The next gen robots are coming; the next gen robots are coming... for over 10 years now. The robot, "Cog," was based on the hypothesis that human-level intelligence requires gaining experience from interacting with humans, like infants do. Cog was designed to learn from its embodied experiences rather than hard-coded logic. As such, Cog may be considered the first cognitive developmental humanoid. Read more about Cog and see more video at the its MIT page.
The Kismet project originally started out as a new head for Cog, but became Cynthia Breazeal’s thesis project. Dr. Breazeal noticed a baby watches their parents very closely, and the parents seem to over emphasize their voice tones and bodily gestures. Kismet's social intelligence software system, or synthetic nervous system (SNS), was designed with human models of intelligent behavior in mind. Learn more about Kismet at its MIT page.
With all of these advancements one can't help but think of movies such as the Terminator and the matrix. These movies depict the world taken over by computer intelligence. When confronted with these questions Dr. Rodney Brooks answers them like this: Could our research be used to harm people? Unfortunately, it probably could. However, almost every type of research (both inside and outside the field of Artificial Intelligence) has this dual nature. A toaster can make 2 pieces of delicious toast, or could be used to burn two hands. Any technological advance can be used to help or hurt people. Like most researchers, we sincerely hope (and believe) that our work will ultimately serve the greater good. So keep your eyes peeled for increasingly more interactive robotic human interactions.
Eavesdropper