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Must-Have Monday: Dreams of having a robot butler can finally come to life (sort of)

Ever since I first watched The Jetsons and saw their beloved household robot Rosie, I've had dreams of getting my own personal robot assistant. While there are plenty of robot-like household items now available, ranging from the Roomba to GPS systems, nothing quite compares to the idea of having a humanoid robot as your own personal helper.

If you too dream of a robotic companion but aren't looking to build your own, you can always order one pre-assembled from KumoTek Robotics.

KumoTek makes a variety of humanoid robots, all with various degrees of motion and functionality. The KT-X can walk, run, somersault, and stand up from a face-up or face-down lying position. More advanced users can program the robot to pull itself up when it falls over, too. To control the robot, all you need is a standard wireless PS2 game controller, and you'll be able to make your robot move at its 17 joints (degrees of freedom) through its body. It runs an H8 CPU with a 60MHz HV processor and 512 kb ROM/64 kb RAM.

The KT-X comes with RobovieMaker software (also downloadable here, if you can read Japanese) which lets the user program the robot.

But enough about the technical parts of what makes this robot awesome, let's just watch it be awesome:

And just because watching videos of robots is fun, here's a surreal demonstration/interview between two KT-X Gladiator Pro model robots:

Who would love this: Someone who grew up in the 1980's or 1990's when humanoid robots seemed like the absolute coolest thing a kid could have. Alternatively, you could also buy this for an actual older child or teen and live your dreams vicariously through them.

How much it costs: Prices range from $1395 for the most basic KT-X model without remote or assembly, up to $2495 for a fully-assembled KT-X Gladiator with gyro and remote.

Where to get it: You can order the robot directly from KumoTek at www.kumotek.com or at Robot MarketPlace.

Must-Have Monday is a feature on the Yahoo! Canada News' Right Click blog, where we share a cool gadget each week. We're not paid to endorse any of these — it's just stuff we'd probably buy if someone handed us a pile of money.

Have a suggestion for next week? Contact us on Twitter at @yrightclick.