In 2007, it started becoming clear that robots will having a growing impact on real-world activities -- most especially military ones, but that could be quickly followed by civilian ones.

the DARPA Urban Challenge, which involved totally autonomous robots driving in four-lane traffic, had SIX robots finish. That's a stunning turnaround, compared to three years before when none of the teams were able to complete a noticably simpler course. Most obviously, they'll be used in counterinsurgency, to minimize the IED vs. supply route problem.
along the same lines on the battlefield, Big Dog is very impressive (and kind of scary)
the XRay underwater glider is very interesting... it's meant to be a near-silent littoral patrol, putting a lower bound on the speed that near-silent enemy subs can go, effectively putting a lower bound on how quiet they can be. Even before XRay, civilian versions were collecting data across the ocean in increasing numbers.
on the low end of the market, increasing CPU power and design ingenuity have provided for relatively simple designs that can do a whole lot