Fifty-one years after the first commercial robot went to work, the United States is approaching a tipping point. Within a decade, observers say, the average American household will include one or two simple robots, and though they may not look like the ones imagined in science fiction, these robots – some available now – will play pervasive roles in the lives of regular consumers.

But as roboticists prepare to unleash their creations, they’re confronted with a hurdle perhaps more daunting than the technical ones they’ve already cleared: consumer readiness – which includes such factors as skepticism, unrealistic expectations, confusion about what makes a robot, and a “Frankenstein complex,” or the fear of robots.

[Read](http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/0531/p13s02-stct.html “Read the Story”) (Christian Science Monitory)