Robot at Selfridge's 25th birthday celebrations

A photograph of a robot exhibited as part of the 25th anniversary celebrations for Selfridges department store in London, taken by Edward G Malindine for the Daily Herald newspaper on 13 March 1934.

A photograph of a robot exhibited as part of the 25th anniversary celebrations for Selfridges department store in London, taken in March 1934 by Edward G Malindine for the Daily Herald.

The term robot comes from the Czech word 'robota', meaning 'compulsory labour.' It was first used in the 1921 play RUR. (Rossum's Universal Robots) written by the Czech novelist and playwright Karel Capek (1890-1938). By the 1930s the new genre of science fiction was promising a future where mechanical men would perform all humankind's difficult and dangerous work.