Walk with me, NAO is the latest addition to the Robot App Store and this video shows how a human can guide the robot simply by holding its hand.

If you are expecting that Nao is going to turn into a hiking companion, think again. For a start its small stature means the human has to stoop and this isn't a great display of stamina - but perhaps Nao simply wanted to show off the neat way he can sit down and stand up:

Since its launch over a year ago the Robot App Store has accumulated a catalog of over 200 items, catering for robots from Roomba vacuum cleaners and NAO humanoids to the AR.Drone quadcopter and Sphero (the robotic ball).

While most of the apps are free of charge the idea in the long term is for developers to make money and receive 70% of the revenue their apps earn.

The notion that there is money to be made in this area is reinforced by the fact that recently Grishin Robotics, a global investment company that is dedicated to supporting personal robotics, invested quarter of a million dollars in Robot App Store

When the App Store opened, I was somewhat skeptical and wrote:

This is a good idea, but is it an idea whose time is now (no pun intended)?  Robots are becoming more commonplace, but they are mostly either very low grade - vacuums and lawn mowers with limited, if any, facilities to download apps or they are development/ research tools. Undoubtedly the day will come when you browse the robot app store for something fun and exciting that will make your domestic robot do something new, but I'm not convinced that the day is so close.

Well I think I have to eat my words, you can browse the store and find an app that will make your Roomba vacuum cleaner perform a lullaby or Beethoven's 9th before resuming its floor cleaning tasks.