THE FIRST ROBOTS
|
|
THE FIRST ROBOTS –
R.U.R ROSSUM’S UNIVERSAL ROBOTS
The robot, was
not, as one might suspect, invented by a scientist, but it was invented by a
playwright in the 1920s. It was Karel Čapek
who gave us the first robots in his play, Rossum’s Universal Robots (R.U.R).
It was actually his brother Josef who gave him the name for the mechanical
beings in his play. The robot later became enrolled in the research agendas
of science and technologists, whilst always remaining a staple of the arts.
Perhaps the reason why the robot can be a creature of the arts, science and
technology is that it can be viewed, theorized about and reinvented in a
multiplicity of ways. As science and technology influences and reshapes human
life and existence, the view of what is human has parallel shifts – with each
new innovation in science and technology altering the vision of what is
human. SYNOPSIS OF R.U.R
Rossum’s
Universal Robots (R.U.R) is set in a future society where humanoid robots are
mass produced to work in place of people. The R.U.R factory is dedicated to
producing these new creatures for the world market. But the robots that were
made to serve humanity become ubiquitous and powerful and rebel against their
human masters. R.U.R is a comedy, a romance, a violent tragedy and the play
that gave us the first robots and the downfall of humanity.
After the first performance in the “The most brilliant satire on our mechanical age; the grimest yet subtlest arraignment of this strange, mad thing we call industrial society of today”. Cited in Jasia Reichardt, (1978) Robots:
Fact, Fiction and Prediction. |
THE BIOLOGICAL AND MECHANICAL ROBOT
In R.U.R the robots are not made of metal, as one
might have thought, but of biological material. In fact, it was much to Čapek’s
horror that artists gave robots metallic forms. In the 1920s,
Čapek made his robots of flesh and blood. Here
is an excerpt from the play: DOMIN: DOMIN: The pestle for beating up the paste. In each
one we mix the ingredients for a thousand Robots at one operation. Then there
are the vats for the preparation of liver, brains, and so on. Then
you will see the bone factory. After that I'll show you the spinning mill. DOMIN: Yes. For weaving nerves and veins. Miles and
miles of digestive tubes pass through it at a time. In
R.U.R the robots were made of flesh and blood. Fritz Lang used both the
biological and mechanical image of the robot in his 1927 film - Metropolis. WHAT IS HUMAN? In
the contemporary period, the robot is more likely to be associated with Artificial
Intelligence (AI) and blockbuster science fiction movies than radical
theatre, political rebellions and human freedom. The issue of technology has
always carried a twin theme. On the one hand, technology is viewed as
oppressive and dehumanizing, whilst on the other it is seen to benefit
humanity. The robot, since Čapek, continues to acquire new
connotations and meanings in the arts, and is not confined to the issues that
first gave it meaning. The robot has always acted as a metaphor to allow us
to reflect on the social order and social relations as well as what is human.
The question of what is human or not human existed well before the invention
of the robot. What Čapek did was to provide a device which explored these
issues. The introduction of machinery into the workplace mechanized human
working practices, to the extent, that humans became mere appendages of
machines. Mechanizing human activity was transformed into a scientific practice when the
theories of Frederic Taylor and his Principles of
Scientific Management were published in 1911. Perhaps this also explains
why artistic interpretations of the robot spontaneously characterized the
creatures as mechanical – despite Čapek’s protests that this was not
his intention and his play was about ‘human beings’. The robot, then, always has, and still continues to
express an uncertainty about what is human. PHOTOGRAPHS TO COME…
|
|
|
|