Where Are The Talking Robots? (preview)

Sulla, the world’s first talking robot, was so adept at conversation–in four languages, no less–that a human visitor to the laboratory in which she was created refused to believe she was not a real person. Alas, Sulla was not a real robot, either, but a character in Karel Capek’s 1921 play R.U.R. , which introduced the word “robot” to the lexicon.

Excerpt from:
Where Are The Talking Robots? (preview)