<p>OT - not that anyone asked (lol), but I did a quick google search on robotic manufacturers - and they're a slew of them outthere - from Intuitive Surgical to some Japanese companies that were not covered in the 'best 10' list. Of course, I can't cut and paste, but a Cnet article from 2011 cites Foxconn saying that they plan to replace some employees, which currently number 900,000 with a million robots.</p> <p>Far fetched as that sounds, the Cnet artice I found very informative, from what companies are doing what with whom, to spotlighting areas I had thought of but forgot: Miliary use of robots. (Not in the article, but there are at least 2 instances of military robots accidentally killing their users: In 2006 or so, South Africa had 9 soldiers shot in a fraction of a second by a ridiculous-rounds-per-second robot that had a flaw in its program.) You don't hear much about military robots, but almost every country that can produce them, has a currently active program, since nobody wants to be at a disadvantage vs. and adversary.  Drones appear to be just the tip of what's to come. Wonder if following the companies DARPA admits co-developing projects with.  I wonder - if a robot 'dies' in combat, does it get a purple heart?</p> <p>But seriously, I'll bet there are some companies that are good plays - I just wish I knew who they were - Intuitive Surgical sounds good. One might think of the sector as possibly the next 'biotech'-like sector - although maybe I'm just discovering what folks already know.</p> <p> </p> <p> </p>