We’ve barely dipped our toes into the tablet pool and already it seems like they could combine with smartphones to start that robot revolution everyone is secretly dreading. A new report from a research firm says there are now more than half a billion home-based devices connected to the Internet in the U.S.

And combining the numbers of smartphones and tablets brings up a total that is more than the “installed base of computers,”  notes the NPD Group (via NBC News).

“Overall, the number of connected devices per U.S. Internet household has grown to 5.7, up from 5.3 devices three months ago,” says the group’s report, adding that we still have computers but nothing much is changing on that front. “PC penetration among U.S. Internet connected households is nearly ubiquitous at 93 percent, but virtually unchanged over a three-month period.”

Business is still booming for smartphones, which have gone from 52% penetration to 57% and for tablets, which moved from 35% to 53% of Internet households. Yowzas.

The mobile robot revolution isn’t starting (yet), notes the company as PCs still hold sway, but smartphones and tablets together outnumber computers, no small feat. Other Internet-connected devices we hold dear in our homes include smart TVs, Blu-ray players, video game consoles and streaming media set-top boxes.

US homes have more than a half-billion Internet-connected devices [NBC News]

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