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)
Humanoid Robots Tickle The Ivories
'The massive feet working the pedals, arms and hands flashing and glinting...' - Herbert Goldstone, 1953.
Golf Ball Test Robot Wears Them Out
"The robot solemnly hit a ball against the wall, picked it up and teed it, hit it again, over and again...' - Frederik Poh, 1954.
Technovelgy (that's tech-novel-gee!)
is devoted to the creative science inventions and ideas of sf authors. Look for
the Invention Category that interests
you, the Glossary, the Invention
Timeline, or see what's New.