Advanced automation/Robotics
- Automated construction of buildings
- Mass manufacture
- Surgery
- Menial tasks like cleaning. Robotic vacuum cleaners, are an early example
Humanoid robots
Several technologies now progressing in leaps and bounds - natural language processing 
, voice recognition , speech synthesis , machine vision - that allow us to interact with machines in a more intuitive way that is closer to the way we interact with people.
On the mechanical front, it is now possible to build robots with a sense of balance and realistic locomotion, such as BigDog, or with fine motor control and sensitive touch, such as TeamInfinity's robot hand.
As these technologies evolve and come together, they will enable humanoid robots capable of a wide variety of tasks. Prominent roboticist Rodney Brooks has pointed out that fifty years ago there were only a dozen or so computers in the world, but now there are billions; so it is entirely possible that in a few decades time, there will be billions of humanoid robots helping people with a wide variety of tasks.
