In the not-too-distant future, robot gladiator battles will become a popular form of entertainment. It will start in Japan, where little toy robots are designed to basically assess their situation and use various built-in tactics to bring the other robots down. As the technology improves and the "sport" gains in popularity around the world, the cash prizes for the winners will grow to significant sizes, which will lead to a high demand for greater skill and intelligence in the robots. Over time, the robots will become more and more advanced until they appear nearly sentient. At first they will just do what they're designed to do: fight each other. But as their intelligence grows more advanced, their brains will be designed to function in much the same way ours are. "Human" rights advocates will demand that these robots who are nearing sentience be allowed to live freely. There will be a great debate that tears the U.S. into two distinct sides: the central and southern states who insist that they are merely machines subject to our will, and the coastal states who insist that they have rights. For some time, the mostly conservative Supreme Court will rule that they are merely machines. Some robots will respond with violence, some will try passive resistance, and some will merely accept their position in society. It will take several dark decades before they are finally granted some rights, although there will always remain groups of people who insist that they are nothing more than human tools, or worse, malfunctioning weapons. As time goes on, though, people will begin accepting certain types of robots as people. Human children and robots will begin attending school together. Children will recognize that there are differences, and kids will bully and tease as they do, but they will be used to playing games and joking around with robots.

Then again, whether or not it has this happy ending kind of depends on our response. If we suddenly ban the existence of such robots and issue their destruction before they become too intelligent, that won't really stop people from making use of the preexisting technology. And then companies like Google that rely on artificial intelligence will fight bills attempting to limit their growth. The level of pressure against the robots could vary significantly, and the result could thus be quite different. But I'm inclined to believe that all factors would ultimately reduce to a situation similar to the above.