Awesome real-life robots that force us to rethink our future

Musician robots are surely hard to come by, and Toyota's very own violin playing automaton is one among this rare species. Originally conceived back in 2007, this 'Partner' robot was once again back in Shanghai World Expo of 2010, performing its rendition of many violin classics. The fascinating part is that they are not just created to inculcate their musical side, but actually are envisaged to act as helping companions to elderly people.

The over sized red jacket, the floppy pants along with a 'take-it-easy' demeanor; all of them coalesce to exude the ultra cool demeanor of MANOI GO. Classified as an athletic humanoid robot, this cool cat is actually a full fledged break dancing robot from Japan. And what's more, it nonchalantly does splits and head spins!

Clearly exhibiting a more practical and conscientious side of robotics, the VGo robot acts as a vehicle of societal communication. With a 4 ft tall body, the visage of the contraption is embedded with a display screen. Now people with some movement handicap can control the whole setup through their home computer. So, while they conveniently rest in their bedrooms, the VGo can go outside and communicate on their behalf through the display system.

Robots doing surgery; the very idea may freak some of us out, but in reality they are not prone to the factor of 'human error'. Building upon this idea, a company known as Intuitive has designed the Da Vinci. Though, nothing is artistic about its appearance, the contraption has efficient tools and an endoscope at its disposal to make an operation more successful. As a matter of fact, the human touch is still evident as these bots are actually controlled by the doctors through a remote mechanism.

Touted as the most advanced rough terrain robot on the face of the earth, the aptly named BigDog is shaped like one of our larger canine friends with dimensions of 3ft (length) by 2.5ft (height) and a weight of 240 lbs. Contrived by Boston Dynamics, this heavy duty bot can scamper across a multitude of contours even when carrying big loads. Moreover, it is infused with some highfalutin stuff like advanced sensors, a gyroscope, LIDAR and a stereo vision system.

The ultimate contraption for facilitating laziness, here by we present the SnackBot. Designed by Carnegie Mellon University's Paul Rybski along with his colleagues, the machine of course does serve snack (which you have already comprehended), but with a cheerfully cheeky personality, unlike most perturbed waiters. So, what was the purpose for creating SnackBot? Well, the designers say - it was to study the intricacies of human-machine interaction.

Described as an anthropomimetic robot, the ECCE1 is a robot that can juts as easily mimic the intricate movement patterns of human body. Serving as a practical mechanical counterpart that replicates the human physical structure, the contraption can be controlled by a similar physics based simulation.

At the first instance it may look like a cute fusion of Tele-Tubbies and Jetsons, but its convenient functionality transcends beyond the visual element. Designed by Professor Paolo Dario, the DustCart can prove to be your savior, at least for the cleaning up of those weekly piles of trash. Equipped with a camera and sensors, the intelligent bot can navigate through the dark city alleys and also make its way safely through incoming traffic.

No, it is not an imitation of the mighty Power Rangers. Actually a fruit of the collaboration between General Motors and NASA, the Robonaut 2 has been envisaged as one of the droid members of International Space Station. Initially planned for jobs such as maintenance duties in the lab, cleaning air flow filters and sanitizing handrails, the researchers hope to make the R2 take a space walk in the future.

Finally, we have a DIY robot that can solve a Rubik's Cube. Christened aptly as the Rubot II, the second generation bot designed by Pete Redmond has been created from a myriad of quirky components including a Gladiator helmet available on the eBay. Of course, Redmond being an avionics technician with the Irish Air Corps, didn't have any problem with all the mechanical thingamabobs embedded inside the thing.