Japanese mega companies Fuji Heavy Industries and Sumitomo today presented their jointly developed floor cleaning robot [JP, PDF] in action in an office building in Osaka , Japan.
The autonomous cleaning robot can clean corridors and other similar spaces and also is able to move between the floors of the building by using the elevators.
It can detect obstacles of any kind via a built-in laser sensor (a camera is optional). The (nameless) robot communicates with elevators with a light transmission system.
Now add four legs, two arms, etc. and it gets us closer to a Tachikoma. I guess it all has to start somewhere.