Wow.  The future of robotics could be a major breakthrough for humanity on many fronts.  The key is to retain “humanity” at the center of any development process we pursue.  In the 2004 film, I Robot  (see link to trailer), things seemed pretty good, until they went terribly wrong.   The other concern, is that we saw that in the last quarter, the only sectors of the economy to gain jobs were in health care and government services, with health care outpacing government employment almost 4 to 1.  Nevertheless, robotics is already playing a role in nearly every facet of life and medicine in particular.   The wide acceptance of the da Vinci surgical robot for example (see link below) has changed in great measure the manner in which surgery for common conditions (prostatectomy, hysterectomy, heart valve replacement, etc.) are performed.  However, most current robots are “mechanically assisitive”.  Interactive, “socially assistive” robots, will require a higher neural network to allow them to interact with humans in a more free form manner mimicking normal human interactions.  The complexity of developing those systems, inclusive of “emotions” such as caring, empathy, compassion, kindness, and the like will be the greater challenge . . . jomaxx

Researchers working to make “socially assistive” robots.
Researchers are working on making machines that can coach, motivate and monitor people with cognitive and physical disabilities — machines that are ‘socially assistive,'” a term used to describe machines that could, for example, tirelessly encourage a stroke patient to do rehabilitation exercises; move alongside someone with dementia, giving directions to help navigate the hallways of an assisted living facility; or provide a catalyst to teach children with autism how to interact with humans.  While rehabilitation machines used primarily to push or pull stroke patients’ limbs have been around for a decade,  just recently have roboticists been able to go further, delving into the complex realm of human-robot interactions.

Read more @ http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/03/09/AR2009030902247.html

CRES is an interdisciplinary organized research unit (ORU) in the USC Viterbi School of Engineering that focuses on the science and technology of robotic systems, with broad and far-reaching applications. CRES projects span the areas of service, humanoid, distributed, reconfigurable, space, and nano robotics and impact a broad spectrum of applications, including assistance, training and rehabilitation, education, environmental monitoring and cleanup, emergency response, homeland security, and entertainment.

Read more @ http://cres.usc.edu/Home/

A humanoid robot is a robot with its overall appearance based on that of the human body, allowing interaction with made-for-human tools or environments. In general humanoid robots have a torso with a head, two arms and two legs, although some forms of humanoid robots may model only part of the body, for example, from the waist up. Some humanoid robots may also have a ‘face’, with ‘eyes’ and ‘mouth’. Androids are humanoid robots built to aestetically resemble a human.

Read more @ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Humanoid_robots

I Robot Trailer (2004) @ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s0f3JeDVeEo

Read about da Vinci surgical robotics @ http://davincisurgery.com/surgery/index.aspx