Question: Most robots that exist in the world today are factory robots. Not particularly humanoid, except the arm+hand concept. When you design a robot to replace the human task of pushing a vacuum cleaner around the house, you don't design a robot that resembles a human in any way.

Roboticists today are designing all sorts of robots: with wheels, with tracks, with six legs, etc. So my question is: should we expect robots of a near-future setting to be humanoid? Would they be bipedal?

Of course, one thing sophisticated robots (not hoover robots and factory robots) need is adaptability. The human body-form can do a lot of different things. But so can the hexapedal form, for example.

Mother Nature already dealt with this question of what body-plan to use for Her most sophisticated beings, and she settled on humanoid for reasons I don't fully understand, discussed a bit in [this question](https://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com/questions/25209/would-intelligent-life-evolve-any-other-body-plan-than-humanoid).

Would people in the near-future bother manufacturing humanoid/bipedal robots, or could we get any job done with other body-plans?

Answer: 
Form follows function
---------------------

When identifying what you want your robot to do, you make a list of priorities. If "interacting with people" isn't on the list, then you don't put any effort into their appearance. Making something "humanoid" is an additional qualification that is really too expensive for most development teams.

Just bipedal walking is an expensive proposition. Trying to fit all of the necessary sensors into a human-shaped bulb of a head is an unnecessary challenge. Trying to make dexterous human hands is something our world is still working on.

The super-expensive Honda ASIMO was built basically as a PR stunt. After doing some dancing around on stage, it spent the rest of its days as a receptionist. It is now a museum piece.

Humanoid forms are actually a detraction to the natural functions of robots. The problem with humanoid robots is that humans can't help anthropomorphising them. We get nervous about being naked in front of them. You make a toaster with a human face, and pretty soon people are waving signs that say "free the toasters!"

So, overall, if you don't *need* to make something humanoid, then you won't.

OTOH, if you *do* need to make something humanoid, you will. We're entering the age where humans will need to work side-by-side with robots. Being able to predict a robot's behavior can be the difference between successfully building an automobile and getting your hand broken, so there is good reason to model robots on something we're familiar with.

I'm reminded of C3PO, who is a protocol droid. R2D2 doesn't need to interact with people, so it's ok for him to look like a fire plug. C3PO's function was to provide translation services and explain things to guests. Any hospitality robot will inevitably trend towards humanoid because it makes their job easier.
**[Uncanny Valley](https://spectrum.ieee.org/what-is-the-uncanny-valley)**

I think Boba Fit's answer pretty well covers the main reason why we might not see humanoid robots much, which is that robots are normally "built to task" but I wanted to elaborate on what I believe is an important ancillary reason we don't see humanoid robots: they creep us out, with the phenomena being called "uncanny valley".

In short, humans are pretty comfortable with machines. Cars, drones, etc, all perfectly reasonable, even if they are AI and fully automated. As things start to look more and more human, though, there is some real monkey-brain thinking that kicks in and kinda creeps us out, and the closer to human they look, the more creeped out we get. Things "don't move right" or "don't look right". (Horror movies get a lot of mileage out of this too, making humanoid horror entities move in weird ways or do something not quite human, which naturally creeps us out.)

The link I started with does pose some solutions to the problem, but it is a problem.

Plus, **purpose-built robots are also just easier**. Building wheeled or tracked [delivery robots](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delivery_robot) isn't nearly as difficult as building a humanoid robot! The humanoid could have some real advantages. Maybe it can get on a bus. It's easier to see and not trip over. But it's also going to be bigger, heavier, more inherently dangerous (stepping on your toes, falling over, etc) and enormously more complicated to develop. Mechanically, the human form is really complicated, versus a simple tracked vehicle.