[lmr]

The first cars and airplanes weren't very practical either. Give it another half century.

Androids are overrated and aren't the wave of the future, in my opinion. Artificial Intelligence, on the other hand, is the future and it doesn't require a human form to be useful, either. The robot pictured here is a toy and nothing more.

[Abin Sur]

In general, I agree. There have been practical non-humanoid robots for decades on assembly lines. I’m not sure exactly how long it will take for true A.I. to come about, but I see no reason in principle why it won’t appear in the next century or so.

[SonOfDarkSkies]

The robot pictured here is a toy and nothing more.

Not at all. This robot is simply a prototype--stage of development toward what the Japanese believe is a huge domestic market of replacing human labor with humanoid robots.