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A personal robot is one whose human interface and design make it useful for individuals. This is by contrast to industrial robots which are generally configured and operated by robotics specialists. A personal robot is one that enables an individual to automate the repetitive or menial part of home or work life making them more productive.
Similar to the way that the transition from mainframe computers to the personal computers revolutionized personal productivity, the transition from industrial robotics to personal robotics is changing productivity in home and work settings.
Turning a robot like ASIMO or Atlas into a universally applicable personal robot or artificial servant is mainly a programming task. As of 2016 vast improvements in motion planning, computer vision (esp. scene recognition), natural language processing, and automated reasoning are indispensable to make this a possibility.