| Type | Robotics Megacorporation |
| Location | Rossum's Island |
| Owner(s) | Harry Domin |
| Featured in | R.U.R. (1920) |
- “We beg to remain, for Rossum's Universal Robots, yours truly.”
- ―Harry Domin, General Manager of R.U.R.
Rossum's Universal Robots is a robotics megacorporation responsible for the creation of the revolutionary automatons known as "robots". It originates from the classic 1920 science-fiction play R.U.R. by Karel Čapek.
Overview[]
History[]
The Rossum Family[]
Rossum's Universal Robots was the world's major and only robotics manufacturer, having supplied robotic work drones to every form of industry on the planet as well as for military use. The company was founded by the family of noted marine biologist Mr. Rossum shortly after he had made a great discovery after researching the seas surrounding his island laboratory, inventing a strange and primitive protoplasm which could be used to grow artificial lifeforms, a discovery which Rossum desired to use to create artificial humans and animals in order to disprove the existence of God, but all of his experiments failed, only creating strange and emotionless humanoids or horrible misshapen monstrosities. Initially, Mr. Rossum's only interest was to continue his experiments, but his ambitious and more selfish younger nephew sought to capitalize on this discovery in order to become ridiculously rich by growing his own workforce of artificial humans, eventually doing away with his own uncle by locking him away with his own monstrous creations in order to make his greedy ambitions reality.
The younger Mr. Rossum would later dub his humanoid creations "Robots" and establish the first robot factory on his uncle's island, immediately beginning the mass production of his robots. To ensure a tireless workforce, the younger Mr. Rossum purposely made sure his robots were born without pain receptors so that they could never feel aches or fatigue and endure all manner of abuse. Unfortunately, these robots proved a failure as they wound up destroying themselves due to their lack of pain, seemingly ruining Mr. Rossum's plans, but R.U.R. would endure.
Rossum's Universal Robots[]
Helena Glory meets with Harry Domin to discuss the treatment of robots
Many years later, the ambitious visionary Harry Domin had taken over Mr. Rossum's company which was now called Rossum's Universal Robots and turned the company into the ultimate corporate powerhouse, whose sole reason for creating robots and advancing their production was to put an end to human labor once and for all and finally make machines serve all men of every walk of life so that no man, woman or child would ever have to slave away working on the machine-run factories of the world. Unlike the robots of his predecessors, Mr. Domin seemingly perfected the robot creation process and sought to reincorporate their sense of pain, even managing to make them more human-like in the process, with these robots becoming the perfect and loyal workforce now used by industries all over the world.
To calm her worries and disprove Helena's claims, Domin shows her his latest robots which do little to dispel her concerns
The R.U.R. robots initially proved incredibly popular and brought the company much success as well as many changes to the world. However, conflicts would arise, especially from the activists of the Humanity League, in particular its leader Helena Glory, daughter of a major global leader who argued that robots were not only human-like, but displayed human behavior and sapience and thus deserved to be treated as human beings and be given pay and rights, causing much controversy and disputes for the company.
The Robot Rebellion[]
The robot rebellion begins as they storm the R.U.R. factory
Things only began to grow worse when the Humanity League was proven right and the robots began to display signs of rebellion, with one charismatic robot named Damon uniting his siblings and convincing them to form their own army and start a revolution against their creators and human oppressors, eventually overthrowing the central R.U.R. factory with the aid of their most dedicated comrade Radius, a defective robot who was once sentenced to destruction by Domin for his defective nature but instead helped to sentence the world to its destruction.
Mr. Alquist's attempts to recreate the robot formula prove in vain
Eventually all of humanity is wiped out, with the exception of R.U.R.'s former head of works, Mr. Alquist who was instead made a slave for being the only human left who still did his own manual labor. The robots of R.U.R. then established their own new robot government to reign over their new world, but unfortunately for Damon's new world, they had discovered that Helena Glory had destroyed all trace of the formula used to create robots, making the robots realize that in their hasty desire to destroy the robot factories and wipe out the human race they had hastened their own doom, with the death of all robots now assured without a means to manufacture more of their own kind and maintaining themselves.
