Even roboticists still debate exactly what a robot is. Is it a computer that moves, or a machine that can operate autonomously in reaction to its environment? What can be said for sure is that robotics is a set of technologies, often used for automation, and that humanoid robots are just one of many forms robots take.

Take a look at some of the machines on display at the RoboBusiness conference, which was in Boston last week, and the New England Robotics Validation and Experimentation (NERVE) center at the University of Massachusetts in Lowell, to get a sense of where commercial robots are going.