Amazon unveiled a long-awaited home robot on Tuesday, and he may or may not be a good boy. Like an extremely advanced puppy, "Astro" is designed to move around the home and assist its owner with small tasks like checking whether the stove is on, playing music, and delivering drinks. The robot can also recognize the faces of certain people and is equipped with a periscope camera that it can raise to get a better view of its surroundings. Amazon says that it will be available sometime later this year on an invite-only basis for $999. Astro is about 20 pounds and two feet tall, about the size of a small dog.

The Ebo also has different playstyles (like hyper and lazy) in order to appeal to cats of various ages and temperaments. If you aren't sure what your cat's playstyle is, no problem. This robot is able to use its built-in AI "to learn with your cat for creative exercise routines," according to Enabot, and once playtime is over, the Ebo will return to its charging station on its own.

Japan's space agency has released photos and videos taken on board the International Space Station (ISS) by its grapefruit-sized robot drone. The drone, called Internal Ball Camera (or Int-Ball), can be maneuvered by controllers and researchers from Earth, according a press release from the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA). The camera-equipped Int-Ball has glowing blue eyes, weighs 2.2 pounds and can move in any direction. It was created to help take videos of astronauts' work and experiments and send them back to the ground. JAXA says the Int-Ball can help cut astronauts' working hours by up to 10%.

You can see how she might get that idea. A panel on the top does kind of look like eyes, and the tank is about the right size for a girl to try to hug.

Computer scientists have been at the self-driving vehicle problem for longer than you might think. Early research into the automated logic required for autonomous cars was published in the mid-70s, while the first fully robotic van came around in the early-80s courtesy of Ernst Dickmanns and his team at Bundeswehr University Munich. Efforts at Carnegie Mellon, meanwhile, were pushing the technology on the other side of that Atlantic. Then came NavLab, in 1986. Yeah, it's pretty quaint, but machine vision algorithms, in particular, were still young.

The benefits of self-driving cars extend well beyond letting people safely text, nap, or whatever behind the wheel. The technology could provide mobility to everyone who can't drive a conventional car, including the nation's expanding ranks of elderly drivers. Some 36 million "older drivers" still hold a valid drivers license, according to AARP, which didn't define "older." Only 20 percent of them live in cities that offer public transit, and nearly all of those people say they plan to stay where they are. Giving up driving presents a potentially serious setback for their ability to live independently. Self-driving cars could ensure a measure of autonomy.