Move over ET, and Number 5, here's HERB...

"Number 5 is alive" said the sentient robot in the 1986 film Short Circuit. That was a long time ago, but the notion of robots had already long captured our imaginations.

Robot / artificial life forms are common in industry.  There are even robotic / automised production lines for making cheese & pickle sandwiches at speeds humans could never pull off, but robots are only just beginning to spill over in to the consumer / internet connected world.

You can already own a roving webcam that can interact with it's environment, or a "smart rabbit" - the Nabaztag, which illustrates quite well how the" internet of things" is coming to life, with responsive and connected objects starting to perform "useful" tasks:


But now... Intel have introduced HERB (Home exploring robot butler), he might not be a commercial consumer proposition yet, nor perhaps be beautiful to look at but what he can do is pretty amazing...