Created to be for robots what Windows has been for the PC, Jean-Christophe Baillie’s company Gostai is leapfrogging the chasm between lab and markets.

Its science fiction overtones once left robotics out of the funding mainstream and reliant solely on government funding. Not any more.

Italian researchers have designed a small-sized humanoid robot to test a model of the human sense of "presence". They are now looking for investors to take the technology for further development.

Acrobot Ltd., a spin-out from Imperial College London, is currently fund raising and is seeking partnerships and licence agreements.