I'm going to make a guess that the first time they tested that thing that the dog pulled the robot over and the robot fell on the dog and killed it.
That said, I honestly do believe that robots will become very VERY common in people's lives in the future. I think people will own them like we own PC's now.
To my mind there is a very big (future) market for robots that clean the house, wash the dishes, do the laundry, tidy up etc... things that people need to do but don't necessarily enjoy. I already have a robot that vacuums my floor while I'm sleeping and I view it as a "must have". if mine breaks I will
definitely buy another one. Moreover a "tidy up" robot, once told where things go will be able to put things back where they belong (something humans have trouble with) so you can find them again. You will be able to say to the robot, "find my keys" and it look for them. If you ask the robot "where are my keys" it will know because they don't forget where they saw things last.... etc etc. It will require a level of AI that isn't commonly available right now, but these things are coming.
Another application for robots that I think has a HUGE future are robots with "companion" functionality. I'm not talking about sex robots. Imagine a "companion" robot that lives in the house with you. Not like a pet, but one that can play games with you, maybe cook light meals, make tea, find recipies, help you balance your diet and exercise routines, do grocery shopping, engage in some conversation about ... current events or whatever... monitor grandma's blood pressure and interact with the doctor on her behalf if needed, make sure someone is taking their meds, getting to bed on time, getting up on time, etc etc etc. This is going to be a HUGE market once the robots are sophisticated enough. People don't WANT to move to geriatric centres when they get older. They WANT to remain in their own houses but many will need help in order to do so.
Robots can fulfill that role once their programming and functionality matures. I know for sure that if I lived in some future world and I were single, older and companion robots were sufficiently mature that I would want one. I would use it like a personal assistant.
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