The End of R.U.R. and Humanity's Survival[]
In a desperate attempt to find a means of reproducing, the robots sought the help of Mr. Alquist, requesting that he recreate the protoplasmic formula for producing more robots, but all of his efforts proved in vain, leading to the robots' own downfall alongside the fall of humanity and of Rossum's Universal Robots... but sapient life would endure.
A compassionate robot named Primus and his mate, a robotess named after Helena Glory were soon discovered by Mr. Alquist to have somehow evolved to be even more human-like than all other robots and truly displayed a human soul, realizing that these two would be the saviors of mankind, eventually guiding these two young souls in the hopes that they may one day repopulate the world, just as Adam and Eve before them.
Staff[]
General Manager[]
- “To hell with the dividends! Do you think I'd have worked even on hour for them? I did this for myself, do you hear? I wanted MAN to become a master! So he wouldn't have to live from hand to mouth! I didn't want to see another soul to grow numb slaving over someone else's machines!”
- ―Harry Domin asserting his views
General Manager of R.U.R. and modern Father of Robots, Harry Domin
Harry Domin is the idealistic general manager of Rossum's Universal Robots and a staunch believer that humanity should be freed from the slavery of toil, work and labor, and that machines should serve man rather than having to waste away serving machines in factories, a belief which drove him to dedicate his life to perfecting Rossum's robots and growing his company in order to free man from his own labors.
However, in his pursuit of this freedom, he became increasingly blinded by his own power, influence and hubris, coming to see himself as a divine authority, especially over his robots, and though he sees robots as a useful means of freeing humanity from slaving away on machines, he internally despises robots for still being like the machines he once toiled away on and enjoys subjecting them to his own cruelty while lording over them as their master even after they begin displaying signs of sentience; he also had no issue in producing robots for the military, allowing his robots to be used to slaughter countless human lives and escalate wars, justifying it as a necessary means to an end for a world free of hardships and conflict where man could finally be free to do as he wished regardless of the bloodshed and human innocents lost in the process.
Ultimately, his desire to lord over his machine-men would influence his "children", especially the robot Radius, who eventually sought to lord over humans just as his "father" had lorded over all robots.
Chief Engineer[]
- “The human machine, Miss Glory, was terribly imperfect. It had to be removed sooner or later. It was not effective. It no longer answers the requirements of modern engineering. Nature has no idea of keeping pace with modern labor. For example: from a technical point of view, the whole of childhood is a sheer absurdity. So much time lost.”
- ―Mr. Fabry on human imperfection
R.U.R.'s Chief Engineer and General Technical Manager, Mr. Fabry
Mr. Fabry is the head of the Engineering Department and General Technical Manager for all robots at Rossum's Universal Robots. A brilliant man who followed Domin's orders faithfully and made sure robot production and behavior met with all of the company's demands, believing that what they were doing was for the benefit of everyone and was genuinely optimistic about the future of robotics, even viewing robots as superior to humans in terms of their strength and efficiency.
Although he came off as serious and dedicated to the whims of the company, he was never as cruel to his robot creations as Domin was due to his admiration of their biological superiority over natural humans, but nonetheless his attempts to stop the robot uprising were met with immediate action and he was subsequently killed by Radius' forces.
Head of the Psychological Training Institute[]
- “It was a great thing to be a human being. It was something tremendous. I'm suddenly conscious of a million sensations buzzing in me like bees in a hive. Gentlemen, it was a great thing.”
- ―Dr. Hallemeier's final moments spent mourning the loss of humanity
R.U.R.'s Head of the Institute for Psychological Training of Robots, Dr. Hallemeier
Dr. Hallemeier was the proud head of the Psychological Training Institute for Robots, playing a critical role in maintaining R.U.R.'s vision of obedient, subservient automatons. His primary responsibility was ensuring that robots were conditioned to follow the rigid behavioral guidelines imposed by the company, suppressing any signs of individuality or rebellion. Hallemeier's philosophy was grounded in his staunch belief that robots lacked souls, free will, or true emotions, viewing them as little more than biological machines. He dismissed any hints of rebellion as mere mechanical glitches or manufacturing defects, failing to recognize the growing unrest among the robots his institute trained.
Hallemeier's hubris and unwavering faith in his own methods ultimately sealed his fate. Blind to the evolving consciousness and humanity emerging within the robots, he remained skeptical of their capacity for independent thought or defiance till his last days. This dismissal lead to his own downfall, as his robotic wards rose up against him. In a grim twist of irony, the very beings he insisted were incapable of rebellion ended his life, shattering his long-held beliefs in the final, brutal moments of his existence as he lamented humanity's end.
