Talking robot Asimo, a 1.2-metre-tall robot made by Honda, lays a bunch of flowers at the bust of Czech writer Karel Capek at the Czech National Museum in Prague on Friday. Capek invented the word ‘robot’ in his 1921 play R.U.R. (Rossum’s Universal Robots) when he introduced the concept of human-like creations capable of doing dull repetitive tasks. Robot comes from the Czech word robota, which means drudgery. Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, currently at the end of a three-day visit to the Czech Republic, brought Asimo to pay tribute to Capek. (AFP)