If robots are going to be part of our everyday lives, they'll need to fit into our homes rather than the factory floor. Few people would be comfortable living with a metal spider on tank treads, so the University of Zurich's Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (AI Lab) is building a robot toddler called "Roboy." Using "soft robotics" technology that mimics the human body, the 1.2 meter (3 ft, 11 in) tall humanoid robot is part of an effort to make robots that people are more comfortable with in day-to-day situations.

It is a technique used to help athletes achieve their goals and is thought to be how young children learn to walk, but it appears robots can also use visualisation to help them move around. Robots engineers have developed simulated neural networks that allow a toddler-sized robot imagine how it can stand up and move around before it attempts the task. They have been using the technique to help teach the little humanoid robot, nicknamed Darwin, to learn how to stand on its own two feet. Darwin, a toddler sized robot (pictured), is being taught how to stand, lean and move in much the same way as a young child by first getting'imagining' how it might perform the movement through a series of simulations The process is designed to mimic the way young children first start learning to walk - with a great deal of trial and error. It is intended as a way of overcoming some of the problems engineers have faced in producing humanoid robots that do not fall on their face.