Humanoid robots were out of fashion at this year's RoboBusiness, the annual exhibition in San Jose, California, that pegs itself as "the most important robotics event in the world".

Make your robot look and sound too much like C3P0, explained Ty Jaegerson of Savioke, and people's "expectations of intelligence go up". (Savioke's robot, a hotel bot that delivers room service in hotels, instead resembles a slightly sleeker R2D2).

The exception to the non-anthropomorphic, however, was the iPal, a child-size robot designed to take on distinctly adult responsibilities.

The 3ft tall iPal has wide eyes, working fingers, pastel trimming, and a touchscreen tablet on its chest. It can sing, dance, and play rock paper scissors. It can talk with children, answer questions like "Why is the sun hot?", and provide surveillance/video chat for absent parents.

"It's a robot for children," said Avatar Mind founder Jiping Wang. "It's mainly for companionship." The iPal, he boasted, could keep children aged three to eight occupied for "a couple of hours" without adult supervision. It is perfect for the time when children arrive home from school a few hours before their parents get off work, he said.