Humanoid robots are expected to appear in more homes and rack up more hours in warehouses and factories in the coming year. The makers of these bipedal bots are betting big on how they’ll change the world. But the industry must first overcome several major challenges that stand in the way. Let’s start with safety. Robots like Digit from Agility Robotics, which are capable of performing some work tasks autonomously, are often segregated from human coworkers. Though Agility Robotics says it’s working on safe human detection so that these barriers can eventually be removed, the technology isn’t there quite yet.

Full prediction : Robot companies are racing toward a breakout year, but they’ll have to confront some fundamental problems before making bigger promises.