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Cybernetics experts predict that by 2020, most homes will have at least one live-in robot to help with the housework. A few crude models are already making an appearance.

You can buy a self-navigating, cordless vacuum cleaner that will trundle around rooms, steering past chair legs and backing itself out of corners. There are robot lawn mowers which learn the shape and dimensions of your garden and pick their way carefully past the flower beds. And a Japanese firm makes automated lifting machines that can transport disabled patients from their bed to a chair.

All of which raises a very interesting question. Just what kind of relationship will we have with these mechanical roommates?

To date, the answer is, not much. The robots we've met so far are primitive and impersonal. Nary a one of them can flutter its eyelids or summon a winsome smile.

Of course that doesn't stop them driving us crazy. There are automated answering machines that would try the patience of Mother Teresa.

There have even been incidents of people shooting their computers. Some of them surely deserved it.

But the worst these lifeless contraptions can do is infuriate us. What happens when they start to tug at our heart strings?

Consider a clever new robot called Paro, that provides comfort to the frail elderly. This mechanical charmer is shaped like a baby seal.

It can recognize light and dark, and reacts to being picked up by cooing. It also responds to a variety of words, including whatever name its owner gives it.

The robot's programming is designed to imitate the behaviour of an infant. It likes being stroked or praised, and learns how to appeal for attention. Studies have shown that unresponsive patients come out of their shell when allowed to interact with the robot.

However, to increase its lifelike qualities, Paro is designed to squeal and shy away if hit or maltreated. That may cause as much distress to some owners as abusing a pet.

But is beating a robot now the moral equivalent of beating a dog? Will people start campaigning for the ethical treatment of robots?

And there is a far more ticklish situation in the offing. Several firms are working on what the robotics industry delicately refers to as female anatomically correct androids.

When perfected, these bionic floozies will give real ladies of the night a run for their money. Or so the makers hope.

But let's suppose they succeed. What are the rules of engagement? Is sex with an electronic madam (we nearly said modem), kernel relations?

And what happens if a married man installs a cyber mistress? Is that e-dultery and grounds for divorce?

Don't laugh. A woman in Britain broke up with her husband because she found his avatar (a computerized alter ego) having virtual sex online with someone else's avatar. If you have no idea what any of this means, don't worry, you're not alone.

But that was just fantasy. Bionic women are another matter altogether.

They may not be flesh and blood, but they have a mechanical heartbeat and warm skin. Anyone who thinks that won't strain marital relations has an extremely understanding spouse.

Or a limited imagination. For this is a fast-moving field.

It took humans thousands of years to reach our present level of advancement. Moore's Law, based on half a century's experience, says that artificial intelligence systems double their sophistication every two years.

At that rate, there are likely to be some very smart robots in our future. Perhaps we'll be the ones doing the housework.