OLD AND BUSTED: By the end of 2019, androids undetectable from humans would walk among us.

The New Hotness? CES 2020: Meet the moody, meowing robot cat waiter.

The robot – described as a “cute kitty” by its creators – can move autonomously through restaurants, meowing at customers as it arrives to encourage them to collect their order.

Patrons can then give the BellaBot a scratch behind the ears or a pat on the head. Initially the robot will purr and react with pleasure, but distract it too long and, fittingly, its mood will quickly change.

“BellaBot shows you a lovely face in the screen when you touch its ear,” said PuduTech. “But if you keep doing so, it gets mad to remind you not to interrupt its job.”

Quirky as it seems, the BellaBot is the successor to PuduTech’s existing, more utilitarian, food-delivery bot which is already operational in 2000 restaurants worldwide. The company says that it is particularly targeting Chinese restaurants that struggle to employ staff.

While BellaBot may struggle to negotiate busy service times, it is part of a growing trend of automation in the hospitality business. PuduTech is also demonstrating its dish-return robot, HolaBot, in its “futuristic restaurant” space at CES.

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