Gourmia Robot: Smart Kitchen Robot

Whether it's dinner for two or an entire family, preparing multiple dishes can challenge chefs when it comes to space, available stove burners, and time/temperature maintenance. And with only one pair of hands, the cook has to be vigilant so that food doesn't overcook or scorch. The latest appliance from Gourmia is designed to fill the role of kitchen assistant. This 10-in-1 Multi-Function Robotic Cooker offers a selection of cooking styles and controls to help make meal preparation easier.

Tipron Robot: Transforming Projection Robot

The Tipron, developed by Japanese smart device maker Cerevo, looks like a white eye on a sleek robotic stalk and wheeled base — a child's friendly sidekick droid in some '70s science fiction movie. It has one purpose: to move around your house and project things on walls. I assume there is a segment of the population that has always wanted a mobile robot projector; in fact, another one debuted two years ago. The rest of us can enjoy it for what it is: the prototypical weird CES gadget.

Alpha II Robot: Smart Home Robot

Alpha 2 has a whole bag of tricks that range from activating your smart home lights to practicing yoga. Voice control wasn't turned on during our demo here at the CES show in Las Vegas, but I was able to use the app (for Android and iOS) to control the robot's movements, like turning around, waving, sitting, nodding and so on. The same applies to its other functions, too. It's pricy and questionably useful, but the Alpha 2 is darn cute.

Atlas Robot: Humanoid Service Robot

It's a bipedal humanoid robot primarily developed by the American robotics company Boston Dynamics, with funding and oversight from the United States Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). The 1.8-meter robot is designed for a variety of search and rescue tasks, and was unveiled to the public on July 11, 2013.

ACTUV Robot: Anti Sub-Marines Robot

ACTUV is built with submarine fighting in mind. “Optimized to robustly track quiet diesel electric submarines,” in DARPA’s words. There are lots of ways to hunt submarines, and no particular reason a sub hunter is better without any people on it. But why not make it unmanned? DARPA estimates using an unmanned vessel instead of a similarly-sized manned one will be save an order of magnitude on the cost of daily operation.

Jia Jia Robot: Woman Humanoid Robot

Adorned with long black hair and traditional Chinese garb, Jiajia was able to realistically blink and smile throughout the dialogue, but largely failed to answer the questions Kelly posed, speaking after seconds-long delays. For instance, she was unable to respond to questions about the number of letters in the English alphabet, and answered a question about the Great Wall’s location in China with the reply: “China”.

Xianer Robot: A Robot Monk

In an unexpected synthesis of ancient and modern, a Buddhist temple on the edge of Beijing has developed a robot monk who can chant mantras and and explain basic tenets of faith. At 2ft high, Xian’er is encased in saffron-yellow robes and has a shaved head. Despite spending much of his time closeted in the spiritual calm of Longquan Temple, he wears an expression of permanent surprise.

Eccerobot: Anthropomimetic Robot

Standard humanoid robots mimic the human form, but the mechanisms used in such robots are very different from those in humans, and the characteristics of the robots reflect this. This places severe limitations on the kinds of interactions such robots can engage in, on the knowledge they can acquire of their environment, and therefore on the nature of their cognitive engagement with the environment.

Root Robot: A Robot to Teach Coding

The Root system is designed to be as intuitive and approachable as any tablet app, providing a framework easy for teachers to adopt and comfortable for young students to use. The robot, Root, is designed to fit into every classroom. It drives on a vertical surface magnetically and can be operated from a whiteboard, responding to drawn and erased lines — using dry-erase markers. This ability to interact with the robot simply by drawing, opens up potential for a broad range of unique instructional activities and games.

RoBattle Robot: Modular & Combat robot

It is designed to undertake certain tasks otherwise done by infantry soldiers, such as convoy protection, armed reconnaissance and others. It moves on six wheels, but these can be replaced with tracks. The robot is capable of traversing uneven terrain and going over some obstacles such as low walls Robattle's modularity allows it to be fitted with robotic arms, radars and weapons, allowing it to engage in combat. As such, sensitive systems in the Robattle are redundant to allow it to operate after taking damage.