These cute robots could deliver your next coffee to you

Trundling around the hallways of Hong Kong's Cyberport innovation hub, the little Rice Robot is on a mission. The stocky white cuboid resembles Star Wars' R2D2 robot in its build, but has the wide-eyed expression of Pixar's WALL-E. It's delivering drinks to patrons of the HFT Life cafe in a compartment in its "head" which is unlocked by the customer using a PIN code sent to their phone. While Rice's operations at the cafe are limited to distributing drinks, the compact robot is already providing a range of services at venues in Hong Kong and Japan. Rice is deployed as a bellhop at Hong Kong's Dorsett Wanchai hotel, providing room service to guests.