Mitsubishi doesn't just churn out wonders like their line of Lancer Evolution cars, but they have also delved into the world of robots with the Wakamaru being one of them. Of course, forking out $15,000 for one of these might just make you baulk, but the Wakamaru, like a pooch, was specially designed for family life. It will move along to your life rhythms, waking you up in the morning and being able to understand 10,000 words connected to everyday life helps make communication a whole lot easier. Built-in face recognition technology makes it a snap to recognize up to 2 individuals within the household as its owners, and up to 8 other people at a glance. Integrated collision detection sensors ensures that he won't be a klutz when moving around.

The ROLA (Robot Of Living Aid) intelligent home-care robot was developed by National Chiao Tung University of Taiwan. Capable of understanding Mandarin, Taiwanese and a smattering of English, ROLA will help keep a watchful eye on elderly occupants of a home and is capable of sending distress calls automatically in the event of an accident to a family's cellphone or ambulance. This is made possible thanks to its live video feed, allowing people to tell the difference between an actual emergency and a false alarm. Measuring around $100,000, ROLA won't come cheap but hopefully with commercialization, the overall cost will be lowered.

Interested in homemade DIY robots? Well, check out “Giger”, a nice little robot that took its creator over 100 hours and more than $10,000 to build. Apparently the reason it cost so much was because the owner decided to use professional-grade servos instead of the bog-standard DIY stuff. Check out a video of the robot in action here.

At least, that's the impression that we have with this rather curious robotic butler who seems to be in possession of Wall-E's eyes, albeit with an overall shape and color scheme that point towards EVE as well. Apart from the droopy eyes, nothing else is known about this robot, but we're pretty sure it doesn't compact trash into little cubes and has no feeling for cockroaches, either.

Doki is a new kind of robot that relies on computer vision software, enabling it to function as a PR tool for a company of its allegiance, where its greatest strength would be facial recognition that allows it to determine a person’s gender, estimating their age, ethnicity, and perhaps even let you know that you need to lose that flab around your belly. Doki is currently the Guiness Book of World Records holder for the Most Gender Aware Robot.

Guilherme Martins is the brain behind this "Talkie Walkie", where the robot was built based on only one servo. It is full well capable of responding to sound in real time, where it will automatically control the movements of a lip-syncing paper mouth. Creepy thing to have on any desk if you ask us.

Should the future see Toyota Delivery Robots perform their tasks admirably, we guess jealous husbands need not fear their wives of starting a relationship or tryst with the well muscled delivery guy any more. The Toyota Delivery Robot is a prototype who was designed to retrieve items for people with limited mobility, making it a digitlal nursing dog without having the need to toilet train it. Other abilities include opening doors, taking out the trash, returning food trays to their tables and even playing fetch! It relies on a laser range finder and particle filter in order to generate maps and self-localize, helping the Delivery Robot navigate its environment in real-time.

Will robots rule the world in the near future? Perhaps, but maybe not. They'd make excellent gaming companions though as you check out this robot who is slamming note after note accurately on Rock Band for the iPhone. Can you say "cheat"?

Want to creep trick-or-treaters this Halloween? If only you had the technical know how to make the Creeper2 robot that is actually a spider pumpkin bot, moving around with a Jack-O-Lantern on its back to literally cause real screams from its unsuspecting victims. Running on an Axon microcontroller, it relies on all digital servos with the ability to lift over twice its body weight. The software enables six synchronous degrees of motion, while future additions will probably include foot sensors and a remote control option.

Fujitsu's ENON (Exciting Nova On Network) robot is now back and improved, where its Service Type Robot’s arm mechanisms has been changed from 4 to 5 DOF, doing so while lowering the overall size and weight to a mere 50kg. Voice synthesis and recognition capabilities make the ENON an extremely basic conversationalist, but if you're looking for something that offers much more cerebral simulation, the ENON shouldn't be your cup of tea. Features include half a dozen cameras, 11 range sensors and 1 bump sensor to help it amble along at a maximum speed of 3km/h.

Affective Intelligent Driving Agent, also known as AIDA, is going to be the bane of all drivers with poor skills as this device will not only be mounted on the dashboard, it will also come up with comments on your driving, reacting to various emotional states of yours while helping you reach your destination safe and sound. More or less a really talkative GPS navigation device, this highway helper-designate could help you stay focused on those long road trips when you're all alone.

Team Osaka has create tiny robots that will qualify for the Teen Size league, where each of these robots will stand no shorter than 80cm tall, tipping the scales at 7.5kg each while coming with a total of 22 DOF. It will have a 500MHz system-on-chip running Windows XP, aided by a Vstone CPU for motor control alongside CCD cameras to help it get a look around. The Vstone810 will also boast powerful VS-SV1150 servos that are capable of producing torque in the range of 115kg per cm, while having an operating range of 340 degrees. While it might be good enough for a robot soccer team, Cristiano Ronaldo need not fret about losing his place in the starting XI anytime soon.

The ROPID (short for a combination of Robot and Rapid) is touted to be able to "run" and turn quickly in place, responding to verbal commands as well thanks to Raytron’s BSRM01-01E voice recognition chip embedded within. Capable of clearing heights of 8cm, this 38cm tall robot still has some issues to work out when asked questions - perhaps the software isn't powerful enough to make the necessary adjustments for selected questions. Made from carbon fiber and plastic, the ROPID will feature legs that come with 2-axis accelerometers to help it maintain its balance regardless of running or jumping.

Remember the BigDog quadruped robot that doesn't seem to be fazed despite getting kicked from the side while being able to maintain its balance? The very same brains behind BigDog have come up with PetMan, where this bipedal version will be able to dynamically balance itself thanks to a creepy human-like walking motion. Check out his action on the treadmill - will Nike or Adidas step in as a footwear sponsor anytime soon?