The prime of the information age will coincide with the dawn of the robot age. But that doesn't mean we're about to see a world where human beings and androids walk down the streets together, like in the movies and animated cartoons. On the contrary: information technology and robotics will blend and integrate gradually to become a natural part of our daily lives.
Many companies, especially Asian ones (http://hansonrobotics.wordpress.com/), are currently researching the integration between information technologies and robotics, and in the process are constantly coming up with new scientific and technological concepts. Robotics engineers are designing the next generation of robots to look, feel and act more like humans so that we will find it easier to interact with them. Real-looking hair and skin with integrated sensors will allow robots to react naturally to our environment. For example, it you touch a robot on the shoulder it will turn round and greet you. Artificial eyes that move and blink, slight chest movements that simulate breathing, simulated muscles to change facial expressions... The socially accepted robots of the future will have all of these attributes.

Brain behind beauty will be the key for turning an ultra-realistic machine into a lifelike robot. AI will play a crucial role in the success of human interaction with robots.

The applications will be endless. One small example is this robot for practicing dental surgery: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WhzbFaNueKU

Another is the field of entertainment. The first tests are already amazingly like human beings: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_migLQ802Go

Your first robot is likely to be a cyberpet. Robot pets have many potential uses. Some will be used to remind elderly people to take their medication. In Japan robot pets are already being successfully used as companions and have been widely accepted by society in general. http://probo.vub.ac.be/Probo/

Sport is another area where robots will play a role. An international scientific initiative known as RoboCup has been launched to advance the state of the art of intelligent robots. http://www.robocup.org/  The ultimate aim of the project is to develop a team of humanoid robots to compete against and beat the champion human football team in the year 2050.

The benefits of robotics for daily life are plain to see, but equally plain to see is the fact that they will undoubtedly revolutionize the industry, as indeed is already happening. Robot manufacturers will create products that are not only better-quality but cheaper, which will lead to a loss of unskilled jobs, especially on industrial assembly lines. And although they will create new jobs in the logical support and sensor development sectors, in robot installation and maintenance, and in the conversion of old factories and the design of new ones, the people who fill these positions will need greater skills and training. For these very reasons, technological societies must address the task of retraining workers who lose their jobs due to automation and teaching them new skills to improve their employability in the industries of the 21st century.

We need to consider the social, economic and even political problems that may arise if the robotization of industry is mishandled. The intelligent planning of human, technological and financial resources is therefore of paramount importance.