Whatever happened to the robot maid promised way back in the 1960s when cartoons like The Jetsons gave us a vision of life in the 21st century?
Or those amazing virtual reality holidays that would whisk armchair travellers on a five-star tour to Mars or Venus from the comfort of the sitting room?
Real life in the 21st century may not be as far out and groovy as old science fiction shows imagined, but one of Britain's top futurologists promises interesting changes on our near horizon.
Cyberbabes and Orgasmatrons will be among the hottest items of the next 10 years, if Ian Pearson's predictions come true.
"We will have more variety of entertainment, better health, greater wealth and probably better social well-being," Pearson said. "But what must be remembered by anyone preparing for the future is that technology change isn't very important in itself. What matters is what this change enables or destroys."
Pearson, who works for BT Group's BTexact Technologies, has just published a "timeline" of 500 predictions for the next 30 years. It is both an exciting and disturbing vision of the future.
The 21st century did not produce the kind of exciting "space age" gadgets that people had predicted, Pearson said.
But that's set to change as the speed of technological development grows ever faster and more emphasis is put on leisure and lifestyle.
By 2012 the Orgasmatron -- the artificial sexual pleasure device dreamed up for Woody Allen's film Sleeper -- will become a reality, Pearson said.
Within four years, toys will be emotionally interactive, responsive to the feelings of the children playing with them.
If emotional toys seem a bit scary, video tattoos -- featuring moving images implanted under the skin -- will soon give parents something worse to fret about. Also by 2006, scenes from blockbuster dinosaur film Jurassic Park could take a step closer to reality when the first extinct organism is brought back to life, he predicts.
Although seeing into the future is never going to be an exact science, Pearson has had an 85 percent success rate since producing his first timeline in 1991.
His accurate predictions include the launch of robotic pets and the development of driverless public transport, currently being tested in Wales.
Though trips to Mars are still decades away, the first space tourism operation could be launched this year, Pearson predicts.
By 2015 a space hotel, built using recycled Space Shuttle fuel tanks, is feasible, he said. Near Earth space tours will be add to holiday choices for the adventurous. By 2030, deep hibernation technology -- which would allow humans to hibernate for days, months or even years -- could make regular manned missions to Mars possible.
That same year, it will be possible to fully link computers to the human brain using nano-technology, or engineering at the molecular or atomic level. The ability to "back up" our brains will mean never forgetting anything ever again and being able to think and react at "turbo speed."
"Imagine the impact on the human experience if our brains could work a million times faster," he said.
Robots, staple characters in old sci-fi and space shows, will come into their own in the near future, Pearson said. He predicts that humanoid robots will fill factory jobs by 2007. By 2015, robots will be able to take on almost any job in hospitals or homes.
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