<p><pre><code>  Robotics is one of those things where the hardware, 
  price, and networking are there but the software isn&#x27;t.
</code></pre>
I&#x27;m not sure where you got the impression that the hardware is ready for prime time, because it ain&#x27;t. I work in mobile robotics, and I wrote a blog post about this a while ago: <a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;c1qfxugcgy0.tumblr.com&#x2F;post&#x2F;31187427192&#x2F;the-enduring-tragedy-of-the-robotics-industry" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;c1qfxugcgy0.tumblr.com&#x2F;post&#x2F;31187427192&#x2F;the-enduring-...</a><p>Batteries aren&#x27;t good enough, linear actuators have awful power&#x2F;weight ratios, and computers just aren&#x27;t fast enough to solve CV problems and calculate grasps and paths in seconds, rather than minutes.<p>Saying you &quot;have thousands of dollars to spend&quot; is great, but not sufficient. The PR2 I talk about in the blog post costs <i>four hundred thousand US dollars,</i> and it sucks! It&#x27;s like saying you&#x27;re willing to spend five thousand bucks to buy a Lamborghini Aventador. It&#x27;s going to be many decades before a useful household robot only costs ten grand. A household robot just requires too many breakthroughs in too many different fields.