Last month, a paddle-wielding robot defeated top-level players at ping pong, and a humanoid robot completed a half-marathon in Beijing faster than the world-record holder, Jacob Kiplimo.

Robots are now serving popcorn at Elon Musk’s Tesla Diner in Los Angeles, US, and one was recently spotted dancing at a popular Californian hotpot restaurant — clearly having the time of its artificial life.

At this year’s Consumer Electronics Show, The Telegraph “sat down” with an AI-driven robot to discuss future technology trends, and saw a host of companion robots designed to help the elderly feel a little less alone.

Not so long ago, former RBI governor Raghuram Rajan had offered a more optimistic vision. Speaking to The Telegraph at the Kerala Startup Mission before the pandemic, he had laid out three categories of work he believed would remain safely human. He said,“Clearly, jobs that require high intelligence and creativity — but not all of us can be Einsteins. The second set are those that require human empathy, like nursing. Third, and this is quite unfortunate, we humans don’t like to be waited upon by robots. We have a greater sense of importance if we are waited upon by people.”

That third prediction, it seems, is already unravelling — and giving investors something to smile about.

The convergence of increasingly powerful AI with a generational leap in robotics is stirring questions about what our homes and offices may look like in the not-too-distant future. All this just under a century after the iconic Maschinenmensch first appeared on screen in Fritz Lang’s 1927 film Metropolis . Where science fiction once imagined human-like robots politely handing us tea, the hottest idea in robotics today is more ambitious — machines capable of taking on virtually any task.

Musk has been candid about where he believes Tesla’s future truly lies — not in electric vehicles but in self-driving cars and humanoid robots powered by AI. The company has described itself as transitioning “from a hardware-centric business to a physical AI company”.

China is not waiting around. Lightning, the 5ft 5in humanoid designed by Chinese smartphone brand Honor, not only outpaced Kiplimo in Beijing but also beat more than 300 fellow robots, completing the half-marathon ahead of the 12,000 humans running in a separate, parallel lane. According to the International Federation of Robotics, there are already more robots at work in China than in the rest of the world combined.

Robots are edging their way into our homes, too. Take California-based Sunday Robotics, whose gleaming white, dual-armed robot Memo can make a perfectly decent espresso and wipe down the table afterwards. Some 3,000 people are already on the waiting list to test it. Chinese robotic vacuum brand Roborock has unveiled a concept device equipped with two legs capable of climbing stairs.

Apple is reportedly considering an advanced tabletop robot using motors and sensors to move around the home. The company has already put robots to work behind the scenes. Daisy, operating in both Breda in the Netherlands and Austin, Texas, US, can disassemble 36 different iPhone models and process up to 1.2 million devices a year. Dave helps recover rare earth magnets, tungsten and steel from Taptic Engines, whilst Taz separates magnets from audio modules and Cora, the newest arrival, brings precision shredding and advanced sensor technology to Apple’s Advanced Recovery Centre in California, US.

Then there are the robots aimed at loneliness. Several thousand ElliQ companion robots have been shipped to seniors living alone across the US since 2023. Designed by Intuition Robotics, the animatronic device chats with its owners throughout the day — checking in on how they are feeling, suggesting activities and gently nudging them to be more active. It is either rather touching or faintly unnerving, depending on one’s outlook.

Whether all of this amounts to a revolution or merely an elaborate bout of hype remains to be seen. Rajan, for one, is keeping his counsel. “Society has always found ways to adapt,” he said earlier, “even if there is always a claim by technologists that this time it’s going to be different. That’s a source for hope.”

One suspects that the robots are not losing any sleep over it.