Asus has had a few big hits that the rest of the industry followed, like the Eee PC in 2008, which sparked the craze for netbooks. Other products have fared less well, like the PadFone, a hybrid device that includes a smartphone that docks into a tablet. But year after year, in a hardware industry that shies away from risk, Asus usually has a surprise or two up its sleeve. Last week it was a home help robot called Zenbo, whose cute antics and affordable price-tag stole the show at Computex. We sat down with Asus Chairman Jonney Shih in Taipei last week and asked him how he approaches product design, and also got his take on AI.

Asus has had a few big hits that the rest of the industry followed, like the Eee PC in 2008, which sparked the craze for netbooks. Other products have fared less well, like the PadFone, a hybrid device that includes a smartphone that docks into a tablet. But year after year, in a hardware industry that shies away from risk, Asus usually has a surprise or two up its sleeve. Last week it was a home help robot called Zenbo, whose cute antics and affordable price-tag stole the show at Computex. We sat down with Asus Chairman Jonney Shih in Taipei last week and asked him how he approaches product design, and also got his take on AI.