There are questions

There are questions that—no matter how often we pose them—it never occurs to us to seek an answer from science: What is the right work-life balance? If you ask for the water, James will hand you the water; if you ask for the Coke, you get the Coke. No, James won't open it."The general exercise here is to make robots more social, or to make them social at all. Robots can do certain things very well—they can certainly move faster than I can—but their social intelligence is very limited," says de Ruiter, a cognitive scientist and professor of psycholinguistics at Germany's Bielefeld University. "We picked a bar setting because it's social but not too complicated."

The researchers filmed patrons placing orders in bars and nightclubs in Germany and Scotland to see how they interact with bartenders and used that data to program James. They found that the most common and successful method for both German and Scots drinkers isn't to wave or gesture or flash a wad of bills—it's simply to stand at the bar, directly facing the barkeep, and make eye contact. The researchers incorporated that data into James's programming.According to de Ruiter, James is even equipped with a "small-talk module" that allows him to banter a bit: Asked how old he is, for instance, James coyly replies that he doesn't like to talk about his age.

In videos available online, James comes across as competent while serving up bottles of water with a flourish. He's friendly and occasionally befuddled. Remember Coach from Cheers, Woody's equally dimwitted but older predecessor? James is a bit like that.An earlier version of James has an animatronic cat head and giant arms swathed in what looks like a Renaissance blouse, and he looks as if he should be tending bar in Jim Henson's Labyrinth.

Part of the Chris project

Much like a real child interacting with its parent, iCub's eyes swivel from side to side, its luminous pink eyebrows and mouth glowing with excitement. "You have moved the trumpet. Found it. You have moved the trumpet. Found it.""Game over," says Lallée abruptly. iCub tilts its head towards Lallée, fixing him with its large black eyes. If you did not know better you would think iCub was disappointed. "Check on my internal state. That was pretty fun. We keep playing this game."

Part of the Chris project – short for Co-operative Human Robot Interactive Systems – iCub is at the vanguard of a new generation of social robots that is fast changing perceptions of what human-robot interactions will look like in the future. For iCub isn't just any old robot.If an explosives robot becomes your friend, can you still send it off to die? Measuring 93cm, it is a fully fledged humanoid "child" robot equipped with sophisticated motor skills and sense abilities, including vision, sound, touch, balance and proprioception – the ability to sense the position of its arms and body in space. These facilities enable iCub to crawl on all fours, grasp and manipulate balls and other objects and turn its head so as to follow gestures or direct its gaze.

Unlike conventional robots familiar from assembly lines, iCub isn't programmed to perform a specific set of actions or tasks. Instead it acquires skills naturally by using its body to explore the world and gather data about its relation to objects and people in that world, much as a two-year-old learns by interacting with his or her environment. Through its ability to direct its gaze, grasp and manipulate objects, and "read" gestures as it co-operates with human tutors on shared tasks like the Toybox game, iCub can learn words and skills and develop co-operative strategies.

If an explosives robot becomes your friend, can you still send it off to die?

"When you're deployed you're in a situation where you're potentially lonely and far from home," says Carpenter. "You work in proximity to the robot on a daily basis." She compares the bots to a high-tech version of a military working dog — there's a reason Boston Dynamics named its pack robot BigDog. Designers, she says, actively keep that relationship to a pet-like level, rather than looking for something more autonomous that could take decision-making options away from humans.

But even a pet-like connection could potentially be dangerous. Carpenter's study isn't meant to measure anything statistically, and the people she interviewed didn't believe that their robotic cameraderie affected their decision-making. But it's possible that sympathetic instincts could end up affecting split-second decision-making, she says. That said, how would you stop a process that seems all but inevitable? Carpenter questions, among other things, how much we should be trying to make some robots look like people or animals. BigDog can survive a roll in the mud, but it's almost tragic watching it struggle to its feet.

