Will We One Day Walk Among Robots?

As Halloween approaches, I’ve been rummaging through my usual collection of fancy-dress costumes, everything from the classics to the downright bizarre.

One in particular always makes me smile: a shiny robot suit. But then there’s my showstopper, a 9-foot inflatable Frankenstein, (Big Frankie) as he is affectionately known as that someone straps themselves into, towering over crowds and turning heads wherever it goes.

Standing there, staring at those costumes, I found myself wondering: will we one day walk beside real humanoid robots, not just dress up as them for fun?

It sounds like a scene from a futuristic movie, but that future isn’t as far away as it once seemed. Around the world, engineers are already developing humanoid robots capable of walking, talking, carrying bags, even recognising facial expressions and responding to tone of voice. These aren’t just mechanical tools anymore, they’re designed to look and feel human.

One of the most widely discussed examples is Elon Musk’s “Optimus”a humanoid robot being developed by Tesla to perform a wide range of tasks. According to Musk, the Optimus is designed to:

• Assist in factory work, such as picking up and sorting objects.

• Perform household tasks, including folding laundry, cooking, and watering plants.

• Learn new tasks by observing humans and watching video demonstrations.

• Communicate in multiple languages.

In demonstrations, Optimus has already shown the ability to walk unaided, identify objects, and perform delicate hand movements, all steps toward a world where such robots could one day live and work alongside us.

The technology is advancing fast. Some robots now help in hospitals, assist the elderly, or provide companionship for people who live alone. In factories, they’re working side by side with humans; in homes, they’re beginning to handle simple chores. It’s fascinating, but also slightly unsettling.

There’s something deeply human about wanting to create life in our own image, from Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein to modern-day AI research. However, as these machines become increasingly lifelike, the question shifts from what they can do to what we should allow them to do.

Will we truly welcome them as companions, or will we always see them as outsiders made of metal and code?

Perhaps Halloween is the perfect time to think about it. The costumes we wear, the monsters, robots, ghosts, all reflect our deepest curiosities and fears.

Dressing up as a robot this year feels less like pretending to be the future, and more like glimpsing what might actually be walking beside us very shortly.

For now, I’ll stick to my inflatable Frankenstein, safe, familiar, and definitely not self-aware. But give it another few years, and we might just find ourselves sharing the streets with a few real-life versions.

What do you think?

Are you comfortable with this?