In time, several jobs in the service industry might be completely occupied by robots. Sure, if ever that happens, it'll be in the far, far future; but we're seeing the beginnings of service robots in the likes of Care-O-bot 3. The 4-feet-8-inches robot is built to "relieve us of heavy, dirty, monotonous or irksome tasks." Developed by the Fraunhofer Institute for Manufacturing Engineering and Automation IPA, it has a single arm with three fingers and was specifically made to serve drinks and similar. So how does the Care-O-bot 3 distinguish objects anyway?

The Care-O-bot 3 is equipped with laser scanners, 3-D range camera, and stereo-vision color cameras which allow the robot to identify objects. So, for example, it doesn't know the particular shape of a bottle, you can simply place it in the bot's hand so it can form a 3D rendering of it for future use. The hand's robotic fingers have sensors which prevent it from gripping bottles and glasses too hard. You can also rest-assured that it won't be crushing any bones--its 3D perception of the environment recognizes movement which stops the robot from moving.

The 3-D range camera can be controlled via integrated touch screen, although the current prototype could also be operated using speech commands. In the future, when service robots such as this can perform various tasks at home, it'll be viable (not to mention great). But for now, I'm sure you can get drinks from the kitchen on your own and burn a few calories in the process too.