It's a robotic dog. There is an early model close to where we are sitting. Its head sits above a torso without arms or legs, and its cartoonish eyes stare out below alert ears embedded with speakers. Conran’s company describes it as a biomimetic companion robot, and says it will eventually work with facial recognition technology to make life easier for its owner – to prompt them to take medicine, or to remind them of visitors’ names, or to question them if it thinks they’re in trouble. Conran tells me to think of it as a cross between a pet and Radio 4’s John Humphrys.

“It tries talking to you,” he continues, “and then it will send a signal to the hub saying there seems to be a problem. The hub will then broadcast on the home speaker, asking again if you’re all right, and telling you to slap your wrist.”

Conran points at the wristband the woman in the picture is wearing. It is another key part of his system, monitoring the vital signs of its wearer 24 hours a day. “If you slap your wrist the process will stop but will be logged,” he says. “If you don’t slap your wrist it will break through security, and go to a carer, who can see your heart rate and body temperature, and rewind your life using the cameras in the home to see what happened. So when the ambulance gets there, they’ll know what they’re working with.”

Specification:

Product:

• Country: England 
• Company: Consequential Robotics