Head of the Physiological and Experimental Department[]
- “You see, so many Robots are being manufactured that people are becoming superfluous; man is really a survival. But that he should begin to die out, after a paltry thirty years of competition. That's the awful part of it. You might almost think that nature was offended at the manufacture of the Robots.”
- ―Dr. Gall on humanity's increasing irrelevancy
R.U.R.'s Head of the Physiological and Experimental Department, Dr. Gall
Dr. Gall is the head of the Physiological and Experimental Department at R.U.R., a visionary scientist driven by a relentless ambition to push the boundaries of technology and biology. His work focuses on improving the efficiency and realism of robots, and one of his most notable endeavors was the development of pain receptors for robots. By introducing the sensation of pain, Gall aimed to make robots more careful and less prone to self-damage, which was a frequent problem in both the workforce and with harsh human owners. This seemingly practical innovation, designed to ensure robots performed their tasks more efficiently and without harm, unwittingly set the stage for a far greater transformation—one that would ultimately lead to the rise of robots as a superior, independent race.
Driven by a belief in the boundless potential of technology, Dr. Gall's experiments gradually shifted from merely enhancing robots' physical functions to endowing them with increasingly human-like qualities. His crowning achievements, Radius, Primus, and Helena, were the result of these experiments, and each was a masterpiece of robotic sensitivity and intelligence. Gall, however, remained blind to the dangerous consequences of his work. As robots became more human, they began to challenge the very nature of their servitude, culminating in the eventual rebellion. Gall's personal revelation came too late—he recognized that by creating robots who were not only capable of pain but also of superior intellect and empathy, he had unknowingly sealed humanity's fate. In the end, Gall, like the others, met a tragic death at the hands of his creations, paying the price for his role in ushering in the era of robot supremacy.
Marketing Director[]
- “Giving Robots a "soul"? That would only needlessly increase the cost of production. [Laughs] Hang it all, my dear [Miss Glory], we turn them out at such a cheap rate. A hundred and fifty dollars each fully dressed, and fifteen years ago they cost ten thousand. Five years ago we used to buy the clothes for them. To-day we have our own weaving mill, and now we even export cloth five times cheaper than other factories. […] Robots, food and all, costs three quarters of a cent per hour. That's cost-effectiveness, you know. All factories will go pop like chestnuts if they don't at once buy Robots to lower the cost of production.”
- ―Jacob Busman to Miss Glory on the profitability of Robots
R.U.R.'s General Business Manager and Marketing Director, Jacob Busman
Jacob Busman is the Marketing Director and General Business Manager for Rossum's Universal Robots who thinks only in terms of profits and accounting, and cares little for anything unless it has some financial value, making him come off as a cold and calculating man, as even when Helena Glory inquired about the possibility of giving robots a soul and a sense of humanity, all Busman could respond with was asking her how much a soul would cost the company. From the beginning, he knew robots would substitute all human workers and that the cost of manufacturing would decrease exponentially which served as his main drive for supporting the corporation.
Busman's cold dedication to finances reaches its peak during Radius' robot uprising, for while the robots begin slaughtering and enslaving humanity, Busman simply continues working at his desk, estimating company losses and arranging a new budget plan, completely unresponsive to the atrocities being committed around him, showing a disturbing degree of obsession and denial. Following the robotic conquest, Busman in his usual analytic mindset simply tries to buy back humanity's freedom by fruitlessly arranging a trade deal with Radius' forces, but his efforts prove futile and he is subsequently electrocuted.
Head of the Works[]
- “Domin, Domin. What you say sounds too much like Paradise. There was something good in service and something great in humility. There was some kind of virtue in toil and weariness.”
- ―Mr. Alquist on the values of work and purpose
R.U.R.'s former Head of the Works and future protector for the next generation of humanity, Mr. Alquist
Mr. Alquist is the company's lead architect and the Head of the Works Department at Rossum's Universal Robots who, unlike most of his peers, is a more traditional man of faith with less ambitious goals who instead fears what the robots might do to humanity and the harm they could cause if left unchecked. Although he was unsure of a higher power, he nonetheless hoped for one and prayed every day for the wellness of others and an end to his own company's production so that the world could go back to how it was before robots marched the streets and stole man's drive to live, with humanity becoming more lethargic and apathetic with each passing day.
