you can already program things for some of that, without need to buy a, for example, laundry machine with internet access
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/sup ... t/comments with this twine you could put the device onto the laundry machine and have it text you when it's done. other ideas is being able to know if your door is being knocked on, seeing who is there, and then use another gadget to unlock the deadbolt if you want (so you can let friends in when you're not even home)
what i'd like is automatic inventory systems for the home. so you could look up on your eyepiece (cuz it's gonna be a year or two anyway) your current inventory of sugar or something. i would buy specialized containers if necessary (so you know exactly how much sugar is left) but a lot of it can be handled by RFID (so you know you have a bag of sugar). the software can allocate all of that and, in conjunction with software can tell you things you can make with what you have and things you need to make what you queried. perhaps it could also take note of when the rfid first appeared and be able to track the individual components to tell you if you really should eat the other unopened jar of peanut butter -- it's set to spoil sooner than the one you're opening.
i wouldn't consider things connected to the internet as "robots" though. my computer is hooked up but it's a computer not a robot. a robot would autonomously determine if someone is a known friend and let him into your house without input from anyone. sure, perhaps you've set him as a person you allow into your house, but if it was a robot the robot, likely named Alfred, would take care of such tasks for you.
Americans learn only from catastrophe and not from experience. -- Theodore Roosevelt
My life has become a single, ongoing revelation that I haven’t been cynical enough.