'This is awful': robot can keep children occupied for hours without supervision

A child-size robot designed to take on distinctly adult responsibilities takes the debate over the automation of human jobs to the next level

Humanoid robots were out of fashion at this year's RoboBusiness, the annual exhibition in San Jose, California, that pegs itself as "the most important robotics event in the world".

Make your robot look and sound too much like C3P0, explained Ty Jaegerson of Savioke, and people's "expectations of intelligence go up". (Savioke's robot, a hotel bot that delivers room service in hotels, instead resembles a slightly sleeker R2D2).