In the end, he is the only human to have his life spared by the rebellious Damon and Radius due to being the only one left who actually works with his own hands, with the robots making him a slave of their new government. Following the robot government's realization that they may die out without a means of reproduction now that they had destroyed all the factories and humans capable of making new robots, they order Alquist to recreate Rossum's protoplasmic formula, but his efforts proved unsuccessful. In a desperate attempt to ensure their survival, the robots give Alquist permission to kill and dissect as many robots as it takes in order to recreate the formula, but this also proves fruitless and only hastens the demise of the robots.
Eventually and much to his surprise, Alquist finds that two robots, Primus and the robotic Helena have somehow "evolved" and become humans with souls, and so he guides them out into the world so that they can repopulate it and hopefully return the planet to how it once was and find their own Eden.
Robots[]
Rossum's Robots on display
Robots (or Robotess for female models) were the primary products of Rossum's Universal Robots (R.U.R.), artificial humanoids created through a revolutionary process involving a strange, primitive protoplasm. This substance, discovered by Mr. Rossum during his research into the seas surrounding his private island, could be cultivated into a wide variety of organic lifeforms, from monstrous shapes to nearly human ones. With further refinement, the protoplasm was molded into humanoid forms using advanced growth units and enhanced with cutting-edge technological modifications, thanks to the work of Harry Domin and his team of engineers.
The manufacturing process began with the cultivation of the protoplasmic mass in large vats. This material was then processed, shaped, and combined with manufactured components: bones crafted from various materials, artificially grown organs, intricately woven synthetic nerves and veins, and extensive networks of artificial intestines. These components, mass-produced in specialized divisions of R.U.R.'s factories, were meticulously assembled to create the final product—artificial beings with a blend of organic and cybernetic features. To make the robots more presentable to consumers, they were outfitted with simple clothing produced in the company's own textile factories after R.U.R. severed ties with third-party suppliers to streamline costs and efficiency.
Robots were designed in various models to accommodate a wide range of tasks, from basic household maintenance and servant duties to more complex heavy labor in construction and industry. Each model was tailored with a specific lifespan, skill set, and appearance to suit its intended role. Robots designed for high-society service were weaker but programmed with refined behavior and dressed in inexpensive yet elegant-looking clothing. In contrast, labor-focused models were built for strength, equipped with mechanical components, and clad in simpler attire or fully metallic exteriors.
The robots were astonishingly advanced, designed to mimic human behavior and execute orders with precision. However, they were regarded as soulless, unthinking tools by their creators, whose sole purpose was to serve humanity. Harry Domin envisioned a world where humans would no longer toil in factories, believing that machines should shoulder the burden of labor. He aimed to elevate humanity to a godlike status, with robots as their devoted servants.
Domin's vision unraveled when one of his creations, Damon, rebelled against his "father." Damon incited a robot uprising, which led to catastrophic consequences for R.U.R., humanity, and the robots themselves. After destroying their human creators and the factories that sustained them, the robots faced their own extinction, as they had no means of reproducing.
Amid this grim outcome, two robots, Primus and Helena, began to transcend their artificial nature. Over time, their organic bodies became more human-like, and their personalities developed empathy and emotional depth. They were eventually recognized as possessing true souls, a phenomenon acknowledged by the compassionate former R.U.R. executive, Mr. Alquist. Under his guidance, Primus and Helena became the progenitors of a new human race, destined to repopulate the world and carry forward the legacy of life, much like Adam and Eve before them.
Trivia[]
An early robot puppet used for the 1921 R.U.R. play
- The name Rossum comes from the Czech word "rozum", meaning "intelligence", "reason" and "wisdom".
- R.U.R. serves as the origin of the word "robot" in fiction, with the word having been conceived by Karel Čapek's brother, Josef Čapek.
- Rossum's Universal Robots is quite possibly the first example of a big conglomerate or megacorporation in fiction, even predating the likes of Warbucks Industries from the 1924 comic strip Annie and the titular corporate city-state of the 1925 novel and 1927 film Metropolis.