A team of robotics researchers led by Radu Horaud began a project this year called the “Humanoids with auditory and visual abilities in populated spaces” (HUMAVIPS) project. The goal? To give robots the ability to possess “social skills” and mimic the “cocktail party effect,” which is “the human ability to focus attention on just one person in the midst of other people, voices and background noise.” Natural interaction between humans and robots, huh? If you were ever on the fence about Judgement Day being upon us…now what say you?