"R.U.R" by Karel Čapek

Karel Čapek (1890-1938)

Karel Čapek was a prolific 20th-century Czech writer who wrote 
journalistic pieces, short stories, and plays. The play "R.U.R." is his most famous work. "R.U.R.," which stands for "Rossum's Universal Robots," is a dystopian account of a robot factory established with the intent to alleviate human drudgery. (It was Čapek's brother Joseph who coined the term robot, from the Czech word for "slave".)  When the robots revolt, the only recourse their human masters have is to tweak the formula used to manufacture the robots.  "R.U.R." raises deeply philosophical questions about human nature and creativity.