"Your instinct when you see it fall over is 'That's sad,'" says Carpenter. And that sadness could compromise its use.Not all robots were born to die, though, and there are plenty of benefits to anthropomorphized machines. If someone doesn't have experience interacting with robots, they may be more comfortable with something that suggests a human form. And DARPA is testing disaster response robots that mimic humans or apes, since those bipedal and dexterous designs make it easier to navigate environments designed for people.

Dogs Are Perfectly Happy To Socialize With Robots

A handful of teams around the world are building waterproof collars and sensors for pets that are modeled on human wearable computers, but are activated by tugs or bites or even taps of the nose.The tools stand to have real life-saving value —The robot of the future will look like a software-driven thermostat for instance, if a service dogs identifies that its master is having a seizure, it can trigger an alarm on its collar. But these electronics could also serve as gentle reminder that it's time for dinner or a walk. Those researchers told NBC News earlier this year that the dogs were quick to learn and enjoyed the ability to communicate with their human masters.

Maybe the key to keeping our best friends is building the dog translator collar from "Up" ... before the robots do.In the centuries-old best friendship between dogkind and humankind, humans are apparently easily replaced with robots. Seemingly loyal canines are totally willing to interact with cold, hard machines, according to a new study in Animal Cognition, gazing lovingly at their robot faces and finding hidden foodstuffs that the robot pointed to. Robots, stop taking things away from us!

The study investigated whether or not dogs would be willing to interact with an unfamiliar robot. It found that the dogs would interact with a cyborg--if the robot seemed like a social being, as evidence by its ability to talk to the dog and its owner. The PeopleBot telepresence robot used in the study looks a lot like "piece of gym equipment with a white gloved hand attached to it," as the study's press release notes. It would be hard for a dog to actually mistake it for a human being.For the "social" condition, the robot, which has a movable arm and a touchscreen for a face, was programmed with pre-recorded words and sentences spoken by a human voice.

The robot of the future will look like a software-driven thermostat

At TechCrunch Disrupt today, a panel of connected-device pioneers talked about robots. Not C-3PO, not the Jetsons' domestic, but the robots of the future, which they feel will look a lot more mundane and not as humanoid as sci-fi fans might have imagined."Robotics is about making physical things come to life … with software," said Boris Sofman of Anki, an intelligent-gaming company. "The projects we think of as the Holy Grail of robotics, the humanoid robot and the self-driving car," are old ideas that are becoming outmoded by the robotics of contemporary reality.

"A lot of the work we put into it is software to make it really smart," said Skycatch's Christian Sanz, whose company makes drone-like helicopters, one of which is pictured above."We hired a robotics team to build Nest, because we knew we needed that kind of intelligence," said Matt Rogers of Nest, the smart-thermostat maker. "We had to pack tons of computing hardware into a device that would last for years," he continued.The use cases for the new world of robotics is also not what we might have imagined. Rather than becoming humans' metal-and-silicon slaves, these devices are becoming our eyes, ears, and hands.

Sanz said he tested the Skycatch drone with a farmer, who was able to see his fields and make immediate decisions. "We never had this data set before. One of my guys says, 'This is Google Maps, but in real time and high-def.'""They understand their environment and behave in a way you would not expect a physical device to behave," said Sofman.To that point, the devices are expected to be autonomous, operating without much or any outside control. Again, this requires intense amounts of intelligent software and machine learning.

Down in the dirt with four flagship robot vacuums

We gravitated pretty naturally towards robot vacuums for one of our first home appliance round-ups. To get our footing in the space, we tackled the flagship model from four different vendors. That gave us a broad price range, from Infinuvo's new, $349 CleanMate QQ5, all the way up to LG's $799 Hom-Bot Square. Surprise: price doesn't always correlate with performance. Of course we looked at a Roomba, too. iRobot sent over its top-of-the-line Roomba 790, which comes in at a heady $699.

