2 h 32 minAudiobook7 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at costPaperback · 6 × 9 in · 62 pagesHardcover · 6 × 9 in · 62 pagesAbout this book
What are people for when artificial workers do everything?
On a remote island, Rossum’s Universal Robots makes living workers to sell across the world. Harry Domin, the factory’s confident manager, promises freedom from labor. Then Helena Glory arrives to defend the robots, and her demand for kindness meets a business built on obedience and profit.
In Karel Čapek’s fast, darkly funny science fiction play, every promise of progress carries a difficult question. Alquist doubts the business, Dr. Gall explores what robots might become, and Helena encounters Sulla, a secretary who looks entirely human. Behind the factory’s smooth welcome lies a struggle over work, dignity, and power.
What you’ll discover
- The word that spread Explore the play that brings the word robot into English and many other languages.
- A factory full of questions Step into an island business where making living workers seems like the perfect plan.
- Helena’s uneasy welcome Watch a visitor’s wish for kindness challenge the certainty of managers and engineers.
- Life without hard work Consider what humanity might lose when nobody needs to lift a hand.
- Comedy with a dark edge Follow a bright visitor and smooth host into sharp arguments about being human.
Who will love it
For readers who love ideas wrapped in a fast story, the roots of robots in fiction, and theater that asks what work and being human mean.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A visitor arrives at the robot factory
- Old Rossum dreamed and young Rossum sold
- Helena asks for souls and meets resistance
- Ten years of ease bring quiet decay
- What the play says about work and being human
- How Čapek builds the play
Who’s who
- Harry DominThe confident general manager of the factory, who believes robots will free humanity from labor and never doubts his plan.
- Helena GloryThe president's daughter who arrives on the island to defend the robots and wants them treated with kindness.
- AlquistThe head of construction, a plain and thoughtful man who works with his hands and keeps his doubts about the business.
- Dr. GallThe head of research, who experiments with the robots' makeup and wants to see what more they might become.
- FabryThe chief engineer, proud of the factory's work and ready to defend it against any criticism.
- BusmanThe company's business manager, who thinks mostly of numbers and profit and trusts the market to settle things.
- RadiusA robot who speaks with unusual clarity and begins to look at his human masters in a new way.
- SullaA robot who works as Domin's secretary and looks so human that Helena treats her as a person.
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- Audiobook
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- Hardcover
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- Large print paperback
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- Large print hardcover
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R.U.R. (Rossum's Universal Robots)
by Karel Čapek · 1920
A young woman enters an island robot factory and questions a business that promises to free humanity from work.
Medium level2–5 hours to read25 languages
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In short
R.U.R. is a play in a prologue and three acts by the Czech writer Karel Čapek. He wrote it in 1920, and it was first staged in Prague in 1921.
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
A visitor arrives at the robot factory
The play opens in the central office of Rossum's Universal Robots, on an island far from any city. Harry Domin, the general manager, sits at his desk when a young woman is announced. She is Helena Glory, the daughter of a president, and she carries a letter of introduction. Domin receives her with great courtesy, and the audience soon sees he is a man who enjoys his own importance.
Helena has come with a purpose she does not hide at first. She belongs to the Humanity League, a group that believes the robots are being treated badly. She has pictured the factory as a place of suffering, and she wants to see for herself.
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What is R.U.R. about?
R.U.R. is about a factory that makes artificial workers called robots and sells them worldwide. The play follows the managers, a visitor who questions the business, and what happens when cheap labor changes the world and the robots.
What does R.U.R. stand for?
R.U.R. stands for Rossum's Universal Robots, the name of the company in the play. It is named for the Rossum family, whose members first built the artificial workers on a remote island.
Did R.U.R. invent the word robot?
Yes, the play brought the word robot into general use. Karel Čapek's brother Josef suggested it, and it comes from the Czech word robota, meaning forced labor or drudgery.
The author
Karel Čapek
1890–1938 · Czech novelist and playwright
Karel Čapek was a Czech writer born in Malé Svatoňovice in 1890. He lived and worked in Prague, where he died in 1938. He wrote plays, novels, short stories and journalism. His play R.U.R. was published in 1920. His novels include The War with the Newts, published in 1936.
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