Honda has built a humanoid robot that walks down stairs and can resist pushing. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology has built machines inspired by biology that run, hop, walk. Others have built a hand that can dexterously manipulate a tin. Japanese robotic dogs sold thousands in a few days. A female roboticist taught three robots to dance, communicating, moving in harmony, working with people.
Future research can go in a number of directions.
To build humanoids like the Honda robot we need to learn more about human biomechanics. To mimic human intelligence we need to learn how the human mind works the visual system, learning, memory and consciousness. A robot that learns would be really useful. Escaping from the limitations of humanoids is like solving the problem of human flight with aeroplanes rather than mechanical birds. The research questions are primarily engineering.