Robi seems like a bit of a ripoff of NAO
http://youtu.be/nNbj2G3GmAoIn the last two years, robotics has undergone a huge shift. It's almost a perfect storm of disruptive technologies, that includes the prosumer economic model, the internet of things and a steady advance in technology. Now, keep in mind that most of these rapid changes are still more theory then practical, but there is a sense in the community that technology is undergoing transformation, and we're seeing the first 'early adapters' today. Part of this change has occurred because technology has simply become more accessible. Much of the hard work is now wrapped up in a python import statement or a ruby gem and you no longer have to work for a month to buy a computer capable of 'experimenting on' - you just buy a beagle bone black for $50 and it even comes with handy ports for plugging wires into. Most modern AIs also rapidly disseminate across the community through technology packages such as SciKit Learn, which allows regular programmers to implement complex algorithms for problem solving without even comprehending how they work. Instead, they simply have to know which algorithm is used for what. These, mind you, are rather weak models for intelligence, but if the Human Brain Project succeeds, you will likely see more advanced models borrowed from nature to solve our problems. When you combine all these things together, you start to approach the point where robotics becomes accessible by the educated class of the world for fun and not as a massive project requiring millions of research dollars and as their projects multiply and interact, you start to get freely available, highly useful, technology to those who know how to implement it.
That's a big deal, but is it something we should fear as Christians? Well, I really can't see much of a reason why we should fear robotics and besides, we've all benefited from automation for years anyways. NAO may seem like more of a 'robot' then a printer, but really, a printer is a perfect example of robotics in everyday life. Now, you can do all kinds of things with a printer and most people probably take it for granted, but I doubt Christians should fear their printer (unless your Amish, but then you're probably not reading this anyways). So, why fear NAO or other robotics? They're simply tools to use... at least until we start giving them sentience (at which point, they'll just incorporate to get the status of person-hood for themselves
).