Taken from Mars Robotics Lesson Background Robots: Machines On
the Move The first known use of the term "robot" was by Czech
playwright Karel Capek, who in 1920 wrote a play called R.U.R.:
Rossum's Universal Robots. Capek used the Czech word "robot,"
which means "worker" or "laborer," to describe the mechanical
slaves that were portrayed in his play. The first publicly-
displayed robots were "Elektro" and his trusty mechanical dog,
"Sparky," who were highlighted at the 1939 World's Fair
Exhibition in New York City. Elektro could dance and recite a
handful of words, while Sparky would happily bark alongside him.
While robots were a mere curiosity in the late 1930's, they are
an integral part of our daily lives today. Some robots are
simple, like the automatic sprinkler system in many people's
lawns. Others are more complex like the factory robots used to
assemble cars or the robotic explorers NASA has sent to Mars and
the rest of the solar system. Simple or complex, all robots obey
the same principles and are d