It's been a long day at the office and all you want to do is grab a cold one and plop down in front of the TV. But just as you're getting comfy, you notice something odd on the floor in front of you. It's a message spelled out in your son's Legos, only he's not quite old enough to spell. And if he were, he certainly wouldn't write "DIE!" on the living room floor in colorful plastic bricks.

Who would? According to researchers at the University of Washington, it might just be your household robot - or rather, whoever's at its controls.

In a study presented at the recent International Conference on Ubiquitous Computing, researchers in the computer science and engineering department envisioned a handful of scenarios consumers could potentially encounter with various household robots, including psychological attacks (such as the one above), robot vandalism and robot spying.

"Robots may look like toys or appliances but they're not," says Tamara Denning, a doctoral student at the University of Washington and lead author of the study, A Spotlight on Security and Privacy Risks with Future Household Robots: Attacks and Lessons.

"They're little computers and in some cases, little mobile computers with webcams. They have eyes and ears and hands and some can be controlled remotely. People should be aware that there may be flaws. It's the same old idea of hackers and vulnerability, just in a new area." 

A growing industry
Household robots that perform chores, provide entertainment and monitor home security have become increasingly prevalent over the last few years.