The Future of Robotics

Automatic Lawnmower (Source: ProTech Robotics)

One of the main aims of robotics is to produce what could realistically be terms an "android" - a robot that is both artificially intelligent, and anatomically human. Unfortunately, this is incredibly difficult to do, as, amongst other things, walking and moving on two feet is considerably more complex than, say, flying or rolling on four wheels. That said, as the following video shows, scientists are making significant progress towards this aim:

Twendy-One, showing a human-like ability to pick up and grasp things

This is KOBIAN, which is designed to show the range of human emotions through it's actions:

In addition to the attempts towards an android, we can also expect further developments towards robotic fighting machines on the battlefield, given that military (and public) opinion tends towards not liking seeing people get killed, so, while it's unlikely that you'll see them in our lifetime, perhaps one day this will not be an unlikely site on the battlefield:

In addition, there will be developements in both swarm robots (small robots that work together to achieve things that are not possible with larger robots), and also in the fields of medical robots, where the precision and guaranteed movements of a robot are better than relying on human motion, especially in fields where the slightest wrong move can kill a patient.