Bandai has come up with a brand new My Communication Robot that is in the form of Doraemon. This 16.5cm tall robot boasts 11 features that makes it more intelligent than just a dumb toy, where there are temperature sensors mounted on 7 different parts of the body, enabling it to react to sound, light and temperature. It also has a 1,300 word vocabulary that is spoken using the animated voice of famous Japanese TV actress Wasabi Mizuta. Thanks to advancements in speech recognition technology, the Bandai Doraemon is able to hold a decent yet simple conversation with its owner, expressing its emotions through the built-in LCD display. Too bad this $328 robot won't be able to pull out anything you ask of it from its pocket.

Now here's a toy that parents won't mind getting for their little ones - the M-O (Micro Obliterator) robot from the Wall-E movie that comes with working bristles that has only one purpose for its existence - to get rid of all dirty marks on the floor. It will move about to attack crumbs and other sorts of dust, where all you need to do is point it in the right direction and it will go on scrubbing. All collected waste can be viewed in the garbage bin it totes around, although we're not too sure whether that is advisable or not. Amazon is carrying this cute little critter for £17.95.

Great, it seems that us humans are getting lazier and lazier by the moment - that the Ninomiya-kun robot for instance. This 1-meter-tall, 25-kilogram aluminum-framed robot was developed at Waseda University’s Information, Production and Systems Research Center (IPSRC), and is able to read out stories from a book, letting dad ditch his bedtime story teller role to his kids as the Ninomiya-kun substitutes dad's place so that he can continue zapping aliens in the living room on the Xbox 360. The character recognition software is installed on a computer in the robot’s backpack, helping translate text into spoken words that are then played back by a voice synthesizer.

RoBeDo is back with a third model of their netbook-powered robot known as the Three. This modular chassis will rely on a USB-connected motor controller to get around, where the owner is supposed to place the netbook or notebook on the deck in order to function as the brain of the Three. Three will be supplied fully-assembled, where it features a couple of 6.7" wheels alongside two 120 rpm motors to get around. An optional three-sensor digital IR navigation array can also be plugged into the system for autonomous control, alongside a number of USB sensors, webcams, I/O controllers and other gadgets which are compatible with the platform. A plethora of programming languages including C, C++, C#, Flash AS3, Java, .NET, Python, VBScript and Visual Basic are supported for greater flexibility. You can pick up the Three for $439 a pop, while the navigation array is going for $79.

So we've already taken a look at a robot that is able to transfer sushi from one plate to another, why not mix that with the Aero-Blue robot that is able to feed you as well? This robot is smart enough to know how to handle delicate objects like eggs, basically spoon-feeding us with morsels of our favorite food items without us having to life a finger. Perfect for folks who love eating in front of the TV and do not want to miss a single moment of action on the big screen. No idea on when this will be released and how much when that happens.

You know, kings of yore would probably have given a handsome amount of gold from their treasuries while sacking the court jester for the WAHHA GO GO machine, which in our opinion is pretty pointless. After all, this manually operated device has only one use - to produce giggles. All you need to do to activate the machine is spin the heavy metal disk mounted on its torso and it will automatically rear its head, take a deep breath and start to laugh out loud via its artificial vocal cords. Sounds pretty creepy, eh?

Sushi chegs are highly revered for the task they have each day, producing delectable pieces of sushi for hungry customers, where food presentation is rated as high as the taste and quality of each bite itself. Well, here's a pretty creepy way to present your food - using a robotic hand known as the Chef Robot to transfer pieces of complete sushi from one place to another. While it lacks the personal touch and the ability to hold some small banter with regular guests, at least you can be sure the fingers have not gone around digging noses or scratching butts.

Now here's something that pays tribute to lifeforms from the olden days - the Trilobot that is solar-powered and fully autonomous, being smart enough to search out for its own juice to make sure that no human master will ever need to place it under sunlight whenever it "dies" when hiding under a couch for too long a period of time. Looks like a cute little bugger, but we sure hope future improvements can be made to this thing so that it will clean up wherever it goes to ensure our house floors remain spick and span always.

Robots are supposed to be unfeeling machines that are hell-bent on annihilating or subjugating humanity - at least that's what science fiction tells us. Well, here's something more down to earth - the Kobian robot who is emotional enough to display various phases of emotion includingg delight, sadness and aversion (as seen above). This bipedal machine can walk around while perceiving its environment, and is mobile enough to perform various physical tasks while expressing a range of emotions. Hopefully it doesn't go all emo on its master, leading to a bloody rampage all over Tokyo before being terminated.

The enterprise of youth has led to this creation - the ability to control a robot using nothing else but a modified iPod touch. Interestingly enough, the touch interface will give one full control over the arms and legs, moving its head from side-to-side even. Too bad the robot isn't up to par in terms of intelligence, otherwise we might have cause for worry of it usurping politicians to rule the world. Apocalypse, anyone?

It won't be long now before robots become commonplace on the battlefield. Take the iRobot Ember for instance - this new microbot was specially developed for military applications, where it is in essence a miniaturized PackBot that boasts the full array of iRobot's flipper technology, letting it right itself and climb over obstacles as and when required. The whole idea of the iRobot Ember is to set up an ad-hoc network of hotspots even in hostile territory while being discreet at it. Hopefully iRobot is able to meet the military's target price of $100 a pop if these are ever going to be of service to our country.

Who wouldn't want someone to dote on them at all times, catering to every whim and fancy? Well, having a human servant is one thing, but it does gnaw at one's conscience after a while, leading us to the next best thing - robots. The Memo personal robot might not be able to serve you coffee the way you like it every morning, but he is able to remain close to you wherever you go, displaying your timetable for the day, dispensing medicine when you need it, playing games with you when you are down and even showing you images of folks whom you've met but for the life of you, cannot remember their name.

Would robots actually take over the world one day when they gain sentient intelligence and are self-aware? We don't think so, so apocalyptic scenes in movies tend to be more of a source of entertainment rather than worry. Even if they did, the Rise v3 robot you see here would be more of a nuinsance than a threat as all it does is scamper along the ground and climb up trees or poles rapidly just like how cats and squirrels are. Designed by Boston Dynamics, the Rise v3 is a quadpedal robot with small claws made up of surgical needles to offer it the relevant grip when climbing up surfaces at 21 centimeters per second.

Kawada Industries Inc. and General Robotix Inc (GRX) have teamed up to develop a new life-size torso humanoid robot platform known as "HIRO" (Human Interactive Robot). If clothed with synthetic human skin, one might even be fooled into thinking it is actually human since its movements are pretty similar to us compared to standard robots, making the upcoming Terminator Salvation movie all the more highly anticipated. The HIRO will see action in academic research institutes, where they are used to research human interactive robots that will enter service in actual living environments, in addition to helping companies develop next generation robot systems' hardware and software when it comes to safety and interactive technologies. HIRO will be powered by Windows XP, so hopefully it won't freeze up from time to time due to an unexpected error. This ain't no plaything for the home as it will cost a whopping $76,963 excluding tax.