Increasingly human-like robots spark fascination and fear

A robot called Erica (R), created by Japan's Hiroshi Ishiguro Laboratories, conducts a job interview during a presentation in Spain.

Sporting a trendy brown bob, a humanoid robot named Erica chats to a man in front of stunned audience members in Madrid, Spain.

She and others like her are a prime focus of robotic research, as their uncanny human form could be key to integrating such machines into our lives, said researchers gathered this week at the annual International Conference on Intelligent Robots.