It is easy to get weighed down by daily tasks, never quite feeling like you can catch up to the never-ending to do list in your mind. This is probably why so many "perfect" visions of our future, as depicted in books and movies, feature robotic companions that help take the pressure off their human counterparts. While the in-home robots on the market today are certainly no C-3PO, they're getting more and more adept at assisting with daily tasks. In fact, newer models will likely focus on taking care of your emotional needs as well as your household chores! A robot that helps you with day-to-day household tasks, making your life easier.

When I tell my daughters, ages 6 and 9, that I have a new robot to show them, they perk up. I then take Professor Einstein out of the box. My wife walks into the room: "Ahhh!" This very expressive, very wacky robotic character is a creation of Hanson Robotics, which calls it "your personal genius." Professor Einstein can chat about science, tell jokes, check on the weather, and, naturally, quote Einstein himself.

When I tell my daughters, ages 6 and 9, that I have a new robot to show them, they perk up. I then take Professor Einstein out of the box. My wife walks into the room: "Ahhh!"

When I tell my daughters, ages 6 and 9, that I have a new robot to show them, they perk up. I then take Professor Einstein out of the box. My wife walks into the room: "Ahhh!" This very expressive, very wacky robotic character is a creation of Hanson Robotics, which calls it "your personal genius." Professor Einstein can chat about science, tell jokes, check on the weather, and, naturally, quote Einstein himself.

The artificial intelligence research behind bots_alive promises to usher in lifelike robots at affordable price points. Artificial intelligence is all the rage in robotics these days, and for good reason: Properly implemented, it has the potential to program'bots on the fly. But those toys and others react in predictable ways to changing contexts and situations. One startup, though, purports to have developed an algorithm capable of generating entirely new behaviors dynamically. It's called bots_alive, and it's the brainchild of Brad Knox.

The first robotic barista opened in San Francisco on Monday. SAN FRANCISCO -- Something futuristic is brewing in a shopping complex here. The first robotic barista in the U.S., named "Gordon," started serving up to 120 coffee drinks an hour today-- ironically, just several thousand fee away from a Starbucks in the same complex. "A lot of us spend a lot of time in line waiting for coffee," says Henry Hu, CEO of Cafe X Technologies, the local start-up that created the robot. "And we decided to do something about it."