I was wondering: how long do you think it will take for human-realistic robots to become available on the market?
I want a robot to do my laundry, vacuum (current offerings leave much to be desired), dishes - in short a domestic servant. I can branch out to yard work, driving... Human realistic isn't of interest, I want the jobs done, and that is where the market it.
I can see pets catching on - but even bipedal pets have significant differences from human like. Passing the truing test is a negative - I want to feel superior to my pets.
Of course your story is about available on the market. That is different from a market success. I can see them in 20-40 years, but just like the pet rock they are a fad that comes and then ends up in the dump.
The above is points to ponder. You are writing fiction. You can reject any as you see fit. If you think I'm wrong about anything you need to consider if your readers will fail to suspend disbelief if you don't explain why I'm wrong. Or maybe I'm right and that lack of demand can be spun to fill the plot hole of why the robots take over. There are endless possibilities. Your universe, your choices: good luck.
Actually I think conversational companion robots can happen before more useful domestic servants. Elisa was from the 1960s, voice recognition is pretty good already. You can do a lot of comedy around a robot that can hold a conversation but can't find it way from the kitchen to the living room (in an open floor plan).
Laundry is actually a hard problem, and there isn't much research going into it. (it might be easier than speech, but a lot of research is going into speech)
* Proyas' "I, Robot": 15 years (no evil uprising)
* Spike Jone's "Her": 20 years, but no trans-human A.Is
* Sex robots that feel like "the real thing": 20 years
* Bicentennial Man: 30 years
* Spielberg's "Artificial Intelligence" (2001) - 30 years.
