However, said Mr. Metta, even if we can not make a humanoid robot, we can nevertheless make other robots more human.

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Bina48 is there to challenge senior learning executives: could a humanoid robot be a teacher or personal tutor by the end of the next decade?

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The ship has been tended by a humanoid robot, David (Michael Fassbender), who's been boning up on ancient languages and rewatching "Lawrence of Arabia" during transit.

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Dr Rao's team began by programming a humanoid robot with simple behaviours which users could then select with a wearable electroencephalogram (EEG) cap that picked up their brain activity.

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It's just hard to fathom how useful they are without a humanoid robot capable of moving the finished wash into the dryer or putting the porkroast in the oven.

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"The concepts of smart apartments -- one that is highly automated, perhaps with a humanoid robot element -- is however very do-able and saleable in about ten years, " said Whitby.

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It was only a few months ago that DARPA initiated their ambitious Robotics Challenge that reserves a cash prize for a (probably) humanoid robot that can drive to a disaster area and perform several rescue functions including breaking through rubble and closing off a leaky pipe.

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