No need to leave him a tip HERB, the Home Exploring Robot Butler, performs everyday tasks such as serving people food and beverages—that is, if things go well. After years of research and millions of dollars of technological investment, these jobs are still a challenge for HERB. In a recent demonstration for reporters, he did manage to grasp a bottle, but then held it upside down instead of right side up, and soon dropped it. It’s difficult to design a robot that can perform sensorimotor tasks that are trivially easy for humans, thanks to the power of the parietal lobe of our brains.