That today’s experimental robots bear little physical resemblance to our fantasy androids reflects a larger truth in the field of robotics, the attempt to build thinking machines that can perceive the world around them and then act on that awareness. Researchers are far, far from being able to design a Rosie Jetson or a Data, or even a Diaper Data. You can ask a human toddler to bring you the red ball from behind the sofa, and the toddler will comply. Ask a machine to perform the same seemingly ho-hum task? “We’re not even close,” said Seth Teller of MIT

“We can’t do a dog,” said his colleague Leslie Kaelbling. “We’d all be so happy if we could do something with the fetching skills of a dog.”