Asus has just unveiled what's likely to be the most talked about product at this week's Computex trade show in Taipei, a cute talking robot for the home priced at 599. Called Zenbo, Asus pitched it as a personal assistant that can help look after elderly relatives or read stories to the kids, but that might be selling it a bit short. The robot is about two feet high and rolls around on wheels, with a display that can show its animated face or be used for other things like making video calls and streaming movies. Asus Chairman Jonney Shih demonstrated Zenbo at a press conference in Taipei Monday, giving it voice commands and asking it questions is it rolled around the stage. "Hey Zenbo, is it true you can take pictures"?

In April 2016, Singapore-headquartered DBS Bank Ltd launched a banking app in India with in-built artificial intelligence (AI). In the past few months, many large banks such as ICICI Bank Ltd and HDFC Bank Ltd have also been looking at introducing AI technology in various services, including retail banking. Many of these are in the pilot or testing phases. The financial technology (fintech) space in India, too, has geared up towards AI and has seen interest from investors. For instance, Ratan Tata, chairman emeritus, Tata Sons Ltd, invested an undisclosed amount in Niki.ai, run by Techbins Solutions Pvt.

Asus has just unveiled what's likely to be the most talked about product at this week's Computex trade show in Taipei, a cute talking robot for the home priced at 599. Called Zenbo, Asus pitched it as a personal assistant that can help look after elderly relatives or read stories to the kids, but that might be selling it a bit short. The robot is about two feet high and rolls around on wheels, with a display that can show its animated face or be used for other things like making video calls and streaming movies. Asus Chairman Jonney Shih demonstrated Zenbo at a press conference in Taipei Monday, giving it voice commands and asking it questions is it rolled around the stage. "Hey Zenbo, is it true you can take pictures"?

Taiwan's Asus has unveiled what it says is the first "affordable" household robot.

Asus has just unveiled what's likely to be the most talked about product at this week's Computex trade show in Taipei, a cute talking robot for the home priced at US 599. Called Zenbo, Asus pitched it as a personal assistant that can help look after elderly relatives or read stories to the kids, but that might be selling it a bit short. The robot is about two feet high and rolls around on wheels, with a display that can show its animated face or be used for other things like making video calls and streaming movies. Asus Chairman Jonney Shih demonstrated Zenbo at a press conference in Taipei Monday, giving it voice commands and asking it questions is it rolled around the stage. "Hey Zenbo, is it true you can take pictures"?

Five man-machine Weiqi battles have let ordinary people knowing the fashionable phrase "artificial intelligence". Along with this boom, all kinds of innovative applications based on artificial intelligence technology are also emerging in domestic Internet companies. Recently, a number of new applications and new services closely linked to artificial intelligence technology such as intelligent customer service, investment guidance and face recognition have opened out one after another. In fact, the fervency on artificial intelligence technology has been maintaining for a long time. An incomplete statistics show that in 2015, the number of agencies in China investing in artificial intelligence has been as high as 48 with the amount of investment reaching RMB 1.42 billion yuan, up 71.4 percent and 75.7 percent respectively year-on-year.

Asus has entered the ultra-portable laptop wars with the launch of its ZenBook 3 which the company says is thinner, lighter and twice as fast as Apple's MacBook, making it the "most prestigious laptop in the world." However, HP's Spectre retains the title of being the world's thinnest laptop. At the launch of the new laptop at trade show Computex in Taipei on Monday, Asus chairman Jonney Shih unveiled the new laptop alongside a pair of Surface clones called the Transformer 3 and Transformer 3 Pro, a trio of smartphones (ZenFone 3, ZenFone 3 Deluxe and ZenFone 3 Ultra) and a personal robot called Zenbo. The ZenBook 3 weighs in at just over 900g and just 11.9mm, which compares with 1.2kg and 12.3mm for the company's previous model, which was already one of the best ultra-portable laptops on the market. Apple's MacBook, which is the most recognizable laptop on the market, weighs in at 920g and 13.1mm at its thickest point.

The technology world is on the verge of one of its biggest ever waves of disruption, as the intersection of the Internet of Things and Real Time Communications gives birth to the Exchange of Everything. This new concept is reminiscent of the technology trend that swept through Wall Street back in the 1990s. I came into Wall Street fresh out of college, building trading floor technology that helped firms keep up with the growth of the public markets and introduction of new platforms. This meant building and engineering sophisticated trader voice applications connecting thousands of participants – buyers, sellers, brokers, banks and, of course, exchanges. It was'real time all the time' with 24-hour global trades emerging, where seconds meant millions and there was no tolerance for anything other than'pin drop' audio.

I spent a couple of days this week in the company of robots. They seemed friendly, they were keen to make conversation, and they could do a few quite clever things. But I came away from the Innorobo exhibition in Paris with few fears about the prospect of an imminent robot takeover. Perhaps that is because, as we discuss in today's edition of Tech Tent, the robotics industry is now anxious to improve the image of its products. All the talk in Paris was of cobots, or collaborative robots.

Three Australian startups have been recognised as some of the most disruptive companies in the world with the potential to "influence, change or create new global markets". Twice a year, leading entrepreneurs, investors and experts from the likes of Microsoft Ventures, Silicon Valley Bank, Sky News and IBM curate the Disrupt 100 list, which is published by UK-based Tallt Ventures. Out of more than one million global startups and corporate ventures, Sydney's Eora 3D, Adelaide's Humanihut and Queensland's Go One made the cut. With Asia expected to represent a growing number of listings in the future, Disrupt 100 has highlighted Eora 3D among the many startups in the region leading the way. It's a proud moment for Eora 3D co-founder Rich Boers who says he can't believe his startup has been listed ahead of companies like IBM Watson, a health platform using artificial intelligence to generate insights on unstructured data.