Robo Mop

This Japanese cutie is the answer to Galatea, the perfect woman sculpted from marble by Pygmalion, King of Cyprus, who prayed to Aphrodite to send him a woman as lovely as his statue, and the statue came to life! That's the myth. Here's the reality. Her name is Aiko (meaning love child) and she's a combination of art, technology and advanced computer programming, created by Japanese Canadian Le Trung. Not only can Aiko do household chores, but also she is touch-sensitive, can recognise faces, can do maths, can read aloud, has a 13,000-sentence vocabulary in English and Japanese and will try to slap your face if you grab her! Cost? A mere £14,000 so far. And no divorce settlement. The perfect Christmas pressie, except she's not yet in production. To see a video of Aiko in action, click the title link.