Karel Capek popularized robot in R.U.R. and is popularly credited with coining it, but in a 1933 letter responding to an Oxford English Dictionary etymology inquiry, Karel himself stated that his brother Josef suggested the word, derived from the Czech word robota, meaning forced labor.
What would resolve this Corroborating primary correspondence or contemporaneous documentation, beyond the account Karel gave later, confirming the specific nature of the contribution Josef made.
OpenHistory of TechnologyWikipedia contributors, Robot (Wikipedia)