If Hollywood has taught us anything over the years, it’s to believe in a future of walking, talking robots.

Yet, despite a technology explosion that seems to have spewed out every gadget imaginable, the days of real life C-3POs haven't materialized. Or have they? 

Baby Steps

“I don’t think we’re behind at all,” said Matthew Fisher, founder of robotics designer and manufacturer KumoTek. “We’re still trying to find out how robotics applies to us and our culture.”

Robots are currently used across a number of sectors, from the industrial and automotive to the medical and military industries. But the idea of having a personal robot is what tends to garner the most interest.

“We have this perception that the robot needs to bring us a beer,” Fisher said. “If it looks like a human being, then it needs to be doing chores for us.”

One of the most successful makers of these “task” robots is iRobot (IRBT), whose line of practical home robots hit the market back in 2002 with the launch of the Roomba, an autonomous vacuum cleaner that has sold more than three million units to date.

While that sales number translates into only about 2% of U.S. households, the implications are important.

“It’s a tiny figure, but a real figure,” said iRobot Chief Executive Colin Angle. “It suggests that [the Roomba] is being viewed as more than just a gadget or fad.”

The Growth Formula

The Roomba may not look like the flashy brand of robots marketed by Hollywood, but it certainly represents a blend of functionality and affordability unmatched by the rest of the industry.

“A lot of people can make a cool, capable and complex robot – but if it costs $500,000, no one’s gonna buy it,” said Philip Solis of ABI Research.

A recent survey by ABI Research suggests the personal robotics industry could be worth $15 billion by 2015. In that year alone, more than 24 million task robots and 56 million entertainment robots are expected to be manufactured, up from one million task and two million entertainment models made last year.

Much of the industry’s anticipated growth is expected to come from advances in development and production, and a subsequent reduction in costs. The biggest problem facing developers? A lack of common software.

“Everyone in the field has had to develop the entire design from ground up, often reinventing the same infrastructures over and over again,” said Tandy Trower, general manager of Microsoft’s robotics group.

Click here to read Trower's explanation on how Microsoft got involved in the robot world

According to Trower, the challenges faced by the robotics industry parallel many of the same challenges the personal computer industry faced in the 1970s and 1980s. One of those shared problems is the ability for developers to determine the kinds of “killer apps” (essentially, the must-have functions) that are going to compel consumers to use the product in the first place.

Trower isn’t worried, though.

“For PCs, the necessary technology and applications did come. It took a few years, but we now have a rich set of reasons why we use [them].”

Finally, the safety of robotics products can’t be overlooked. Developers are concerned about the real physical danger of a big robot powering down and toppling over on someone.

“These are the kinds of things that need to be addressed before you put a robot in someone’s house,” Fisher of KumoTek said.

The Future

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Japanese automakers like Toyota and Honda have invested big bucks in the robotics industry, creating products that are already stirring quite a buzz.

Of these, Honda’s ASIMO may be the most famous. ASIMO (or Advanced Step in Innovative Mobility) is a 4-foot humanoid robot that can pick up trays, walk up stairs, recognize faces and moving objects, respond to voice commands, adjust to the pace of a person who’s walking next to it, and step into its charger when it’s running low on battery.

But getting the robot to do all these things hasn’t been easy.

“If you think of all the surfaces we walk on – ramps and bumps – humans don’t think twice. But for a robot, that requires thousands of calculations,” said Alicia Jones, spokesperson at Honda.

ASIMO’s creators eventually hope to see it used as an assistant in hospitals, homes and offices. In fact, Honda periodically uses the robot in its corporate offices to greet guests and lead them to conference rooms using wireless radio communication. The robot has also rung the bell at the New York Stock Exchange and led a performance of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra.

But until ASIMO and other robots make their way to the general market, they can play a different role: educating and inspiring youth.

“Until we get the robot to the point of when it can really be functional and helpful in people’s homes, we’re really using it to inspire kids to get into math and science,” said Jones.

The Bottom Line

The most immediate technology on the horizon is the ability for robots to visualize their surroundings and transmit them to a remote location. iRobot hopes to release a “virtual visiting robot” that will give people the opportunity to check up on their homes and pets while away from home.

“[This robot] will give you the ability to be in two places at the same time,” said Angle of iRobot.

But how long before a bed-making robot hits the market? Microsoft’s Trower believes it could be in the next five to 10 years, and he estimates the first ‘companion’ robots -- receptionists, guides and support for seniors -- will be available in three.

Others believe the Hollywood definition of a robot won’t be seen for another 10 or 15 years – and that’s OK.

“Right now we’re planting that seed where people can learn the fundamentals of robotics,” said Fisher of KumoTek. “They can teach themselves, enroll in courses and take their imagination to the next level.”