A bit long at 47:04 but worth watching.

Seemingly straight out of Asimov’s novels and short stories Japanese engineers are heavily focused on developing artificial humanoid forms. They have an aging population and are seeking to address workforce replacement needs, as well as servant / caretaker roles. Ex. Papero - Partner personal robot.

Key Challenges:

• Coordination and Balance - (human brain sends thousands of commands, robots not capable of this at this point)
• Learn From Experience - Robots lack common sense. Can not distinguish that water is wet, or difference between push and pull. To program in enough knowledge regarding al environment and task variables would be nearly impossible. Focus now is on learn from observation like a young child does.
• Emotions / Feelings - In addition to the need for verbal communications, robotics engineers want machine to be able to show personality through facial expressions (excitement, anxiety, suprise etc.) Ex. Kismet at MIT Artificial Intelligence Labs.

Other points:

• Swarm - Like ants and bees who rely upon stigmergy (modification of local environment), teams of inexpensive robots are being devloped to be able to build upon each others success by being able to pass messages through each other. Ex. Military is building robot mines that can move and adjust position.
• Nueruoengineer - Developing artificial limbs and other devices that connect directly to brain. Robots and muscles communicate through same methods, electronic signals.
• Bioengineer - Connect robotic device to rats brain and control movement. Proposed us is S&R type work (ethical concerns?) Rat could operate for 12 hours while a battery powered robot would have to be recharged every few hours.

Source: Robot Dreams