I recently did some research on robot state-of-the-art, and Baxter is one of the standouts. Baxter combines advanced sensors with an interesting approach to lea

I recently did some research on robot state-of-the-art, and Baxter is one of the standouts. Baxter combines advanced sensors with an interesting approach to learning a mechanical routine, ostensibly trained by a factory line worker, not a programmer. The founder was also one of the iRobot founders: http://newsoffice.mit.edu/2013/rodney-brooks-rethink-robotics-0809 http://newsoffice.mit.edu/2013/rodney-brooks-rethink-robotic... This isn't totally uncharted waters. There are similar robots/arms out there, cheaper even than Baxter's ~$20K price tag: http://www.universal-robots.com/ http://www.universal-robots.com/ I think the semi-human factory robot is going to be a big robot segment eventually, and part of the path to robots moving around within society. Companies like Rethink Robotics end up working on necessary problems like how not to whack humans with giant robot arms, and make humans feel comfortable with the robots next to them.