20 Things You Didn't Know About... Robots

Built by Westinghouse, the seven-foot-tall walking machine"spoke" more than 700 words stored on 78-rpm records to simulate conversation. He can remotely operate doors, an artificial hand, and an electronic wheelchair. Robotics expert Henrik Christensen predicts humans will be having sex with robots within four years. "They could replace us in every essential task and, in principle,operate our society increasingly well without us," he concludes, oddly cheery.