According to a new report from the National Intelligence Council, robots will be able to replace people in a series of menial jobs by the year 2025. The report dictates that an influx of robo-workers will "disrupt unskilled labor markets," with robots taking jobs currently performed by migrant workers, high school students and the like.

Additionally, the report states that emerging technologies could be used to assist humans to perform tasks such as caring for the elderly. The report offers no word as to when robots will be able to run for congress or write blog posts about tech news items.

The future is upon us. Researchers from the Technical University of Denmark and the IT University of Copenhagen have created a sight-controlled robot. The bot is based around a LEGO NXT-G kit. It gets paired with a webcam and a laptop that’s connected to the robot via bluetooth. Then the magic happens.

The robot uses an eye-tracking system that allows users to control the robot simply by looking in certain directions. As you can see from the video below, it works surprisingly well. The researchers hope to eventually use the technology to help wheelchair-bound patients.

Enter the MechRC: A 17-servo kit newly available in America that can learn a vast array of dance moves. The little guy may look menacing (What’s with that?), but he has a heart of funky, funky gold.

The robot comes with easy to use software so would-be robo-choreographers can get going on impressing their friends and family. MechRC is PC only at the moment. The kit is $599 however, so only true robotic dance aficionados need apply.

For the rest of us, there’s always this video to keep us sated until the price goes down:

Toshiba has issued a press release and a demo video of the prototype of their automated volleyball bot. This bot has been making the robotics rounds for over a decade now and it’s good to finally see some new information.

The bot can recognize spoken commands, react to incoming spheres, identify the actions of nearby people and even spike a volleyball at will. The company has released no word on whether or not this bot would be receiving a commercial push nor have they indicated any other potential uses for the technology.

Click here for the press release and here for a video of the bot in action.

NASA has begun work on a four-year, $1.74 million project designed to help counsel depressed astronauts in space. The project, dubbed the Virtual Space Station, is being readied in Boston. The VSS is supposed to independently create a program that will offer astronauts advice based on their typed insecurities. AP writer Jay Lindsay says it is nothing at all like HAL 9000.

How it works: Astronauts type in their various psychological problems into a console, which leads a pre-recorded video therapist to offer up a variety of solutions. The robot therapist "helps astronauts identify reasons for their depression. Then the program helps them make a plan to fight the depression."

The Virtual Space Station is being tested on civilians and it’s designers hope that it will one day cross party lines and be used by astronauts and non-astronauts alike. Researchers involved with the project offer no word on how normalized conventions of doctor/patient privacy will be affected by the project.