The 4th Shanghai International Technology Fair has just concluded in Shanghai, and robots were one of the fair's biggest attractions. ICS reporter Wu Ying asked some robot developers how long it might be -- before we can start using them in our homes.

This female robot named "Jia Jia" was the biggest star at the fair. It was invented by a team from China University of Science and Technology in Anhui Province. With skin made from silica, the robot can blink its eyes, nod and move its hands. More impressively, it can recognize its owner's voice and make conversation.

Some companies at the fair are showing off robots that can help people at home. For example, this robot made by a company in Shenzhen can act like a control center for all the smart appliances in a home.

"If we connect it with other smart devices, it can control them, like turning on the TV set and adjusting the temperature. It can also help us make video calls to our family. And moreover, it can go to the charging station by itself when the battery runs out after 24 hours," Hui Qi with Shen Xing Intelligence Technology said.

A number of robots on show at the fair have similar functions and they tend to sell for between 3,000 and 8,000 yuan. But the market is small at the moment, although one company says it sold nearly 10,000 home use robots last year.

"Now the country's market for home-use robots is almost vacant. So the difficult part is to inform customers about it and get them to make a purchase. We will further reduce the cost, while we put it into mass production," Yu Jiaming, sales mamager with UBTech, said.

But few consumers at the fair had any interest in buying the robots at the time being.

Now robots can be affordable for many middle-class families. But I still wonder if the functions are useful at home. And the appearance of robots and whether the interaction with people is smooth enough, is a problem that still needs to be solved.

I feel it's more like a toy. It doesn't provide any real solutions to your life. And it's not real artificial intelligence. I would like to see it do a better job of imitating human emotions, so you feel it's not a machine.

Robot developers at the fair say the rapid development of artificial intelligence will boost their business by improving the abilities of the robots and also reducing costs. They expect robots like this becoming an important member of many ordinary families in three to five years.

Go to Forum >>0 Comment(s)