedia.

The Three Laws of Robotics by Isaac Asimov

1. A robot may not injure a human being, or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.

2. A robot must obey the orders given it by human beings except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.

3. A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law.