Robots that look and act like humans may sound like the stuff of fiction.

Robots that look and act like humans may sound like the stuff of fiction.

But scientists are getting closer all the time to catching up with even the wildest sci-fi fantasy.

A replica robot of Albert Einstein, coated with a flesh-like material to make it more human-looking is just one example.

Its inventors hope people will be less intimidated by it because it appears more human - and they are not the only ones with that idea.

Earlier this month also saw the arrival in the UK of the iCub, a European robot capable of human-like eye and head motion, leg movement, and object recognition.

At around the same time, a robot called Berti went on show at the Science Museum in London where it played rock-paper-scissors with bemused tourists.

The blurring of the boundaries between man and machine is nothing new and has long been predicted in science fiction.

The word "robot" was coined in the 1920 play RUR by Karel Capek to describe artificial people that appeared human.

It also predicted a world where robots turn on their human creators - a classic theme in science fiction.

Our fascination with technology, coupled with the fear of its power to dominate and even destroy our lives, feature time and time again in science fiction.

The possibility of conflict between humans and robots was examined in the 1999 film The Matrix, which portrayed people living in a virtual reality world created by machines.

The idea of just how human robots can become is central to the Philip K Dick novel Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep?, later made into a film as Blade Runner.

Science-fiction has a long tradition, in both books and films, of predicting events and inventions long before they come to pass.

Forty years before the first atom bomb was dropped on Japan, HG Wells was writing about an atomic bomb and, more recently, William Gibson's novel Neuromancer predicted the spread of the internet and virtual reality.

First published in 1984, Gibson describes in it the concept of cyberspace as "a consensual hallucination experienced daily by billions".

Mark Brake, the author of FutureWorld: Where Science Fiction Becomes Science, said there are hundreds of innovations first predicted in books and films.

One recent invention that will go on sale later this year is a wristwatch that doubles as a mobile phone.

While the idea might sound like it was inspired by a 1960s spy film, its origins can be traced back much further.

Mr Brake said: "There is a story written by the Bishop of Llandaff in 1638 which is one of the first man on the moon stories.

"The protagonist goes up to the moon and meets people there and their leader uses a shell device to talk to his counterpart on earth.

"It's nothing to do with Nokia but the idea of using a mobile device to speak to someone is there from the 1600s."

It is no accident so many predictions in novels and films have become reality.

Many film-makers now employ scientists on set to make sure their films are at least partly accurate.

David Kirby, a lecturer in science communication studies at the University of Manchester, said it is becoming more and more common to find scientists working in Hollywood.

He said: "You have to have some level of plausibility or the audience just won't believe it.

"Film-makers consult with scientists and futurists and ask them what they think the future will look like."

And there are even examples of direct links between technology on the big screen and its emergence in reality.

Dr Kirby said: "One example is the Steven Spielberg film Minority Report.

"In one scene Tom Cruise moves computer files around with his hands.

"That is called gestural interface and it became real after the film came out.

"It was invented by a guy called John Underkoffler and he was approached by people who gave him the money to make it after they saw the film.

"It is being used by the Defence Department in the United States now."

It is the strength of the links between writers and film-makers and scientists that ensures the accuracy of many of the genre's predictions.

Dr Kirby said: "The reason a lot of sci-fi looks so prophetic is because people are getting advice from scientists about what can be done.

"Even HG Wells was tied into the science community and in the 1950s Arthur C Clarke and Isaac Asimov were trained scientists and were in touch with scientists."

Five ideas that were first featured in science fiction before becoming reality:

• CCTV - mentioned in George Orwell's novel 1984, published in 1949;
• Air conditioning - mentioned in Jules Verne's novel Paris In The Twentieth Century, written in 1863;
• Test tube babies - mentioned in Aldous Huxley's Brave New World, published in 1932;
• Robots - the idea and the word itself comes from Karel Capek's play RUR, written in 1920;
• Scuba diving - portable diving kits were described by Jules Verne in 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea, written in 1875