F-U-N-D-E-D: The crowd wants their robots at home -- and under the covers

The masses have been speaking with their cash this year, donating hundreds of millions of dollars through crowdfunding sites like Indiegogo and Kickstarter.

And this week, Silicon Valley's venture capitalists answered with theirs, giving the crowds what they, apparently, really want: robots at home that anticipate thoughts, read stories to the kids and help grandma -- or that live under the sheets.

And if you're not into that, blame your neighbors before you condemn Silicon Valley. That's because this week three startups announced they received funds from traditional venture capital sources after raising millions of dollars from the online masses through Indiegogo.

For years, crowdfunding websites have given the average person a chance to donate to projects they'd like to see. And those sites have taken on an important role for venture capitalists: an early warning system showing just how much consumers want their products, encompassing everything from selfie sticks to vineyards to one more dating app. And many products getting the most backing are ever-smarter robots that will track the increasingly intimate parts of people's lives.

"We saw the 3D printer trend, the drone trend, the activity tracker and now it's smaller robots," says Indiegogo CEO Slava Rubin, describing waves of interest in new technology. "The crowd wants to improve their lives. They want to track their health, track their home, understand everything going on."

Consider Jibo, the maker of an 11-inch armless, rotating cylindrical robot that sports an oval screen for a face. Think Wall-E as a kind of automated butler on steroids. The Boston-based startup, founded by MIT professor Cynthia Breazeal, announced this week that it has raised $37 million from venture capital investors on top of the $3.71 million it had already raised from 7,422 Indiegogo supporters.

Jibo's "family robot" will also be a "fun and supportive storyteller" that, according to the company, is smart enough to recognize your face, to detect when you want to be photographed, to talk and read stories to your kids and -- in one pretty dramatic promise -- "will put a smile on your face and make you feel better." That's something to look forward to when the robot begins shipping sometime this fall.