As 2020 grinds into gear, CNET will be kick-starting a new decade with a trip to the Nevada desert for the annual tech bonanza CES. When we arrive in Las Vegas, we expect to be greeted by a bunch of new TVs, scores of eccentric gadgets and a whole gaggle of robots. We're still some years away from robots outnumbering humans at the show, but every year it does seem as though more bots are present on the show floor. In the past decade we've seen robots become more complex, more affordable and more diverse. The number of contexts in which they play a role in our lives -- from the home to the workplace and beyond -- have expanded to provide us with a vision of how humans and robots will coexist and collaborate in the future.

Sony Corp. is developing a robot dog to combine smart home capabilities with the "emotional bond" that humans typically reserve for their real-life pets. Sony Chief Executive Kazuo Hirai described the pet project the company is planning as a robot similar to the now-discontinued AIBO robotic pet devices developed in the late 1990s, the Wall Street Journal reports. The Japanese electronic maker is planning to roll out the dog-shaped pet robot at some point in spring 2018. Although the cost and whether this new robot dog product will continue to use the Aibo name is still unclear, Sony says it will hold a media event in November to flesh out details about the new domesticated device. Last year at a Sony strategy briefing, Hirai told the Journal the company was developing "a robot capable of forming an emotional bond with customers."

ROOBO, a fast-growing hardware and AI startup headquartered in Beijing, today unveiled a prototype of its newest product, a "pet robot" called Domgy. For the unfamiliar, ROOBO is the company behind Pudding, a voice-controlled, educational robot for kids. Pudding is used to teach kids vocabulary, geography, jokes and more. The company also makes the Idealens virtual reality headset, Skyseries drone and Runbone earbuds. Since its founding in 2014, ROOBO has grown to 300 employees, with 7 worldwide offices, including one in Seattle.

ROOBO, a fast-growing hardware and AI startup headquartered in Beijing, today unveiled a prototype of its newest product, a "pet robot" called Domgy. For the unfamiliar, ROOBO is the company behind Pudding, a voice-controlled, educational robot for kids. Pudding is used to teach kids vocabulary, geography, jokes and more. The company also makes the Idealens virtual reality headset, Skyseries drone and Runbone earbuds. Since its founding in 2014, ROOBO has grown to 300 employees, with 7 worldwide offices, including one in Seattle. The company previously raised a Series A round of venture funding, but declined to say how much capital they raised, who their investors are, or how much revenue they have generated to-date.