The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), for its part, has multiple programs that involve manipulation and bionic devices. Europe's Framework Program is funding the development of cognitive systems and robots that can assist people in everyday tasks. In Asia, the decade-long funding of health-care robots for older adults has intensified. Typically, robots fall somewhere on a spectrum between direct tele-operation and full autonomy. Unfortunately, tele-operation can be cumbersome and full autonomy is often illusive. Somewhere in the middle lies a compelling tradeoff, where humans and co-robots can collaborate to perform practical tasks. According to the NRI, co-robots must be safe, relatively cheap, easy to use, available everywhere, and able to interact with humans to leverage their relative strengths in the planning and performance of a task.