Quote Originally Posted by algernoninc View Post
io9 credits Asimov with the word robot, but I remember from my childhood reads the first to coin the term was Karel Capek in the play R.U.R. . Asimov himself gives credit to the Chech author in a wikipedia quote, and the origins of the word are slavonic from the noun "rob" meaning slave, forced labourer and the verb "roboti" - to apply oneself industriously to a job. The terms have an identical interpretation in Romanian language.
Robot was first used in public by Karel Capek, and Asimov admits as much (although he gives KC credit for inventing the word. Io9 credits Asimov with robotics, roboticist and robotic, another matter entirely.