The folks who are obsessed by robot apocalypses are usually without exception people who have never actually done any robotics. Doing robotics is a fantastic way to cut any pretensions or grandiose ideas you might be harboring down to size. Physical reality will often pigheadedly refuse to go along with your schemes, and do its own thing regardless.

Progress in robotics is a bit like progress in mathematics. It requires the sort of militant obsession with details and a refusal to give up in the face of overwhelmingly adverse odds.