One of the most interesting things about our tests was watching each robot make pathing decisions. This upgrade gives him a world of possibilities, linear approach, finding the boundaries of the room, and then moving along in neat rows within that space. iRobot's approach is starkly different. An array of sensors on the Roomba constantly reads its surroundings and sends back information about where to go. The resulting navigation can look data-drunk, and the Roomba can take longer to finish a run than its competitors, but in some circumstances it resulted in the cleanest room.

None of these vacuums will replace a human-driven upright yet. Breaking Bad fans might also remember a Roomba representing a severe form of frivolous consumption on that show. It's hard to disagree entirely with that idea. A robot vacuum does carry the whiff of silly self-indulgence. On the other hand, these devices do pick up dirt, and without much human intervention. Some of them even do the job rather well.Regardless of its round up-low $349 price tag, the Infinuvo's $349 CleanMate QQ5 failed to deliver acceptable performance. We can forgive a certain capability gap between products $300 to $400 apart, but between its hard-to-clean rollers, thoughtless dust bin design, and, in certain circumstances, its inability to clean, we wouldn't recommend this vacuum at any price.

This upgrade gives him a world of possibilities

This upgrade gives him a world of possibilities -- as well as a world of possible weaknesses. And let's not forget, this upgrade was initiated by the Ultron Imperative -- a survival "instinct" buried deep in his programming.The Vision is feeling good -- he's got a new suit, he's got new powers and he's finally moving forward from all the seriously traumatic events that have plagued him for the last ten years or so. Or, his whole life, I guess. And -- he's got a new team of Avengers! He is feeling large and in charge.

But the events of "Age of Ultron" have spawned a sea change in the Marvel Universe, that will lead the Vision to seeing himself in a new role; a role that has the potential to undermine this hard-won confidence.While Vision is more confident, his "brother" Victor Mancha is worried that he might betray his fellow Avengers because of a warning he received from a possible future back when he was with the Runaways. His "grandfather," Hank Pym, has reassured him that he'll be fine, and so far, it seems to have worked. What does it mean for Victor to be part of a super team? And what does it mean for him to on a team with two members of his "family?"

Some kids just need a little direction in life. A sense of place, a calling in this world. Some mentors and inspirational figures to show a little interest in them -- and throw them into cutthroat, life or death situations. What could possibly go wrong for young Victor?Victor and his fellow A.I. Avengers work with Monica Chang, the Head of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s A.I. division. Based on her interactions with S.H.I.E.L.D.'s Captain Nelson in issue #2, I get the sense that the rest of the organization doesn't take the A.I. division seriously.

Here come the robots, hungry for jobs

The robots are coming, and they are hungry for jobs. Should humans be worried?Innovation has been destroying jobs for two centuries. So far, our economy has harnessed innovation to create far more jobs than it destroyed, while producing truly dramatic gains in living standards.Yet a growing chorus of economists is wondering if this time might be different. Some worry that we are on the verge of creating a competing intelligent species that could impoverish most of us.Of course, the graveyard of ideas is filled with prophets of doom.

The most sophisticated sex robot today is a product of healthcare. Still, my reporting makes it clear that wrenching change is coming — and much sooner than most people realize.Luckily, San Diego County is home to a thriving cluster of robotics companies that are rapidly shifting from dependence on military contracts to a variety of other industries.Fantastic local job creation could be on the horizon. So might painful job losses.Granted, robot industry Paul Reveres have been riding for a long time.I programmed my first computer-controlled machine in 1979 as a 16-year-old factory worker. Companies lost billions on premature technology before profit-making industrial robots became common.

Yet successful robots have emerged from the factories.The public takes for granted that the U.S. military can send unmanned aircraft to kill enemies – without risking a single American life. And, in real-world road tests, Google's driverless cars have racked up thousands of accident-free miles.How long before a robot cleans my gutters? Breakthroughs typically percolate for years, but then boil over suddenly when business owners learn to exploit them.