The Unimate was the first commercial robot (1961). It opened and poured beer, put a golf ball in a hole, and conducted an orchestra - but this was all preprogrammed.
Haven’t gotten much further - only recently because of a surge of capabilities and sensing have we been making strides. Still very far from human-like performance.
This book talks a lot about the design and control of autonomous robots. Robots are considered autonomous when they make decisions in response to their environment.
The ability to do this hinges heavily on mechanics, sensors, and actuators.