Lovers of Star Wars might soon have their own R2D2 or C-3PO. Personal robots are coming. Will they be any good? Depends on what they will be used for. At present it appears they can make you a coffee or wash the dishes. While it may not be worth the cost to use them as a housekeeper I can imagine they will be quite useful to the elderly or handicapped. They will be able to prepare meals, clean or assist with mobility as an exo skeleton. They will be useful to industry, working in dangerous, heavy or monotonous environments. And they will be used for the military. The last being one of the more troubling possibilities. It is highly likely that military use will drive the development. There will be robots fighting robots soon enough.
As far as making money from the robotic revolution I expect the industrial uses will be very profitable. Robots and autonomous vehicles will probably replace humans in factories, mines and farms very soon. There is a lot of potential for businesses providing robotic services and sales to become big enterprises very soon.
Humanoid robots are probably not going to be the dominant type. Industrial robots will be fixed or on wheels.
Right now we have 3 main contenders for humanoid robots, there is Tesla’s Optimus. Optimus can dance and poach eggs and is powered by the same AI that is inside the Tesla car.
Figure is the second company with a leading robot, Figure 01. This is the coffee making robot that can give you food depending on dietary request.
Boston Dynamics has moved away from their hydraulically controlled robot and into an electrically controlled version of Atlas. It has impressive coordination.
I expect the humanoid development style will continue, it is a boys own annual fascination with creating them in this style. Though I think at some stage they will become diverse. They will be given wheels and modifications for specific purposes, agricultural, mining, industrial and military.
Investment opportunities will be in companies producing the specialized robots. A new John Deere, Boeing and Caterpillar will emerge. The companies selling and servicing these new robots will also be very profitable. As will companies producing the operating software and hardware.