How To Roll

We've been promised household android servants for some time, along with flying cars and entire meals in pill form. In light of companies and individuals cutting their help staff and some pretty dubious maid services (just ask Robert DeNiro), robotic aides could be coming sooner than we expected.

It's been happening primarily in Japan,where a surge of layoffs and a plummeting birth rate have made these advancements more important than ever. As with many prominent Japanese trends, it's only a matter of time before it comes to the United States.

Recently,Toyota unveiled a robot maid capable of doing laundry, cleaning rooms, and clearing tables by identifying objects and obstacles. In Japan, where there are approximately 20,000-30,000 home robots already in use, it was the second such unveiling this year after robot maker TMSUK demonstrated a robotic servant controlled through your cell phone from anywhere in the world.

Unlike bizarre vending machines and weird game shows, this trend isn't restricted to Japan.The most recent Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas featured a variety of English- and South Korea-made home robots, like the iRobiQ, which follows voice commands to do various tasks via your home network, including dim the lights, change the channel, and turn on your washer. It isn't available here just yet but the unit starts at around $3,000.

Stateside,smaller-scale robotics like the Rovio (a three-wheeled home surveillance tool), the Robomow (a robotic lawnmower), and Verro (a robotic pool cleaner) are already available. Even the California Department of Corrections has started testing surveillance robots already being used by the U.S. military in Iraq. So if they can help patrol cell block five, robots should also help clean your place every now and then.