Superstar robots

 Robots in films tend to leave deep impressions on movie-going audiences. At the Shanghai Expo, robots of all shapes and sizes are on display, demonstrating the latest advances in technology.

●In the Expo's Urban Best Practice Area, the 1.55-meter-high robot Haibao features five functions. It provides information and reception services, interacts with visitors, takes photos and participates in talent shows.

● France's pavilion features several 58-cm-tall humanoid robots called Nao. Apart from introducing France to visitors in three languages (French, English and Chinese), they can also sing, dance and play football, and even demonstrate the popular martial art taiji.

● In the Japan Pavilion, a robot violinist performs the famed Chinese folk song Jasmine Flower, showing just how delicate its hands are.

● AIC, a robot chef in the Shanghai Corporate Pavilion, is now busy cooking decked out in a chef's hat. (AIC is the abbreviated form of "AI Cooking," AI standing for "Artificial Intelligence.") This 2-meter-tall and 1.8-meter-wide robot looks like a refrigerator. It can cook 24 kinds of Chinese cuisine.

●Spain has built a huge animated baby robot, Miguelín, for its pavilion. The 6.5-meter-tall tot breathes, blinks and giggles. She greets visitors in Chinese and Spanish, and tells you her dream of life in the future.

In addition, Italy's pavilion has robots that can collect garbage door-to-door, while inside the Sweden Pavilion a robot choir composed of 22 robots of different shapes and sizes sings to passing spectators.

"It is possible that robots will [become part of] the family unit in a decade. The first phase will be robots with simple functions such as monitoring and security, and gradually there will appear robots with more complicated functions such as entertainment and household services," said Zheng Hongpo, General Manager of the robot department at Zhejiang SUPCON Research Co. Ltd.

Every expo points not only to future trends in architecture, arts and lifestyle, but also directs future technology trends. It's just a matter of time until these hi-tech products are applied in everyday life.