.. that the name "robot" is from the Russian word for work/worker.

I learnt it when posted there in the early 90's, because everything was "njet robot".

welcome our new dancing droid overlords

Merry Xmas everyone ! Enjoy it, it's probably our last as free men.

though the root of the word is the same

First used in a play by Karel Capek, coined by his brother

http://jerz.setonhill.edu/resources/RUR/

from "R.U.R" (Rossum's Universal Robots) made in the '20s, and also made famous by the Czech socialist-realist cartoon "Heroic Worker Mouse Robotnik v Evil Capitalist Cat Robotnik"

This vid was put a year ago, take a look see, well funny!

http://www.dailymotion.com/relevance/search/libido/video/x11yc7_robot-libido_fun

Merry Christmas all, time to get ratted XD

On robots isn't as tight as you may think. Figures the Russians would come up with something practical instead of just tech demonstrators that the japanese love so much. Whats next Putins own private battalion of personal Killbots at his command :-) Luddites beware!

...tis but a small step to replace those "worker" arms with the latest model AK variant !! And since it will not tire, it can carry vast amounts of ammo, too. Certainly more than Rambo can wrap around he undoubtedly manly chest !!

Reindeer kebab, anyone ??

I think Russia is the last country that needs a robotic repair force. Even given the recent boom the salary of a highly qualified train engineer would be around $1000 a month, so Russian Railways can afford to send a team of 10 under qualifed railway engineers to do the kind of work one of these robots might accomplish. The only role that I see they could be useful for would be testing/repairing track in remote areas, however given the size of these guys legs they may take a while to trudge from Moscow to Siberia.

The word robot was introduced by Czech writer Karel Čapek in his play R.U.R. (Rossum's Universal Robots), which premiered in 1920. The play begins in a factory that makes 'artificial people' - they are called robots, (Wikipedia).

You mean "nirabotayet". Nice try though. ;)

Because somebody had to say it ...

In Soviet Russia, Robots Repair YOU!!!!