Sulla, the world’s first talking robot, was so adept at conversation--in four languages, no less--that a human visitor to the laboratory in which she was created refused to believe she was not a real person.

Alas, Sulla was not a real robot, either, but a character in Karel Capek’s 1921 play R.U.R. , which introduced the word “robot” to the lexicon. Ever since that debut, talking robots have seemed to be peeking around every corner, and not just in science fiction.