"Robots help people by making their lives easier, safer, and more fun," says engineer Omar Abdelwahed. Lately, engineers have been developing new kinds of humanoid robots. These high-tech machines are designed to lend a hand everywhere from hotels to disaster areas.

A robot named Petter has been on the job at the Mandarin Oriental hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada. When guests have questions or need directions, they can ask Petter. They can also use the robot's touch screen to find the information they need. Petter is able to talk with guests and entertain them with stories too. It can even tell what kind of mood they are in. "Petter provides our guests with information in an exciting and new way," says the hotel manager Donald Bowman.

For a kid, being in the hospital can be boring and even scary. But a small robot called NAO is helping to make hospital stays easier. It was designed to keep people company.

A Tennessee doctor named Phil Parker bought a NAO robot three years ago. He programmed it to talk to and play with young patients. He brought it to hospitals to help sick kids. When kids get medical tests, NAO explains what is going on. The robot also reads to kids and plays games with them like rock, paper, scissors. "The robot has got many kids to smile since they were in the hospital," Parker says.

Other robots are being developed to help in places where it's hard or risky for people to go. Engineers in Japan are building a robot called E2-DR to go into those dangerous areas, searching for and rescuing the people who are trapped or injured.

What will our homes be like in the future? Here are some predictions:

◆Want to take a shower when you get home? You’ll be able to let your smart water heater (热水器) start heating up when you’re on your way home.

◆Did I turn off the oven? Did I close the window? Everyone may have a moment like that. But in the future, your home will check these for you.

◆In your home of the future, all of your devices (设备) can work together to make your life more comfortable. When you turn on the lights in the morning, your windows will open at the same time. The lights will slowly be turned off by themselves after the sun appears.

◆Your home may have dangers. The hackers (黑客) could open your door and cause a mess (造成麻烦) at your home through your phone or other devices. Your home will tell you about it but you can’t arrive in time. So people will have to be careful of their personal information.

Elon Musk, a US tech mogul(大亨), founder of SpaceX and co-founder of electric car maker Tesla, has been working on this technology. On Aug 28, Musk gave a livestream(直播) demonstration of the chip which was implanted into the head of a pig named Gertrude.

The chip, developed by Musk’s company Neuralink, is the size of a coin. But don’t let its size fool you. The tiny chip has over 3,000 electrodes (电极) attached to flexible threads, which can monitor about 1,000 neurons (神经元). It collects neural signals from an area of the brain, and then transmits those signals wirelessly to nearby computers, according to MSN. In the livestream, Gertrude could be seen walking around her pen sniffing (嗅) the ground while a monitor showed her brain activity.

Though the technology is still in its early stage, it is encouraging for humans. “This technology would solve a lot of brain/spine injuries and is ultimately (最终) essential for AI symbiosis (共生), which allows the human brain to mix with an artificial intelligence.” Musk said in previous interviews.

When the device can be applied to humans, its main goal will be to help those who have mobility(行动) issues, such as those suffering from paralysis(瘫痪). Musk hopes this technology could also be used to help those with hearing and eyesight issues and one day lead to a cure for epilepsy(癫痫).

Although such a device could, in principle, repair those problems, putting it into practice is by no means a piece of cake. Currently, the device can transmit signals from about 500 neurons in the pig’s brain. Compared to 80 billion neurons in a human brain, this number is tiny. And to cover the whole human brain also means the electrodes have to be much smaller. Also, implanting the chip into the brain poses a potential danger. There is a risk of the immune system attacking this foreign body.

Right now, the hope of controlling the brain via controlling a few neurons seems overly optimistic. “There are many technological challenges to overcome before Neuralink can put its devices to the purposes,” Yuan Lanfeng, an associate professor of China, told China Daily.