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R.U.R. Revisited: Perspectives and Reflections on Modern Robotics

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Abstract

A critical review of “Rossum’s Universal Robots” (R.U.R.) is attempted beyond its literary aspects from a robotics perspective. The importance of R.U.R. for robotics has been mainly associated with the introduction of the word “Robot”. Apart from its historical value the play provides an expression of many important issues concerning robotics both of philosophical as well as technological nature that are pointed out and briefly discussed. It is interesting that several of these issues constitute research topics for contemporary robotics. The play also loudly voices social concerns regarding the use of robots which are still echoed in today’s societies. The scenario of the play exemplifies how robotics brings tremendous conveniences but at the same time can have unprecedented consequences on people’s lives, which today call for an urgent regulation in order to prevent them. For the robotics community it is both interesting and stimulating to critically (re)consider R.U.R.

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Acknowledgments

The second author acknowledges that this work has been partially supported by the Austrian COMET-K2 program of the Linz Center of Mechatronics (LCM).

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Cyprus, 75 Kallipoleos Ave., 1687, Nicosia, Cyprus

    Eftychios G. Christoforou

  2. Institute of Robotics, JKU Johannes Kepler University, Altenbergerstr. 69, 4040, Linz, Austria

    Andreas Müller

Authors
  1. Eftychios G. Christoforou
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  2. Andreas Müller
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Eftychios G. Christoforou.

Additional information

Robots of the world! The power of man has fallen! A new world has arisen: the Rule of the Robots! March! (Closing words of R.U.R. Act III)

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Christoforou, E.G., Müller, A. R.U.R. Revisited: Perspectives and Reflections on Modern Robotics. Int J of Soc Robotics 8, 237–246 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12369-015-0327-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12369-015-0327-6

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