1920 · THE WORD
It began as a play
Karel Čapek’s R.U.R. (Rossum’s Universal Robots) gave the world the word for artificial workers.
How it got its nameThe word robot is barely a century old.
It first appeared in a Czech play about artificial workers. Forty years later a real robot arm went to work in a car factory. Today about five million industrial robots are in use. Here is the story, the numbers and how robots actually work, in plain English.
Plain English, with the sources linked.
- The word
- The first arm
- Five million
- Sense, plan, act
THE SHORT STORY
A word, an arm, a loop.
Robots started as fiction,
became factory tools, and now work far beyond them.
1961 · THE FIRST ARM
Then it went to work
The first Unimate arm lifted hot metal parts in a car plant. About five million robots now work in factories.
See the numbers
TODAY · THE LOOP
Sense, plan, act
Every robot senses its surroundings, plans a response and acts through motors, then does it again.
Read robot headlines better
READING ROBOT NEWS
Four questions
to ask any robot story.
What does it sense?
Every robot needs sensors, such as cameras, distance or colour sensors, to gather data about its surroundings. If a story never says, ask.
Who is doing the planning?
The plan usually comes from software loaded in advance. Some impressive demonstrations are still steered by a person at a distance.
Is that a total or a year’s sales?
“Five million robots” is the number in use; “600,000” is one year’s installations. They measure different things.
Per what?
Robot density is per 10,000 manufacturing employees, not per head of population, so a small country can top the table.
ROBOTS IN 2025
In the factory,
and beyond it.
Two different counts from the
International Federation of Robotics.
5 million
Operating in factories worldwide
The global stock of working industrial robots rose 9% in 2025, after factories installed more than 600,000 new ones. China alone installed 354,000, or 59% of the world total.
INDUSTRIAL ROBOTS · IN USE
almost 250,000
Professional service robots shipped
Shipments rose 24%. Transport and logistics robots led with 117,500 units, 47% of the market, ahead of hospitality and professional cleaning robots.
SERVICE ROBOTS · SOLD IN 2025
One figure is a running total of robots in use; the other is a single year’s sales. Headlines often mix the two up.
ROBOT DENSITY EXPLORER
How many robots
per 10,000 workers?
Robot density compares the number of industrial robots in use with the number of people employed in manufacturing. Pick a country to see its 2024 figure from the International Federation of Robotics.
Density measures automation relative to the size of the workforce, not the total number of robots. China has by far the most robots but ranks 22nd for density.
ROBOT FACTS
Five things worth
knowing.
The play came out in 1920
R.U.R. was published in November 1920. Its first performance was by an amateur company in Hradec Králové on 2 January 1921; the National Theatre in Prague staged it on 25 January 1921.
A painter named the robots
Karel Čapek first thought of calling his artificial workers “labors”. His brother Josef, a painter, suggested “robots”, from a Slavic root meaning labour with a strong sense of serfdom.
The first factory robot handled hot metal
George Devol filed his patent for a programmable arm in 1954. In 1961 the first Unimate was installed at a General Motors plant to lift and stack hot die-cast parts.
More robots, faster
Five million industrial robots in use is more than double the number seven years earlier. The IFR forecasts 655,000 new installations in 2026.
Humanoids are still rare
About 7,000 full-size humanoid robots were sold worldwide in 2025. The IFR notes most uses are specialised and often still need a human operating them remotely.
QUICK QUESTIONS
Robots, answered.
Short answers to the questions people ask most.
Where does the word robot come from?
From the Czech play R.U.R. (Rossum’s Universal Robots) by Karel Čapek, published in November 1920 and staged in Prague in January 1921. His brother Josef suggested the name. It comes from a Slavic root meaning labour, with a strong sense of forced work.
What was the first industrial robot?
The Unimate. George Devol filed a patent for a programmable robot arm in 1954, and in 1961 the first Unimate was installed at a General Motors plant, where it lifted and stacked hot die-cast metal parts. The original is in the Smithsonian collections.
How many industrial robots are there in the world?
According to the International Federation of Robotics, about 5 million industrial robots were in operation worldwide in 2025, up 9% in a year. Factories installed more than 600,000 new ones in 2025, and China accounted for 59% of them.
Which country has the most robots per worker?
The Republic of Korea, with 1,220 industrial robots per 10,000 manufacturing employees in 2024, followed by Singapore (818), Germany (449) and Japan (446). The world average was 132.
How does a robot decide what to do?
A simple way to describe it is sense, plan, act. Sensors gather data about the surroundings, software works out a course of action from that data, and actuators such as motors carry it out. Then the loop starts again.
Sources
Each figure on this page comes from the sources below.
- 100 years ago, the robot was born (R.U.R., 1920–1921)Consulate General of the Czech Republic, Los Angeles
- George Devol and the Unimate industrial robotNational Inventors Hall of Fame
- Five million robots now operate in factories globallyInternational Federation of Robotics, 2026
- Robot density surges in Europe, Asia and AmericasInternational Federation of Robotics, 2026
- Global sales of professional service robots surge 24%International Federation of Robotics, 2026
- Sense, Plan, Act: how does a robot think?Carnegie Mellon Robotics Academy