Robopups, robopals and robolackeys hit the Robot Runway at CES Asia

By Jeremy Kaplan May 11, 2016

Today’s animated assistants are more Rosie the Robot than Austin Powers fembot, but that doesn’t mean they can’t take to the runway to strut their stuff. And Wednesday afternoon at the CES Asia 2016 show in Shanghai, that’s exactly what they did.

“It seemed to be the right time for a show like this,” explained Robin Raskin, host of the show’s Robotics on the Runway event and founder of Living in Digital Times. “65 percent of the money spent on robotics development is in the Asia Pacific region. Robotics will be a $135 billion industry in three years,” she told Digital Trends.

The event featured a mixture of learning, teaching robots for kids, personal assistants, pets, and caretakers – all with painfully cute names.

“I feel like I’m on a first name basis with every robot in the world,” Raskin joked. “What, Pepper can’t come out and play? Hondo, your robotic arm isn’t working this week? Everybody who says robotics is just around the corner is dreaming a little bit.”

“Like everything else there will be an early adopter phase,” she added.

So who was at the show? Flip through the slideshow above to find out.

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