Belvedere is a do-it-yourself butler robot. Based on the iRobot Create platform, Belvedere can move around avoiding obstacles (like small children), tell jokes and even dance.
(Belvedere the robot butler)
Science fiction fans have long been aware of the butler robot, like the one in The Midas Plague, the 1954 short story by Frederik Pohl.
There was the butler robot, hard at work, his copper face expressionless...
(Read more about Pohl's butler robot)
Drosophila Robotica, The Mechanical Fly
'... the Scarab [flying robot] buzzed into the great workroom as any intruding insect might...'- Raymond Z. Gallun, 1936.
Robo-Raven Flapping Wing Robot Bird
'When he had first built them, they had been crude indeed, flying mechanisms with little more than a reflex-response unit.'- Philip E. High, 1968.
Bartendro Robot Bartender
'He sipped the cognac that the robot bartender handed him...'- Alfred Bester, 1956.
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Sky City's 220 Stories Are Go
'It rested among green parklands and... stood in total isolation, a glittering block of whites and flashing windows dotted with colors.'
Robo-Raven Flapping Wing Robot Bird
'When he had first built them, they had been crude indeed, flying mechanisms with little more than a reflex-response unit.'