The ‘brains’ of a robot need a solid base to develop the functionality the robot needs to fulfill its purpose. There are a lot of robot framework initiatives, from companies (Microsoft) and open source communities (Player). Every framework has its good and weak points and a choice has to be made depending of the project and personal preferences. In frameworks you find a list of robot software/frameworks with a sort description.
Robots still need an operator to check and control the robot. You need a HRI (Human Robot Interface) until the robots are completely autonomic. See some examples in User Interfaces.