PR2 is a Willow Garage robot that performs a valuable, and difficult, task for humans - folding the laundry. Professor Pieter Abbeel at UC Berkeley has PR2 started out on towels, which are somewhat easier than other items, but still it's a great start.
(PR2 folding laundry robot)
Science fiction fans may recall that this functionality was built into closets by Philip K. Dick in his 1965 novel The Zap Gun; see the entry for the handicloset.
Tactile Skin Supplier Map
'What strange sensitivity! What an amazing development of science was manifested in every move and act and word of this Robot!' - Ray Cummings, 1931.
Technovelgy (that's tech-novel-gee!)
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Timeline, or see what's New.
Prairie Madness - And Space Sickness
'Space-sickness is one of the most unpleasant sensations that a human being can experience. Not all are subject to it...'
'Old People Began to Cross The Continent In Their Own Cars'
'It was a relief to enter one of the comfortable autos, whisper a direction down the tube, and just know that you would be taken to your destination in the quickest, safest, and cheapest manner.'
Starfall Manufacturing Drugs In Space
'The vast spinning sphere of Factory in the Sky loomed above and ahead of us, gleaming white against the unfathomable jet depths of surrounding space.'
The Solar Oberth Slingshot
'And if it doesn’t work,' inquired Lazarus, 'what does that make us? Sunspots?'
'If Anyone Is Watching Earth...'
'Our study of your race has convinced us that you are not fitted to leave your planet in the present state of your civilization.'