Need babysitter? How about human-looking robot?

1 Bessonov Viacheslav, owner and CEO of Eleese is from Russia but has registered his company in Hong Kong. He plans to soon launch a powerbank rental outlet in Phuket, one of the world’s popular resort cities, Viacheslav told The Nation while showing off his product at the Hong Kong Electronics Fair. 
His business approaches power banks from the sharing economy model. In China, bicycle-sharing is very popular, as is powerbank sharing in some provinces. Some providers have gone out of business, however. 
Viacheslav said people need not carry around a small power bank for their mobile phone. When their phone runs out of battery, they could instead share a power box containing many small power banks. Users would just download an app and use the phone to unlock a power bank from the box. The box would charge the user via e-wallet, costing about a halfdollar per hour or US$3 (Bt100) per day. With the phone charged, the user would just return the power bank to the power box.
Viacheslav is now testing his business model in Moscow and Latvia, and is planning deals with owners of Thai department stores, hotels, restaurants and cafes, sharing profit at 30:70 between him and distributors. Some observers said his business could face a formidable challenge in Thailand, as power banks are inexpensive and light, and many people therefore carry around their own power banks.

2 Even if you lose both your walฌlet and mobile phone you still have your own biological tool to make payments. The Koreabased Ai Platform Co is developing iris-authentication technology to allow people to use their own biologically unique biological iris to take on a new task in addition to helping you see. The iris has a specific pattern for each individual, making it more secure than passwords, fingerprints, credit cards or facial recognition technology. “Even the iris patterns of the right and left eyes of the same person are different. While fingerprints can be faked, the iris cannot be faked,” said CEO Andrew Shin. 
Ai Platform is currently testing the technology in South Korea, including with banks, large corporations and restaurants. Shin said that the iris can be scanned even if a person is wearing a contact lens, unless the lens includes colour. 

3 Public support for human-looking robots is increasing, as they could be used as education assistants, for entertainment and to accompanying children and the elderly, said Allen W Zhao, chief security officer at Leju (Shenzhen) Robotics Co. Lowerend robots could be sold as consumer electronics, while more sophisticated versions could take on specialised tasks such as helping to teach people. An NEC robot has been designed for home use in order to assist children and the elderly. It is embedded with a camera and sensors, and is capable of wireless communication. The company provides rental services for household, schools, and companies. The robot can monitor the elderly and alert users via mobile phone when help is needed. “After a test in a real home environment, we found that a stationary robot worked better than a moveable one, because if a robot moved around it could hurt people,” said Pion Lau, project management executive of NEC Hong Kong Ltd. Rental cost is around a few thouฌsand Hong Kong dollars (about Bt4,000).

4 An underwater robot is being hailed as the first of a new generation of consumergrade robots. Equipped with six propellers, it is designed to dive in a range of up to 150 metres and with a run time of four hours. It has a 4k UHD camera attached that can relay realtime video to the operator. “The robot could be applied in navigation, exploring underwater life and assisting divers,” said Zhou Jia Hua, sales manager of Shenzhen Geneinno Technology Co. 

5 A new GPS watch attracted many distributors and fair visitors. 
Manufactured by Shenzhen based Synergy Technologies Ltd, the stylish wearable product is designed to be waterresistant. Its functions include measuring heartbeats and calories burnt while exercising. It can also keep track of the wearer’s items such as a mobile phone, preventing it from being lost.