Seen in: Terminator movies, Robocop, AI, The Matrix
A master race of intelligent robots taking over the world is a common theme in science fiction - Skynet, anyone?
It doesn't look like this will happen - well, not as soon as some might have thought - although that's not to say there isn't some amazing technology out there.
Honda has created a robot called Asimo, which moves with the thoughts of a human controller, and there are other examples of robots being used day to day in industry.
Currently robots are at an early stage, generally used more for repetitive tasks, but researchers are innovating as seen with Intel last year.
A robotics researcher even predicted we could see robotic policeman within the next 75 years.
If robots were to get the intelligence science fiction imagines, researchers would have to combine functionality with the branch of computer science known as artificial intelligence to make them much less benign and dim-witted.
5 - Laser guns
Seen in: Star Wars, Star Trek
Laser guns are a science fiction staple. Think ray guns, phasers many a science fiction movie shows handheld lasers as a reality.
Lasers are used all the time, whether it for electronics, IT, science, medicine or other applications in modern society. Think of the compact disc one of the first general applications of laser technology.
The technology is there for large military type weaponry, and there is a real-life example of it with the Tactical High Energy Laser, built for the US and Israeli governments.
However, handheld laser guns are unlikely to be a reality. Seeing it in films you notice that the weapons don't look like they have a source of power in reality these weapons would have to be charged, and modern mobile technology isn't powerful enough.
Considering normal guns seem effective enough at the job, it seems unlikely that the tech companies would bother spending money on the type of weapon seen in our fantasies.
6 - Human clones
Seen in: Gattaca, The Sixth Day, Blade Runner, The Boys from Brazil
The possibility of human cloning has been talked about in real-life and seen in science fiction for a long while now, but thanks to advances in technology it seems more possible than ever before.
Dolly the sheep was the first mammal to be cloned from an adult cell, and since then other animals have been created from the same process. Humans are a big step forward from that, and there is an ethical and scientific minefield to negotiate if this is to ever become a reality.
The advances in genetic technology has also asked the question about whether human genetic engineering will become a reality, and similar questions are going to be asked about so-called designer babies'.
